UNIT ONE

CONCEPTS OF PHYSICAL FITNESS

Physical fitness
 It is an ability to meet the ordinary, as well as unusual
demands of daily life safely and effectively without being
overly fatigued.
 It is the body‘s ability to function effectively and efficiently, and
contributes the total quality of life.
 Physical fitness is essential for human beings to adjust well with

his environment as his mind and body are in complete harmony .

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• Physical fitness can be divided into two types:

1. Health related physical fitness and

2. Skill related physical fitness.
•General fitness implies the ability of a person to live most
effectively with his / her potentials which depend upon the:-
 Physical
 Mental,
 Emotional,
 Social and
 Spiritual components of fitness which are highly interrelated.
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 Physical Activity

•It is bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that

results in energy expenditure.
•The term, physical activity, does not require or imply any
specific aspect or quality of movement.
•Based on predominant physiologic effect, physical activity
can be categorized in to:
Aerobic activity and

Anaerobic activity.
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 Con’t
Aerobic activity
•Aerobic activity includes forms of activities that are intense
enough and performed long enough to maintain or improve an
individual‘s cardiorespiratory fitness.
•Aerobic activities such as brisk walking, slow dancing and
swimming commonly require the use of large muscle groups.
Anaerobic activity
Anaerobic activity can be maintained for only about 2 to 3
minutes. Sprinting and power lifting are examples of anaerobic
physical activity.
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 Physical exercise
The term "exercise" has been used interchangeably with
"physical activity", and, in fact, both have a number of common
elements.
Exercise, however, is not synonymous with physical activity: it
is a subcategory of physical activity.

 Exercise is physical activity that is planned, structured and

repetitive movement intended to improve or maintain physical fitness
. 

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 Exercise is usually goal related and designed in the sense
that the improvement or maintenance of one or more

components of physical fitness (i.e., endurance, strength,

flexibility etc…)

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 Sport
• It is an organized, competitive form of play.
•Sport is, above all, competitive activity.
•We cannot think of sport without thinking of competition,
for without the competition, sport becomes simply play or
recreation.
•Play can at times be sport, but strictly speaking, sport is
never simple play; the competitive aspect is essential to the

nature of sport.
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 General Principles of Fitness Training
•The human body adapts well when exposed to stress.
•The term stress, within the context of exercise is defined as
an exertion above the normal, everyday functioning.
•The specific activities that result in stress vary for each
individual and depend on a person‘s level of fitness.
•Although stress is relative to each individual, there are
guiding principles in exercise that can help individuals
manage how much stress they experience to avoid injury
and optimize their body‘s capacity to adapt.
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 Principle of Overload

 A training load is the work or exercise that an athlete /

individual performs in a training session.

 Physical stress, such as walking at a brisk pace or jogging,

places increased stress on the regulatory systems that manage

increased heart rate and blood pressure,

increased energy production,

increased breathing, and

even increased sweating for temperature regulation.

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To overload the body means to train the body at a higher level

than normal.
By training at a higher level than normal, the body adapts

physiologically to the new level, and physical performance can be

increased.
As these subsequent adaptations occur, the stress previously

experienced during the same activity, feels less stressful in future

sessions

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 FITT Principle
•In exercise, the amount of stress placed on the
body can be controlled by four variables:
 Frequency,
 Intensity,
 Time (duration), and
 Type.
•The FITT principle, as outlined by the American College
of Sports Medicine (ACSM) falls under the larger
principle of overload.

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Frequency :-Relates to how often exercises are performed over a period
of time. In most cases, the number of walking or jogging sessions

would be determined over the course of a week.

 A beginner may determine that 2–3 exercise sessions a week are

sufficient to stimulate improvements. For example, a professional

player may train twice a day, 5 times a week

Time:-The length of time in which an activity or exercise is performed and

also contributes to the amount of stress experienced during a workout.

Certainly, a 30-minute brisk walk is less stressful on the body than a 4-

hour marathon
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Type of exercise:- The type of exercise performed should
reflect a person‘s goals.

•In cardiorespiratory fitness, the objective of the exercise

is to stimulate the cardiorespiratory system. Activities

that accomplish those objective include swimming, biking,
dancing, cross countryskiing, aerobic classes, and much
more.

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Intensity:-How hard a person works to do the activity.
 Intensity, the degree of difficulty at which the exercise
is carried out
 More than any of the other components, intensity drives

adaptation.

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 Principle of progressive overload
 A progressive overload involves manipulating the FITT principle.
 This may include increasing either the frequency, intensity, time,
or type of exercise, e.g. progressive overload in time: increasing a
runner’s total running duration by 10% every two weeks
during their long runs; or progressive overload in intensity:
using heavier weights on a bench press exercise

progressive overload figure

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 Principle of specificity
 Training sessions should be specific to the movement, muscles
and energy systems of the sport.

 Muscles respond specifically to stimuli placed upon them, so

training and practice should be as closely related to the

performance requirements as possible.

Principle of Reversibility
 Detraining’ occurs fairly quickly when a person stops training,
with reductions in physical ability seen after one to two weeks of no
training.
 When an individual spots regular training his physical fitness level
can return to his/her original level of physical fitness 16
 As activity declines, called detraining, adaptations will
recede.

 In cardiorespiratory endurance, key areas, such as

VO2max, stroke volume, and cardiac output all declined
with detraining while submaximal heat rate increased

Principle of Rest, Recovery, and Periodization

 Rest and recovery from the stress of exercise must take
place in proportionate amounts to avoid too much stress.

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 As a result, optimal rest and recovery can be achieved
without overstressing the athlete.

 This training principle, called periodization, is especially

important to serious athletes but can be applied to most
exercise plans as well

The principle of periodization suggests that training plans

incorporate phases of stress followed by phases of rest.

Training phases can be organized on a daily, weekly,

monthly, and even multi-annual cycles, called micro-,
meso-, and macro cycles, respectively. .
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 Without periodization, the stress from exercise would
continue indefinitely eventually leading to fatigue, possible
injury, and even a condition known as overtraining
syndrome.
Overtraining syndrome include the following:
Ø weight loss
Ø loss of motivation

Ø inability to concentrate or focus

Ø feelings of depression

Ø sleep disturbances
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