HEALTH AND FITNESS

Fitness can be described as a condition that helps us look, feel and do our best. More specifically, it is: The ability to perform daily tasks vigorously and alertly, with energy left over for enjoying leisure- time activities and meeting emergency demands. It is the ability to endure, to bear up, to withstand stress, to carry on in circumstances where an unfit person could not continue, and is a major basis for good health and well-being. Is a positive quality, extending on a scale from death to abundant life. Physical fitness the ability to perform moderate-to vigorous levels of physical activity on a regular basis without excessive fatigue & capability to maintain throughout life. - Adequate amount of muscular strength and endurance to meet the needs of everyday life Energy expenditure consists of: 1. Resting Metabolic Rate: amount of energy expended to maintain body systems at rest after meal 2. Thermic effect of physical activity: by muscle work 3. Thermic effect of food: energy expended above RMR over several hours following meal i.e. metabolic cost, cost of digestion, transport, absorption, storage and excretion (10% of total) Health Related Fitness components 1. Cardiovascular Fitness (Aerobic Fitness) This is also sometimes known as stamina and is the ability of your body to continuously provide enough energy to sustain submaximal levels of exercise. To do this the circulatory and respiratory systems must work together efficiently to provide the working muscles with enough Oxygen to enable aerobic metabolism. This type of fitness has enormous benefits to our lifestyle as it allows us to be active throughout the day, for example walking to the shops, climbing stairs or running to catch a bus. It also allows us to get involved in sports and leisure pursuits. If we have good cardiovascular fitness then our health is also good as it helps with: Fat metabolism, Improved delivery of Oxygen, Faster removal of waste products Decreased levels of stress 2. Strength Strength is vitally important, not only in sports but in day-to-day life. We need to be strong to perform certain tasks, such as lifting heavy bags or using our legs to stand up from a chair. Strength is defined as the ability of a muscle to exert a force to overcome a resistance. Strength is important for our health as it enables us to : Avoid injuries, Maintain good posture, Remain independent (in older age) Postpones loss of muscle tissue due to ageing and sedentary lifestyle. Helps prevent osteoporosis, Enhances muscle definition/improves personal appearance, Boosts metabolism. Strength can be measured by various weight-lifting exercises 3. Flexibility Flexibility is the movement available at our joints, usually controlled by the length of our muscles. This is often thought to be less important than strength, or cardiovascular fitness. However, if we are not flexible our movement decreases and joints become stiff. Flexibility in sports allows us to perform certain skills more efficiently, for example a gymnast, dancer or diver must be highly flexible, but it is also important in other sports to aid performance and decrease the risk of injury. In daily activities we must be flexible to reach for something in a cupboard, or off the floor. It also helps to: Prevent injuries, Improve posture, Reduce low back pain Maintain healthy joints, Improve balance during movement 4. Muscular Endurance Muscular endurance, unlike strength, is the ability of a muscle to make repeated contractions over a period of time. This is used in day-to-day life in activities such as climbing stairs, digging the garden and cleaning. Muscular endurance is also important in sports, such as football (repeated running and kicking), tennis (repeated swinging of the arm to hit the ball) and swimming (repeating the stroke).

5. Body Composition Body composition is the amount of muscle, fat, bone, cartilage etc that makes up our bodies. In terms of health, fat is the main point of interest and everything else is termed lean body tissue. The amount of fat we carry varies from person to person and healthy averages vary with gender and age. A healthy amount of fat for a man is between 15&18% and for women is higher at 20-25%. It is important to maintain a healthy percentage of body fat because: Excess body fat can contribute to developing a number of health problems such as heart disease and diabetes Places strain on the joints, muscles and bones, increasing the risk of injury Skill Related Fitness 1. Speed Most sports and activities require some form of speed. Even long distance running often requires a burst of speed to finish the race ahead of your competitors. Speed is defined as the ability to move a body part quickly. Speed is not always about how quickly you can move your whole body from A to B. It also relates to body parts. For example, when playing golf, the speed of your arms and upper body in creating the swing are vital in driving the ball over a long distance. 2. Reaction Time Reaction time is how quickly your brain can respond to a stimulus and initiate a response. This is important in most sports. The most obvious being responding to the gun at the start of a race, but also a goalkeeper saving a penalty, or a badminton player reacting to a smash shot. The examples in sport are endless! 3. Agility Being agile is all about being able to change your direction and the speed at which you are travelling, quickly and efficiently. This is common in sports such as football and rugby where the player with the ball dodges a defender, or in badminton or tennis, moving around the court quickly to reach the shuttlecock/ball in time. 4. Balance Balance is the ability to maintain equilibrium whilst stationary, or moving. Balance whilst moving is often called dynamic balance. Balance is important in all kinds of sporting situations, most noteably in gymnastics and ballet but also contact sports where having good balance may prevent you being tackled to the floor! Balance is linked to agility, as in order to quickly and efficently change direction you must be balanced. 5. Coordination Coordination is the ability to use the body parts and senses together to produce smooth efficient movements. We have all seen someone who is uncoordinated, their movement looks awkward and shaky. Being co-ordinated is vital in all sports, for example hand-eye coordination in racket sports and the co-ordination to use the opposite arm and leg when sprinting. 6. Power Power is the product of strength and speed. When we perform a task as quickly and as forcefully as we can, the result is powerful. For example, a sprint start, a shot-put or javelin throw or long-jump. 7. Accuracy Accuracy is the degree of veracity while precision is the degree of reproducibility. The analogy used here to explain the difference between accuracy and precision is the target comparison. Accuracy describes the closeness of arrows to the bullseye at the target center. Arrows that strike closer to the bullseye are considered more accurate. The closer a system's measurements to the accepted value, the more accurate the system is considered to be. Fitness Testing Reasons for Fitness Testing To highlight the strengths and weakness of an athlete enabling a training program to be devised which addresses the findings To evaluate a training program, to see if it is helping the athlete in achieiving set goals To measure fitness levels following injury, illness or following the off season To assist in setting goals

To determine health status (in the non-sporting population) Talent identification To aid motivation Principles of Fitness Testing Specificity: Fitness tests must assess an individuals fitness for the activity or sport in question. For example, there is little point in using a running endurance test to assess an athletes improvement in cycling endurance. Validity: Fitness tests must measure the component of fitness that they are supposed to. For example, is your sit and reach test measuring solely the flexibility of the hamstrings or are there other factors involved? Objectivity: Sometimes also known as intertester reliability. A test that is objective will produce the same results for the same individual, regardless of the tester, or technician administering the test Reliability: A reliable test produces the same results if repeated. For example, an assessor trained in skin-fold measurements will produce the same result, when the same area is re-tested shortly after. Factors Which May Affect Fitness Tests Time of the day, Weather conditions Environment (surface/noise/presence of other people) A different assessor, Accuracy of measurements Test protocol not followed exactly as before Time since the athletes last meal, Athletes emotions, Athletes state of hydration Athletes health (recent colds/illness) Medication the athlete may be taking Fitness Tests Strength One Rep Max: The heaviest weight you can lift for a single repetition, on a given exercise. Often abbreviated to 1RM. Ten rep max (10RM) can also be used. Ensure you are fully warmed up prior to attempting to lift your estimated 1RM. If you feel you could have lifted more, do not attempt to do so on the same day as your muscles will be faitgued and so reduce the reliability of the test. Speed 30m Sprint: Acceleration must be eliminated and so a flying start of 20m is recommended. Record the time between metres 20 and 50. Power Vertical Jump Test: Standing sideways on to a wall with the arms raised above you, mark the highest point you can reach. Still standing sideways, jump as high as you can, marking the point you can reach. Your score is the difference between your standing and jumping score. This test measures the power in your leg muscles. Standing Long Jump: Start behind a starting line, jump from two feet and land on two feet as far as possible. You may use your arms to aid you. Local Muscular Endurance: Press-up Test: Perform as many press-ups as you can without rest. This test measures the endurance of your upper body muscles. Sit-up Test: As above, repeated as many sit-ups as possible without rest. Make-sure you define beforehand what counts as a sit-up! This process of fatiguing a muscle (or muscle group) to measure its endurance can be repeated with any body part. Anaerobic Endurance: RAST Test: (Running-based Anaerobic Sprint Test) Following a 10 minute warm-up, 6 x 35m sprints are performed, with 10 seconds inbetween for rest and turn-around. Each sprint time is recorded. Following tests are expected to produce faster times for each of the sprints.

Cunningham and Faulkner Test: Following a warm-up, set the treadmill at 8 miles/hr and a 20% gradient. The athlete must start standing either side of the belt and begin the test by getting on the belt at full speed. The test is stopped when tha athlete cannot continue. Aerobic Endurance: Cooper Run: Following a 10 minute warm-up, run as far as you can in 12 minutes. Record the distance travelled to the closest 100m. Multi-Stage Fitness (Bleep) Test: For this test you need a bleep test tape or cd which has recorded 'bleeps' at pre-determined intervals. The participants must run between 20m markers, in time with the tape. The bleeps get faster as the tape progresses and is divided into stages to help monitor your progress at subsequent tests. The test finishes when you can no longer reach the end marker before the bleep. Flexibility: Sit & Reach Test: To assess the flexibility of the hamstrings. You will need either a special sit & reach table, or a bench and ruler/tape measure. Start with your feet flat against the table and your knees straight. Reach your arms as high as possible above your head and then lead forwards, to reach as far along the bench/table as possible. The furthest point your fingertips reach is your score. A specialist table has an overhang of 15cm and so if using a bench and ruler, a score of 10cm equals 25cm. Calf Flexibility Test: Stand facing a wall and bend the knees to touch the wall whilst keeping the heels flat on the floor. Keep moving back to find the furthest distance away from the wall where you can still touch the wall with your knees. Measure the distance from the wall to the heel. Balance: Wobble Board: Using a wobble board or cushion, balance for as long as possible. Tests can be conducted on one leg, or both as long as subsequent tests are the same. Stork Test: Stand on one leg with the free foot positioned just below the standing knee. Raise the heel of the standing foot and hold for as long as possible. Reaction Time: Ruler Drop: Using a metre ruler, get a friend to hold the ruler so that the 0cm line is level with and inbetween your open index finger and thumb. The friend drops the ruler and you must catch it as soon as possible, between your finger and thumb. The cm mark on the ruler closest to the top of the thumb is your score. The faster your reaction, the less of the ruler will pass through! Agility: Illinois agility run test 20yard shuttle run test Coordination: ball toss test, Finger tip nose test Body Composition: Skin Fold Callipers: These can be used to determine the percentage of body fat an athlete has. It involves taking four (or sometimes 6) measurements from the biceps, triceps, suprailiac (just above the pelvis bone on the back) and subscapular (just below the shoulder blade). These 4 measurements can then be calculated to give an estimate of the total percentage body fat. Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis: A far more accurate method of measuring body fat percentage. Two Electrodes are placed on a hand and the foot on the same side, whith the subject laying down. A safe electrical current is passed through the body. The speed of the current in moving from hand electrodes to the foot determines body fat percentage as fat is an insulator and slows down the movement of the current Hydrostatic weighing.