PE Notes

Fitness Testing
 a way of gaining information about the health related and skill related
components of an athlete’s fitness
 Testing can take place in many places. (laboratory testing – the most
accurate)
 There is a large range of tests that can be carried out which provide a lot of
useful information.
 There is wide of range of standardized tests used for these exams.
 Some might be for medical purposes or for job qualification (whether you are
qualified to participate, for example military)

General Health Evaluation

 Most fitness specialists will use one or more screening tools to help determine
your baseline health.
 By obtaining vital sign measurements such as your height, weight, resting
heart rate (RHR), and resting blood pressure (RBP)
 asked about the type of medications you take, any problems with dizziness or
pain, or any medical condition

Body Composition Testing

 Body composition describes the different components that make up your total
body weight, including your muscles, bones, and fat.
 Methods for estimating body composition:
▶ Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA): Electrical signals are sent
from electrodes through the soles of your feet to your abdomen to
estimate your body composition.
▶ Body mass index (BMI): A generalized calculation of body fat based on
your height and weight. (Weight divided by height squared kg/m 2)
▶ Skinfold measurements: Calipers are used to estimate how much body
fat there is in a fold of skin.

Cardiovascular Endurance Testing

 also known as stress testing
 measures how efficiently your heart and lungs work to supply oxygen and
energy to your body during physical activity
 Three common tests:
▶ 12-minute run test: on a treadmill or outdoor, compare pre-exercise
heart and respiration rates with post-exercise heart and respiration rates
 ▶ Exercise stress: on a treadmill or stationary bike, use heart monitor and
blood pressure cuff to measure your vital signs during exercise
▶ VO2 max test: on a treadmill or stationary bike, use breathing device to
measure maximum rate of oxygen consumption during an activity

Strength and Endurance Testing

 Strength testing measures the maximal amount of force a muscle group can
exert at one time.
 Muscle endurance testing measures the length of time a muscle group can
contract and release before it fatigues.
 Include push-up test and core strength and stability test
 Use metronome to see how long you can keep up with the rhythm
 Results are compared to people of same age and sex to establish your
baseline levels.

Flexibility Testing
 Measuring the flexibility of your joints is vital in determining whether you have
postural imbalances, foot instability, or limitations in your range of motion.
 Variety of tests used:
▶ Shoulder flexibility test (zipper test): Evaluates the flexibility and
mobility of your shoulder joint. One hand behind your neck, between your
shoulders. Another hand reaching behind your back, toward your
shoulders. How far apart your hands are will show the flexibility of your
shoulder. (finger overlap is excellent, fingers not meeting is bad)
▶ Sit and reach test: Measure tightness in your lower back and hamstring
muscles. Sit on the floor with your legs fully extended. Flexibility is
measured by the number of inches your hands are from your feet when
reaching forward.
▶ Trunk lift test: Measure tightness in your lower back. Lie face-down on
the floor with arms at your side. Lift your upper body with just your back
muscles. Flexibility is measured by how many inches you are able to lift
yourself off the ground.

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 achieving
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 and to aid motivation

Principles of Fitness Testing

 To be accurate and worthwhile, principles must be followed:
▶ Specificity: must assess an individual’s fitness for the activity or sport in
question (no point in using a running endurance test to assess cycling
endurance)
▶ Validity: must measure the component of fitness that they are supposed
to (is sit and reach test measuring only the flexibility of the hamstrings or
other factors involved?)
▶ Objectivity (interstater reliability): A test that is objective will produce
the same results for the same individual (not depend on the tester or
technician administering the test)
▶ Reliability: A reliable test produces the same results if repeated.

Factors which may affect fitness tests

 There are many internal and external variables which affect the outcome of
the test.
 When you want to repeat test, it is important to try to limit as many variables
as possible by ensuring the conditions/circumstances are exactly the same as
during the previous test.
▶ 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
▶ Athlete’s state of hydration
▶ Athletes’ health (recent colds/illness)
▶ Medication the athlete may be taking

Childhood Obesity
 Childhood obesity can cause when a child is well above the normal weight for
his or her age and height.
 Obesity is having excess body fat and it’s dangerous.
 If a person’s bodyweight is 20% or more higher, he or she is obese.
 If you are obese, you are at risk of having one or more obesity health
problems and your quality of life may lower. (can’t do everything you want
easily, feel ashamed or depressed)
Prevalence
 Percentage of children aged 6-11 years in US who were obese, increased from
7% to 18% from 1980 to 2012.
 In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or
obese.
 In 2010, the prevalence is 4.9%.
 Number of affected children in Asia is 18 million.

Factors which lead to obesity

 Family factors
 Diet
 Lack of exercise
 Psychological factors
 Socioeconomic factors

Family factors
 Comes from overweight family, likely to put on weight
 Family environment where high-calorie foods are always available and no
physical activity

Diet
 If you eat fast food, you can gain weight.
 Example: Sugar-sweetened beverages
Refined grains (cake, white bread & rice, pizza) and sweets
Potatoes (baked or fried)
Red meat (beef, pork, lamb) and processed meats
(salami, ham, bacon, sausage)
Snacks that contain too much salt, sugar and cholesterol

Lack of Exercise
 Exercising is burning calories.
 The more weight a person carries, the more difficult it can be to move and
exercise.
 Sedentary lifestyle (e.g watching television, playing video games, internet
games, facebook) is bad.
 Too many studying hours and eating while watching TV and playing games
are the bad habits.
 Lack of Physical Activity and Unhealthy food choices = obesity
  Encourage sports activities at school, group sports activities, extra curriculum
sport activities

Psychological factors
 Eating to overcome or cope emotions
 Seek emotional comfort in food

Socioeconomic Factors
 Limited resources and access to healthy food and limited time to prepare
healthy food encourages obesity.
 Nowadays, children prefer fast food and junk foods instead of healthy ones
 Limited knowledge about or to prepare healthy food

Consequences
 Physical complications
 Social and emotional complications

Physical complications
 Type 2 diabetes mellitus (affect the nerves)
 High cholesterol and high blood pressure
 Sleeping disorder (Sleep apnea, dangerous sleep disorder in which breathing
repeatedly stops and starts)
 Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
 Cancer
 Metabolic syndrome
 Stroke
 Heart disease
 Gallbladder disease
 Osteoarthritis
 Poor wound healing
 High triglycerides
 Atherosclerosis
 Diabetic Retinopathy
 Sexual problems
 Physical disability

Social and emotional complications

 Low self-esteem
 Behavioral and learning problems
 Depression
 Discrimination (lower quality of life and a likely susceptibility to depression)
  Social isolation
 Discomfort
 Overweight children become more likely to engage in unhealthy eating habits
or develop eating disorders

Tests and diagnosis

 BMI, Blood cholesterol test, Blood sugar test
 BMI=weight in kg/ height in meter square (or) weight in lbs x 703/ height in
inches square

Management
 Healthy eating
▶ Small change in eating habit gives big effect to the children
▶ Cut back on convenience food such as cookies, crackers and prepared
meals
▶ Limit sweetened beverages and fast foods
▶ Serve appropriate portion sizes
▶ Small and frequent meals are more appropriate for kids
▶ Eat wide variety of nutritious foods from these five groups every day:
▶ vegetables, including different types and colors, and legumes/beans
▶ fruit
▶ grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fiber varieties,
such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, oats, and barley
▶ lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and
legumes/beans (rich in protein and carbohydrates)
▶ milk, yoghurt, cheese or their alternatives, mostly reduced fat (not for
children under 2 years)
▶ drink plenty of water and limit intake of foods containing saturated fat,
added salt, added sugars
 Physical activities
▶ Limit TV and internet games
▶ Emphasize activities and sports

Prevention
 Prevention better than treatment
 If your BMI is over 30, start your prevention program.
 Healthy behaviors include a healthy diet pattern and regular physical activity
 Having a healthy diet pattern and regular physical activity is also important for
long term health benefits and prevention of chronic diseases
 Parents should be good examples for their children
Malnutrition
 Obesity is just not a cosmetic concern, it’s also a risk for some health
problems, such as heart disease, diabetes and the high blood pressure, etc.
 We want to have a well-built body or not to be obese.
 Prevent health problems and lose weight by changing life and dietary style,
increasing physical activity and more.
 Obesity is having high amount of fat in your body. (not about weight, it’s
about more fat)
 You may weigh more because you are tall or muscular(higher BMI).
 Calculate BMI
BMI Result to know if you are
Less than 18.5 Underweight obese or not.
18.8-24.9 Normal  The obesity is
25-29.9 Overweight diagnosed when the
30-40 Obese BMI is 30 or more.
More than 40 Very obese

Obesity Data
 America – 72 million overweight
 Adult 66% obesity
 Male 33.5% overweight
 Female 35.3% overweight
 China – 22% overweight overall
 7% obese
 Male 15%
 Female 22%

Causes of obesity
 Our body need energy from food we eat.
 More exercise and activities burn more calories that we get from food.
 Many metabolic reactions in the body need the energy from food, such as to
warm up in cold weather and to sweat in the hot days.
  When our food calories amount exceeds what our body needs, they will be
stored in the body as fat.
 The cause of obesity is a combination of states and risk factors that works
together to store more fat in our bodies.
 These factors include:
▶ Inactivity: Without activity, calories don’t burn. We need exercise to
burn these excessive calories.
▶ Diets: some bad eating habits like high calorie diets especially at night,
or skipping a healthy breakfast, and replacing it by junk food (fast food)
increase the body fat.
▶ Pregnancy: After women born baby, they increase their body weight.
After many pregnancies and they don’t lose weight, they may become
obese.
▶ Lack of sleep: This causes disturbances in the body hormones, and
increases the appetite. (crave for high calorie food)
▶ Drugs: some medications lead the body to gain more weight. These
drugs include diabetes medications, steroids and beta blockers, anti-
seizure medications, antipsychotic medications and antidepressants drugs.
▶ Medical conditions: some diseases and syndromes lead the body to
store more fat and gain weight (e.g. Cushing syndrome). Some lower the
metabolic rate in the body and lower the amount of burnt calories every
day, such as hypothyroidism. Some lead the patient to lower his physical
activity, such as the arthritis or may be the patients with paraplegia.
▶ Genetics: Genes affect the amount of body fat we store and where to
store.
▶ Family lifestyle: Not only genes, but also family lifestyle and the food
they eat. Some countries such as USA, have more obese people than
other countries like Japan and this is because of the culture and the life
style.
▶ Age: Obesity could occur at any age. When we get aged, we lose more
amount of muscles built. More amount of muscles gives higher rate of
metabolism and calories burning. Without them, we reduce the calories
burning and tend to fill the body with fat.

Metabolically healthy Obesity

 Fasting Sugar <100mg/dl
 BP 120/80mmHg
 Normal Lipid Profile
 LDL- low density lipoprotein
 Normal liver function test
 ECG Normal
 Normal heart function
  No ischemic heart disease

Go to the doctor
 Talk about yourself, your health, your diets and your life style, because that is
very helpful to improve your health.
 Ask the doctor why you can't control your weight and how you can do that.
 Ask about if you should see a dietitian, about treatment options for obesity
and for its complications, about surgery and which websites are useful to read
about health.

Doctor management
 Taking your obesity history: Your lifestyle, weight, how long you have
been obese, what make you obese, what diet, your daily activities (smoke or
drink, stress affect your weight, other medications), about your family
 Physical examinations for your expected health problems: examine
your general physical conditions and your vital signs including, the blood
pressure, the temperature, the heart rate and heart sound, the lungs and the
breathing sounds, and for your abdomen.
 BMI: calculate your body mass index
 Blood tests: testing cholesterol, fasting glucose, liver function test and
thyroid tests

Treatment
 Healthy weight is the main goal for obesity treatment.
 Making good treatment plan with doctor, nutritionist, dietitian, obesity
specialist and nurse.
 Plan includes: Dietary changes
Exercise and activity
Behavior change
Prescription medication
Weight-loss surgery
 Eat colourful vegetables and fruits, drink green tea, eat dark chocolate,
regular exercise, drink at least 4 liters of water every day, avoid saturated and
trans fats and maintain a healthy BMI ratio.
 Prescription medication: Orlistat (Xenical), Lorcaserin (Belviq), Phentermine-
topiramate (Qsymia), Phentermine (Adipex-P, Suprenza)

Prevention program
 Exercise more: 150 to 250 minutes of moderate intensity activity every week
is helpful to keep you away from obesity (swimming and fast walking)
 Eat healthy: Low calorie food and fiber-rich food such as fruits, vegetables.
Saturated fats and sweets and alcohol increase your body weight and threaten
your health.
 Monitor your weight: Monitoring your weight and calculating your body
mass index will be very helpful to know how your prevention plan works.