Health-related exercise

Welcome to 5.14 Fitness,


Today's post will be on health related exercise, these are factors of health that will help improve sporting performance. They can be remembered by the rhyme: Big Fat Maureen Munchies Cakes!
This stands for:


Body composition


The percentage of body weight which is;

• fat
• muscle
• water
• bone

You can test your body composition either at a specialist clinic or by doing the good old fashioned skin fold test. Which is where you pinch certain areas of the body (love handles, armpits etc...) and measure the results. You need it to be able to reach the optimum weight for your sport, for example a rugby player might have lots of muscle and fat to be able to take the hits of a tackle, where as a gymnast will have little fat but lots of muscle as they need to be light but strong to be able to light and support them selves effectively.

Flexibility


The amount of range possible at a joint. Flexibility can be tested by the sit and reach test, where you lie down and then sit up forward reaching as far down as you can. You need it to be able to control the movement of your body in order to create the correct shapes need for your sport.


Muscular endurance


The ability to use voluntary muscles many times without getting tired. You can test your muscular endurance with the Cooper Run (where you see how far you can run over a period of time- about 12-15 minutes)   or with the sit up test where you do the same but with sit ups and in a much shorter time. You need it to be able to keep going and to keep using your muscles through out the entire duration of your sport. For example in tennis you need muscular endurance to be able to run around and get to the ball then hit it get back in position then go again through the entire game.


Muscular strength


Is the amount of force a muscle can exert against a resistance. It is possible to test using the hand grip test, where you squeeze a grip attached to some equipment for 30 seconds and it measures the amount of force used. You need muscular strength to be able to have stronger muscles than your opponent and use physical force as an advantage. For instance in sumo wrestling to push your opponent out of the ring.


Cardiovascular fitness


Is the ability to exercise the entire body for a long period of time, very similar to muscular endurance the only difference is cardiovascular is the entire body and heart not just specific muscles e.g. quadriceps in the legs. You can test it with the Multistage fitness test where you complete a variety of activities using all of your body over a long period of time. You need cardiovascular fitness, to be able to last the entire length of the activity and to have a strong heart (in order to get oxygen to all the muscles). An example of this is in long distance running you need cardiovascular fitness to be able to use all the muscles you need in order to move from a to b in the fastest time possible, at a high intensity for what is most likely to be quite a while. 


Hope you enjoyed the post, please read again and all the other normal stuff- peace!


Jason