Module 012 – Health-Related Fitness and

Energy Systems

Health-Related Fitness
Fitness is such a broad term and a complex subject which can include health and skill
related fitness. Health related fitness is often divided into several other components which
form our overall health status and include cardiovascular or aerobic fitness, strength and
flexibility.
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
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)
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

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 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:
 Prevent injuries
 Improve posture
 Reduce low back pain
 Maintain healthy joints
 Improve balance during movement
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) .
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 per son 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

Energy Systems
Energy system fitness refers to the efficiency of the human body to supply
energy (specifically ATP – the main source of cellular energy) to all of the it’s cells.
Depending on the intensity and duration of the activity that you are performing ( sleeping,
working at your computer, jogging, running from the bulls in Pamplona) your body will
withdraw or synthesize ATP from one, two or even all three of it’s energy system pathways.
For maximum efficiency, the body is usually drawing from all three, but depending on the
activity, one energy system pathway will usually predominate.
The three sources or energy systems are the:
1. ATP-PC System (Phosphogen System),
2. the Anaerobic System (Lactic Acid System)
3. and the Aerobic System.
 The ATP-PC Energy System Pathway
The acronym ATP-PC stands for ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) and PC
(Phosphocreatine). ATP and PC work together as part of a coupled reaction to
provide very rapid, very pure but ultimately short lived energy to the brain and
muscles.
A good way to picture the function of ATP-PC energy is to look at at the performance
of an Olympic sprinter. In the 100 metre distance, sprinters explode from the blocks,
build their speed up to their personal best and then try to hold off the inevitable loss
in speed as their available energy begins to drop. As their explosiveness and high
rate of speed relies on their ATP-PC energy system, so does their inability to hold
onto that speed past the 6 to 7 second mark.
As ATP-PC begins to fail around the 5 to 7 second mark, the body has to call upon
the Anaerobic/Lactic energy system to make up for the lost ATP-PC.
Anaerobic Energy System Pathway
Like the ATP-PC energy system, the Anaerobic energy system does not require
oxygen to produce ATP for energy. However, unlike the ATP-PC system, it is more
complex than a simple coupled reaction.
First; pyruvate is produced from glucose. Then the pyruvate is converted into
lactate. Along the way, two molecules of ATP are produced for every one molecule of
glucose that is used.
 The mainstream belief is that a build-up of lactic acid causes the famous “burn”
that we have all felt when we pushed ourselves to our limit. The lactic acid was
thought to cause pain and fatigue and eventually cause the muscles to stop
working altogether.
 A more recent theory doesn’t blame lactic acid for the pain and fatigue. This
theory says that in very intense physical activity, large amounts of ATP is being
produced and hydrolysed in a very short period of time. When ATP is
is hydrolyzed, a hydrogen ion is released. These hydrogen ions cause the muscle
cells to become acidic. This acidity manifests itself as the “burn”.
Aerobic Energy System Pathway
Merriam-Webster defines Aerobic as “living, active, or occurring only in the
presence of oxygen”
The Aerobic system produces 38 molecules of ATP from each molecule of Glucose
that is used. It is used throughout the body for all metabolic processes. In athletics,
the Aerobic Energy System is primarily used in sub-maximal exercise such as long
distance running.
The Aerobic system can be divided into 3 separate stages:
 Glycolysis,
 The Krebs Cycle a
 nd Oxydative Phosphorylation.

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 The Aerobic system produces a stable, long lasting source of energy. However, it can not
respond as quickly as the Anaerobic or ATP-PC systems. Therefore, it is the dominant
system during sub-maximal activities, while the other two systems dominate the more
intense athletic endeavors.
Any person that wants to develop his/her physical fitness to the best of their abilities MUST
address all 3 Energy Systems.
Fitness programs can easily be adjusted to focus on the three different Energy Systems.
In my practice, I usually lump the ATP-PC and Anaerobic systems together. For most
people, the difference between the two is negligible. So now we are left with 2 systems –
Anaerobic or Maximal effort and Aerobic or Sub-Maximal effort.
Anaerobic / Maximal
Anaerobic energy system training is best addressed by High Intensity Interval
Training and High Intensity Resistance Training.
Aerobic / Sub-Maximal
Aerobic training has been popular in North America since Dr. Ken Cooper published
his book, Aerobics in 1968. There is a ton of info online produced by people who love
aerobic training.
Sports
Basketball is an anaerobic sport as it alternates short duration, high intensity
sprints with periods of lower intensity movements around the basket. These lower
intensity activities allow the anaerobic system to recharge. This sport would
improve the functioning of the anaerobic system at the expense of the development
of the aerobic system. The same could be said for hockey and football and football.
Effect on Body Composition
A common misconception exists that aerobic exercise is the best exercise to
encourage fat loss. Current research is showing that theory to be false. In this study,
17 subjects were split into 2 groups, and over a 20-week period of time, performed
either aerobic exercise or anaerobic exercise (in the form of H.I.I.T.). At the end of the
20 weeks, the HIIT group had lost over 3 times as much subcutaneous fat while
expending less than half as many calories.

References and Supplementary Materials

Online Supplementary Reading Materials
1. Everything You Need to Know About Energy System Fitness;
https://healthhabits.ca/2008/04/17/everything-you-need-to-know-about-energy-
system-fitness/; September 28, 2017
2. Health-Related Fitness; http://www.teachpe.com/fitness/health.php; September 28,
2017