components of fitness

• cardiovascular fitness?

  where you supply the muscles with oxygen.

  your heart and lungs work together to keep your muscles supplied with oxygen. the harder you work your muscles the mire oxygen they need.
• cardiovascular fitness

  also known aerobic endurance. its the ability of the heart and lungs to supply oxygen to the muscles, so that the whole body can be exercised for a long time.
• cardiovascular fitness

  if you have s high level of CV fitness, your body is able to supply the oxygen your muscles need to do moderately intense whole-body exercise for a long time.

  its particularly important for endurance sports like long-distance running, or cycling.
• example of cardiovascular fitness

  a squash player needs to be able to keep up a fast pace all game.

  if a tennis player finds they are getting tired and losing points later on the match, they will want to work on their cardiovascular fitness.
• what is muscular strength?

  its the amount of force a muscle can exert. strength is just how strong your muscles are. strength also helps you to do things with power.
• strength

  the amount of force that a muscle or muscle group can apply against a resistance.
• strength in sports

  its very important in sports where you ahve to lift, push or pull things using a lot of force, like weightlifting.

  sports that require you to hold your own body weight also needs a lot of strength - like the parallel bars and rings in gymnastics.
• what is muscular endurance?

  its the ability to repeatedly use the voluntary muscles over a long time, without getting tired.

  when your voluntary muscles have been overworked, they get tired and start to feel heavy or weak.
• muscular endurance - muscles

  involuntary muscles - muscles that work without any conscious effort from you (e.g. the heart)

  voluntary muscles - muscles that are attached to the skeleton. they are under your control.
• muscular endurance in sports

  its really important in physical activity where your using the same muscles over and over again - like in tennis where you have to repeatedly swing your arm.

  also very important towards the end of a long distance race - cyclists need muscular endurance for a strong sprint finish.
• what is flexibility?

  flexibility is the amount of movement possible at a joint. its the ranges of movement.

  flexibility is to do with how far your joints move. this depends on the type of joint and the 'stretchiness' of the muscles around it.
• why is flexibility important?

  • fewer injuries - if your flexible your less likely to pull or strain a muscle or stretch too far and injure yourself.
  • better performance - as you cant do certain activities without being flexible - like gymnastics. it makes you more efficient in other sports so you use less energy - e.g. swimmers can move their arms further to make their strokes longer and smoother.
  • better posture - bad posture can impair breathing and damage your spine. more flexibility means a better posture and fewer aches and pains.
• what is body composition?

  body composition is the percentage of body weight made up of fat, muscle and bones.
• body composition

  if your healthy your body will probably be made up between 15% and 25% body fat.

  having too much can put strain on your muscles and joints during physical activity.
• sports and body composition

  depending on your sports you would need to be heavy, light, strong, fast etc.

  • rock climbers need to be light and strong so they have a high muscle percentage, and a low body fat percentage.
  • in rugby, heavy players have an advantage as they are harder to knock over, so will have a higher body fat percentage than many other sports players.
• what is speed?

  speed is the rate at which someone is able to move, or to cover a distance in a given amount of time.

  speed is the measure of how quickly you can do something, like how quickly you cover a distance or carry out a movement.
• how do you work out speed?

  distance divided by time taken.
• speed in sports?

  its important in many activities, like 100m sprint but also how quick a hockey player can swing their arm to whack a ball.

  its needed in a wide range of sports.
• what is agility?

  agility is the ability to change body position or direction quickly and with control.

  its the control over your body's movements.
• agility in sports?

  its important in any ability where you have to run around, changing direction all the time, like football.

  jumping and intercepting a pass in netball or basketball involves a high level of agility too.
• what is balance?

  its the ability to keep the body's centre of mass over a base of support.

  having a good sense of balance means you don't wobble or fall over easily.
• centre of mass in balance?

  everything has a centre mass, including humans. its the mass of an object being concentrated at just one point.

  as you change body position, the location of your centre of mass will change too.

  whatever activity you're doing, you need to have a centre of mass over whatever is supporting you (base of support) to balance. if you don't, you'll fall over.
• balance in sports?

  balance is crucial for nearly every physical activity. any sport that involves changing direction quickly, like football, requires good balance.

  an action that is performed with balance is more efficient - e.g. a cyclist might work on improving their balance to increase the speed they can go around corners.
• what is coordination?

  its the ability to use two or more parts of the body together, efficiently and accurately.

  there's two types: hand-eye coordination and limb coordination.