health related components

• Health-related components of physical fitness

  • Cardiorespiratory endurance
  • Muscular strength
  • Muscular endurance
  • Flexibility
  • Body composition
• Skill-related components of physical fitness

  • Power
  • Speed
  • Agility
  • Coordination
  • Balance
  • Reaction time
• An improvement in health-related fitness components improves personal health and lifestyle, including lowering the risk of hypokinetic disease
• Hypokinetic diseases

  • Heart disease
  • Obesity
  • High blood pressure
  • Insomnia
  • Diabetes
  • Depression
• Cardiorespiratory endurance


  The ability of the working muscles to take up and use the oxygen that has been breathed in during exercise and transferred to muscle cells
• Importance of cardiorespiratory endurance

  • Ensures the delivery of adequate quantities of blood (high cardiac output)
  • Ensures a functional ventilation system (respiratory system)
  • Ensures a good transport system (circulatory system) to ensure efficient and speedy delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the cells
• Bicycle ergometry test


  1. Weigh subject

  2. Attach HR measuring device

  3. Begin pedalling and record HR and workload every minute

  4. Obtain final result by averaging 6th and 7th minute HR and noting workload
• Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max)


  Measure of aerobic capacity
• Multistage fitness test

  1. Warm up

  2. Subjects walk/jog/run between lines 20m apart in time with beeps

  3. Recorder notes level subject failed to continue test

  4. Relate oxygen uptake to aerobic capacity rating
• Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test

  1. Set up 20m course with additional 5m recovery area

  2. Subjects run 20m, turn and jog back to start, repeat with 10s recovery

  3. Record last interval completed and calculate VO2 max
• Muscular strength


  The ability to exert force against a resistance
• Hand dynamometer test


  1. Subject grips dynamometer with arm at right angle to body

  2. Measure grip strength and compare to norms
• This test is now use extensively with soccer and AFL players. Why do you think this might be a preferred test?
• Muscular strength


  The ability of the muscles to exert force
• Body requirements of muscular strength

  • Vary between sport, activity and general living
  • There is considerable variation in strength requirements within particular sports, with some playing positions requiring more strength than others
• Strength is particularly important in activities such as weight-lifting and gymnastics, and games such as rugby
• High levels of overall body strength improve performance and reduce the risk of injury
• Muscular hypertrophy


  The increase in the size of the muscle when we increase our strength
• Determining muscular strength using the hand dynamometer test

  1. Pick up the dynamometer and push the arrow back to zero

  2. Let your arm hang vertically with the dynamometer comfortably gripped in the hand

  3. Gradually lift the dynamometer to shoulder height, squeezing the grip as hard as you can with the arm extended

  4. Read the result and record it

  5. Repeat with the left hand

  6. Allow three tests on each hand, and record the best
• Handgrip strength norms and ratings (kilograms)

  • Excellent
  • Good
  • Average
  • Fair
  • Poor
• Muscular endurance


  The ability of the muscles to endure physical work for extended periods of time without undue fatigue
• Muscular endurance is local in that it is specific to a muscle or a group of muscles
• Muscular endurance is improved by programs that focus on maximum repetitions with low to moderate levels of resistance
• Muscular endurance is important in activities such as cycling, cross-country running, skiing, sports carnivals, bushwalking and rowing
• Measuring muscular endurance using the one-minute sit-up test

  1. Work in pairs. Nominate who will be the first subject and who will be the first counter.

  2. The subject should lie on the floor with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Arms are folded across the chest. Palms are open and rest on the front of the shoulders. Elbows are close together. The counter should hold their partner's feet firmly on the floor. The angle at the knees should not be less than 60°. In the sit-up, the trunk is raised and the elbows brought to a position between the knees. The body then returns to the floor. The total movement counts for one sit-up.

  3. Have a number of practices to warm up and ensure the technique is correct. Disallow any sit-ups performed incorrectly.

  4. Perform the test, counting the number of correctly executed sit-ups in one minute.

  5. Change roles and repeat the process.
• Abdominal muscle endurance ratings (number of sit-ups completed in 60 seconds)

  • Excellent
  • Good
  • Average
  • Fair
  • Poor
• Flexibility


  The range of motion about a joint or the ease of joint movement
• Flexibility is joint specific; that is, the level of flexibility found in one joint will not necessarily be uniform throughout the body
• Importance of flexibility

  • Helps prevent injury
  • Improves posture
  • Improves blood circulation
  • Decreases the chance of lower back pain later in life
  • Strengthens the muscle if combined with isometric exercises
• Measuring flexibility using the sit-and-reach test

  1. Sit on the floor with legs stretched out straight ahead. Shoes should be removed.

  2. The soles of the feet are placed flat against the box/bench. Both knees should be locked and pressed flat to the floor — the tester may assist by holding them down.

  3. With the palms facing downwards, and the hands on top of each other or side by side, the subject reaches forward along the measuring line as far as possible. Ensure that the hands remain at the same level, not one reaching further forward than the other.

  4. The subject reaches out and holds that position for at least one or two seconds while the distance is recorded. Make sure there are no jerky movements.

  5. The best of three attempts should be recorded.
• Sit-and-reach test norms

  • Super
  • Excellent
  • Good
  • Average
  • Fair
  • Poor
  • Very poor
• Body composition


  The percentage of fat as opposed to lean body mass in a human being
• All people need a certain amount of body fat. This is called essential fat and surrounds vital organs such as kidneys, heart, muscle, liver and nerves
• Additional fat is called storage fat and it too has an important role, mainly as a source of stored energy
• Lean body mass


  All of the body's non-fat tissue, including bone, muscle, organs and connective tissue
• Body composition can be changed by diet and exercise
• The recommended amount of body fat as a percentage of body composition is 15 to 20 per cent for men and 20 to 25 per cent for women
• Determining body composition using skinfold callipers

  1. There are seven sites on the body at which body fat is measured using callipers. The triceps and subscapular sites are the most commonly used for young people.

  2. Take a vertical skinfold measurement at the two sites — (i) triceps, (ii) subscapular.

  3. The assistant then reads the skinfold measurement. The callipers should not be left on for too long as fat cells will compress, causing inaccuracies.

  4. Repeat the measurement twice. If two readings are the same, record the reading. If all are different, record the mean (average) reading.

  5. Refer to figure 5.15 to obtain the predicted percentage body fat and a rating for this figure.