We’ve created this FREE classroom poster to help your students better understand the key components of fitness!
What is fitness?
‘Fitness’ is a term that encompasses 11 key components. These can be grouped into health-related components and skills-related components.
By understanding these different components, students can better understand how different activities can contribute to our overall level of fitness.
And when they apply this understanding to team sports and the different roles played by different members of the team, they can also begin to understand how the different requirements of each position mean that players may require different training.
You can measure each component with a variety of tests and, over time, this will show you how a person’s fitness is changing. These tests not only help people to understand their current level of fitness, they can also help to evaluate and guide training regimens too.
Lesson idea:
Ask your students to pick two different positions within a team. Can they identify what areas of fitness each of those players should focus on, to improve their performance? What type of activities could they include within their training programmes to help with this?
What are the key components of fitness?
Health-related components
Strength
Strength as a component of fitness refers to the amount of force a muscle can exert against a resistance.
Muscular endurance
Muscular endurance refers to the ability to keep using the same muscles over and over for as long as possible without tiring.
Cardiovascular fitness
Cardiovascular fitness refers to the ability of the heart, lungs and blood to transport oxygen around the body.
Body composition
When we talk about body composition in terms of fitness, we’re really referring to the percentage of the body that is fat, muscle bone and water.
Flexibility
Flexibility refers to the range of movement at a joint.
Skill-related components
Agility
Agility is the ability to quickly change the body’s position while being in full control of the movement.
Speed
This is fairly self-explanatory, but speed is, of course, the ability to move parts of the body or your entire body quickly.
Coordination
Coordination in terms of fitness refers to the ability to use two or more parts of the body together.
Power
Power combines strength and speed, and refers to the ability to perform actions requiring strength quickly.
Balance
In terms of fitness, balance means the ability to maintain the body’s centre of mass above the base of support.
Reaction time
Reaction time refers to the time taken to respond to a stimulus.
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