CPR Plurilingüe Luis Vives Departamento de Educación Física

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Physical fitness is the ability to do a daily physical workout without feeling too tired. For this, you need the four
“S´s”: Strength, Stamina or endurance, Speed and Suppleness or flexibility.

These are the components of physical fitness. In Spanish, we call them “Capacidades Físicas Básicas”.

• Endurance or Stamina: Is the ability to exercise continuously for extended periods without tiring.

• Strength. Ability to use muscles against a resistance (a force or a weight).

• Flexibility or suppleness. Is the ability to have a wide range of movement with any part of your body.
Flexibility decreases with age. So it is important to train this quality (performing muscle stretching) for such
loss is as small as possible.

• Speed. Is the ability to do one or more movements in a short period of time.

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CPR Plurilingüe Luis Vives Departamento de Educación Física

ENDURANCE (OR STAMINA) WORKING OUT

Stamina is very important for your health and quality of life. If you want to enjoy normal everyday activities you
have to train to acquire a good level of stamina and work to maintain it.

Stamina is a key factor in many popular and widely practiced sports. It is a very important facet of sports like
marathon. Regular stamina training helps you cardiovascular system. In other words, your heart, your blood
vessels and your lung capacity.

There are two types of stamina, based on the different ways you use energy

Endurance

Aerobic Anaerobic

*.- Physical activities at low-medium *.- Physical activities at low-medium

intensity / Long-term efforts intensity / Long-term efforts

*.- Oxigen is essential to produce energy *.- Oxigen is not essential

that we need to the physical activity

Alactic Lactic

From 3 to 15 sec. From 15 sec to 3 min

The human body does not only need energy when making an effort, it also needs it to survive when completely at
rest. This energy comes from food and has to be broken down by a series of chemical reactions to obtain ATP
(adenosine triphosphate acid), the final energy supplier, before it can be used by muscle cells.

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1. TYPES

Aerobic Stamina

This allows you to do low intensity activities over a long period of time, in which your breathing provides enough
oxygen to your muscles.

Anaerobic Stamina

This allows you to do high intensity activities over sort period of time, in which your breathing does not provide
enough oxygen to your muscles, leading to exhaustion.

There are also two types of anaerobic stamina: lactic and alactic

• Anaerobic Alactic Endurance. This uses only ATP reserves in the muscle. This reserves are very small
and can be used for 3-15 sec. Physical activities at maximum intensity (Ex. Run as fast as possible in 50
meters speed test).

• Anaerobic Lactic Endurance. After 10 seconds working close to our maximum level we don´t have enough
ATP reserves in the muscle. So our body has to work to obtain as fast as possible through chemical
reactions. In this process our body produces also a substance (lactic acid) that cause fatigue.

2. OXYGEN DEFICIT AND OXYGEN DEBT

When you exert yourself at certain intensity, a balance between your oxygen intake and the oxygen used by your
body is not reached for 2-3 minutes. This is the time needed by respiratory and cardiovascular systems to adapt to
the effort your body is making.

The initial minutes of imbalance are called and oxygen deficit, which is compensated for when the exertion has
stopped, in the recovery period (this is why you continue to breathe quickly for a few minutes afterwards.

3. RANGE OF HEALTHY EXERCISE

Remember that when you exercise your heart rate increases above its resting rate, but at times your heart beats
faster than others. This variation is not the same for all people since every individual responds differently to the
same physical activity.

To check our heart rate is useful for us because is a good parameter to check our fitness level and the effort that
an activity is assuming for us (and if this activity is aerobic or anaerobic)

If our heart rate is under 165 bpm we are doing an aerobic activity. So we can do it for a long period of time. If we
are over 170 bpm (from around 170 to HRmax) we are doing an anaerobic activity so we are not going to do it
more than few minutes. Over 135 and under 170 bpm you are doing a very healthy activity (during this type of

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exercise you should hold a conversation).

Heart rate, or heart pulse, is the speed of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions of the heart per
unit of time, typically beats per minute (bpm). The maximum heart rate (HRmax) is the highest heart rate an
individual can achieve and generally decreases with age.

The formula for calculating HRmax is:

HRmax = 220 – age

Example: Peter is 15 years old. His HRmax = 220 – 15= 205 bpm.

Pulsometers allow measurements to be taken continuously and can be used during exercise. This pulse rate can
be found by pressuring the carotid artery (neck) or radial artery (wrist) with the index and middle fingers.

• To calculate HR we have several options:

• To count the number of beats in ten seconds and multiply by six

• To count the number of beats in 15 seconds and multiply by 4

4. METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ENDURANCE TRAINING

There are many different methods to train your stamina. Everything you do (over 125 bpm) is valid to train your
endurance. Play a football match, ride a bike or just walk with your friend can be good for it.

CONTINUOS SYSTEMS.

These typically involve continuous exertion of a low to moderate intensity (135- 170 bpm) without pauses for an
extended period of time.

• Continuous jogging. This consists of running or jogging continuously at a constant pace, one at which
you can breathe comfortably. Your heart rate should not exceed 160 bpm aprox. This method should be

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CPR Plurilingüe Luis Vives Departamento de Educación Física

use to prepare your body for exertion (warm-up, starting a training plan, recovering from injuries, to lose
body fat...)

It serves only to improve aerobic endurance

• Fartlek. This exercise consists of running different distances at different speeds. The heart rate is
between 140 and 180 bpm. It’s used to improve aerobic and anaerobic stamina.

• Total Training. This consists of combining continuously jogging and fartleck with a variety of different
exercises interspersed with them. It involves moving at a moderate speed with changes of pace and doing
jumping, balancing…

MIXED TRAING SYSTEMS

There are physical exercises or workouts interspersed with pauses to recover which allow practitioners to increase
training intensity. This type of systems is recommended only for people with a good stamina level because your
exertion is from medium to hard level.

• Interval Training. This consists of running distances of 100-200 meters at 75-95% intensity. In other
words, with a heart rate of 165 to 195 bpm. Exercises are interspersed with breaks or rests that are
active or only partial (so you do not stop completely. During the break your heart rate should drop to
120-140 bpm. This is used to improve aerobic and anaerobic stamina.

• Circuit Training. This uses short intervals with smaller breaks. It consists of repainting a specific series
of exercise interspersed with active of partial breaks.

Circuit training is used to improve aerobic stamina as well as strength.

5. EFFECTS OF STAMINA TRAINING

Stamina over a long period of training has direct effects on the heart. This includes increased cardiac volume (with
aerobic exercise) and increased cardiac muscle (with anaerobic exercise).

To progress smoothly as you grow, you should start with aerobic exercises and continue by developing your heart
muscle with anaerobic exercise.

This will also very important to improve our respiratory system functioning. You will increase respiratory volume
and also helps the respiratory system by improving conditions such as asthma.

There are also metabolic benefits: after 30 minutes of exertion you begin to lose body fat.

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CPR Plurilingüe Luis Vives Departamento de Educación Física

STRENGTH WORKING OUT

Our goal is our muscles to be able to do an exercise or task (low

or medium intensity) for quite a long time. A good way to work
this quality is to perform with self-weight exercises (where the
resistance to overcome is the weight of my own body), such as
the abdominals, pushups or squats. That does not mean we
cannot join a gym or use weight machines, and perform
over/weight exercises.

Take special care about TECHNICAL CORRECTION of the

movement we make to avoid hurting ourselves.

Teens may want to strength train to improve sports performance,

treat or prevent injuries, or improve appearance. After puberty,
the male hormone, testosterone, helps build muscle in response
to weight training. Because boys have more testosterone than
girls do, they get bigger muscles (If you are girl… don’t worry,
you should do strength training because you are not going to look
like fuller, more muscular but you will feel stronger and more
healthy and defined appearance).

1. HOW TO WORK STRENGTH

Strength-training programs are generally safe. When done properly, strength training won’t damage growing
bones.

• Get some guidance and expert advice. Trainers (only if they are certified strength-training expert and
experienced working with teens) know about strength training. Learn correct technique and always train
with supervision.

• Warm up is so important to prepare our muscles and joints. Don’t forget to do it. Cool down for 10 minutes
after each session, stretching the muscles you worked out.

• There are many types of strength training. Powerlifting, maximal lifts, and bodybuilding are not
recommended for teens because they are still maturing. That's because these types of activity increase
the chance of injuries. Start with body-weight exercises for a few weeks and work on technique
without using weights. The best way to learn proper technique is to do the exercises without any weight.
After you've mastered the technique, you can gradually add weight as long as you can comfortably do the
exercise for 3 sets of 8 to 15 repetitions.

• Do some stretching exercises while your resting between sets (They help you to recover your muscles)

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• Do not laugh, it is essential to be focused on doing the exercise correctly.

• Do not compete using more over-weight than necessary, you could hurt yourself.

• Training should be done frequently. If you want to do a good job, train three times a week and avoid
training on back-to-back days. Resting appropriately is also very important to improve.

• When you fell adapted increases the number of repetitions or sets before increasing the weight that you
are using in each exercise

• Some people looking for big muscles may turn to anabolic steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.
These substances are risky and can cause problems like acne, balding, and high blood pressure. They
also increase the chances of getting cancer, heart disease, and sterility.

At the following links you will find a varied range of strength training exercises:
http://es.fitness.com/exercises/
http://www.rutinasentrenamiento.com/guia-ejercicios-musculacion/
http://www.hispagimnasios.com/a_culturismo/circ_fuerzres.php
http://www.passion4profession.net/es/ejercicios-musculares/

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FLEXIBILITY WORKING OUT

Flexibility training decreases muscle-tendon tension, which helps you to perform movements correctly.

It prevents injuries and stretching helps to recover the muscle after a high intensity sport activity. So that
by stretching we will help the muscle to return to its natural state, allowing the blood to reach more easily by
cleaning the waste substances produced in the muscle fiber during the effort, and brings nutrients necessary for its
regeneration.

Furthermore, age (the growth and development of muscle mass) reduces flexibility. For this reason, is so
important to work out this quality.

Apart from this recovery function, being more flexible

will allow us to upgrade our performance in many sport
disciplines. For example, being able to carry the leg
further back will increase the power with which we can
shoot to the goal in football.

Flexibility training reduces injuries and human body

pain. For example, back pain. Postural muscles (of
your torso) require stretching exercises because they
constantly contract to hold the body in different
positions.

1. PAIN? YES, or NOT: MYOTATIC REFLEX

When you are doing flexibility exercises, your nervous system acts a protector of the muscle/tendon. Neural
receptors inside the muscle activate when they detect change in the muscle’s length. These receptors are called
myotatic reflexes.

Myotatic reflexes are the human body’s defense to avoid muscle raps and tears. When you stretch too much your
neural receptors send a signal to contract the muscle involved. So, it is very important that doing stretching
exercises do not feel pain and if a certain muscular tension. And take good care of the technique, avoiding
postures in which, for example, bend your back excessively...

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2. SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF FLEXIBILITY TRAINING

There are many techniques for stretching. According to the types of force responsible for the stretch:

• Passive stretches: These are

produced by a source of external
tension (gravity, a partner, elastic
band…).

• Active stretches: The source of

tension for the stretch comes from the
muscle activity itself.

We use static method from Bob Anderson during the warm up. It consists in prolonged stretches from 10 seconds
to 1 minute. It´s essential to be aware of your breathing, inhaling and exhaling completely and in a controlled
manner. This will also improve your concentration

PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation)

This can be summarized by the technique of stretching-contraction-relaxation. It is done in pairs and involves the
following steps:

1. Start with forced stretch from a partner (Passive stretch) for a period between 10 and 30 seconds.

2. Next, do an isometric contraction for 5-10 seconds, while your partner resists the counter
movement.

3. Relax exhaling and return to doing the passive and forced stretch for 10 seconds.

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3. HOW MANY DAYS A WEEK SHOULD YOU TRAIN TO OBTAIN THE BENEFITS OF FLEXIBILITY?

The continuous practice of stretching improves muscle flexibility and the range of joint motion. If you systematically
stretch at least 4 days per week, the results will be visible after two or three weeks.

Don’t forget to stretch after any physical activity to destroy muscular contractures and improve the
muscle recovery

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SPEED WORKING OUT

Speed is the ability to do one or more movements in a short period of time. Some examples of sports where speed
is important:

• Fifty meters swimmers, react quickly to the horn and swim very fast.

• Handball goalkeepers react very fast to stop balls.

• Fencers must move fast to touch the opponent with their sword.

When we talk about the speed to move from one place to another (running, biking or swimming), we call it a sprint.

1. TYPES

• Reaction speed: moving as fast as you can after the referee blows the whistle in a 100m sprint. In team
sports there is also reaction speed: chasing your opponent when he runs away from you, or reacting to a
volleyball spike quickly.

• Single movement speed: e.g. a karate kick or a tennis service must be very quick.

• Cyclic movement Speed: any sprint in running or swimming, a dribbling in football...

2. BENEFITS

• Speed is basic in all sports. Even in a marathon, the winner is the fastest!

• It is related with coordination and agility. If you react and move fast, you have an advantage in all sports.

• Speed training develops and makes your muscles grow.

To upgrade our speed, we have to upgrade also our strength and flexibility.

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