What health-related fitness component is jumping?

What’s Up Friends!

Today I wanted to go over the 5 Components of Health Related Fitness with you!

This is a common Physical Education Knowledge Standard in most states and PE programs.

I like to cover these components when I’m going over Fitness Testing with my students.  We review the Health Related Fitness Components Poster that you can see in the video below and try to set goals for where we want to be by the end of the year and make plans to work towards those goals throughout the year.

Let’s take a look at the 5 Health Related Components of Fitness…

In case you don’t have time for the video, let’s break them down below…

Cardio Vascular Endurance

First up Cardiovascular Endurance…

Cardiovascular Endurance is your heart and lungs ability to get oxygen from the air, put it into your blood to keep your body moving.  Your Cardiovascular System is what helps you to do activities such as run, swim, jog, jump rope, and lots of other activities.

The main test use to measure Cardiovascular Endurance in PE Classes is the Mile Run or the Pacer Test.

For tips on giving the PACER Test check out the video below:

Muscular Strength

Next up is Muscular Strength…

Muscular Strength is the ability of your muscles to perform ONE rep of an activity with the MAXIMUM force it can.  For example, a vertical jump test would be a measure of muscular strength.

In a vertical jump test, we would measure how high you can jump one time.  This will tell us how strong your lower body muscles are and how much strength they can perform at their maximum force exertion as you jump up into the air as high as you can.

Another example of a strength test would be performing a maximum lift on a squat or bench press for 1 repetition.

Muscular strength can sometimes be confused with Muscular Endurance, but they are different…

Muscular Endurance

Muscular Endurance is is your muscles ability to do an exercise over and over again repeatedly.

A common way to measure muscular endurance is through a pushup or curl-up (or sit-up) test.

When we practice the curl-up or push up test, we test those muscles ability to perform over and over again.

How I like to remember the difference between Strength and Endurance

Muscular Strength = How Much

vs.

Muscular Endurance = How Many

Are Muscular Strength and Muscular Endurance related?

Of course! If you have good Muscular Endurance, more than likely you will also have good Muscular Strength and vice versa since they are both measuring the capacity of your muscles in different ways.

Tips for the Curl Up Test

Tips for the Push Up Test

Flexibility

Flexibility is your body’s ability to bend, stretch, and move and the range of motions you have at your joints.

If you can stand up straight, then bend down and touch your toes, this will give you an idea of how flexible you are in your legs and lower back.

Flexibility is important because it helps to prevent injuries along with allowing you to move more proficiently and allows you to be more comfortable when performing any activities.

Daily stretching is a great way to maintain and increase flexibility.  You can also participate in activities that will naturally help you to increase your flexibility, like Yoga, Dance or Gymnastics.

At my school, I measure flexibility using the Sit and Reach Test, which measures flexibility in your legs and lower back.

Body Composition

Last but not least is Body Composition.

Body Composition is referring to what your body is made up of.   Particularly, the amount of fat, muscle, and lean tissue in your body.

The most common way we measure Body Composition is with height and weight, even though that’s not the most accurate way to measure.

Most schools don’t have fancy equipment so they commonly use height and weight as a measurement for Body Composition since all you need is a scale and measuring tape.

Your body composition can be control by many different factors, but the 3 main factors I always highlight for my students are getting good sleep, staying active and eating healthy foods like vegetables and fruits.

The type of food you eat, the amount of exercise and activity you get each day and how much sleep you get can have a very beneficial or negative impact on your body composition.

That’s it!

That is the basics of the 5 Components of Health Related Fitness.

If you’d like to see How I do Fitness Testing at my School Click Here.

You might also find our Fitness Resources on TPT helpful as well (also available in our membership)

Let us know if you have any questions and have a great day!

Have Fun and Teach On!

In many studies covering a wide range of issues, researchers have focused on exercise, as well as on the more broadly defined concept of physical activity. Exercise is a form of physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive, and performed with the goal of improving health or fitness. So, although all exercise is physical activity, not all physical activity is exercise.

Studies have examined the role of physical activity in many groups—men and women, children, teens, adults, older adults, people with disabilities, and women during pregnancy and the postpartum period. These studies have focused on the role that physical activity plays in many health outcomes, including:

• Premature (early) death;
• Diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke, some cancers, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and depression;
• Risk factors for disease, such as high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol;
• Physical fitness, such as aerobic capacity, and muscle strength and endurance
• Functional capacity (the ability to engage in activities needed for daily living);
• Mental health, such as depression and cognitive function; and
• Injuries or sudden heart attacks.

These studies have also prompted questions as to what type and how much physical activity is needed for various health benefits. To answer this question, investigators have studied three main kinds of physical activity: aerobic, muscle-strengthening, and bone-strengthening.

Aerobic Activity

In this kind of physical activity (also called cardiorespiratory fitness), the body’s large muscles move in a rhythmic manner for a sustained period of time. Brisk walking, running, bicycling, jumping rope, and swimming are all examples.

Aerobic activity causes a person’s heart to beat faster than usual.

Aerobic physical activity has three components:

• Intensity, or how hard a person works to do the activity. The intensities most often examined are moderate intensity (equivalent in effort to brisk walking) and vigorous intensity (equivalent in effort to running or jogging);
• Frequency, or how often a person does aerobic activity; and
• Duration, or how long a person does an activity in any one session.

Muscle-Strengthening Activity

This kind of activity, which includes resistance training and lifting weights, causes the body’s muscles to work or hold against an applied force or weight. These activities often involve relatively heavy objects, such as weights, which are lifted multiple times to train various muscle groups. Muscle-strengthening activity can also be done by using elastic bands or body weight for resistance (climbing a tree or doing push-ups, for example).

Muscle-strengthening activity also has three components:

• Intensity, or how much weight or force is used relative to how much a person is able to lift;
• Frequency, or how often a person does muscle strengthening activity; and
• Repetitions, or how many times a person lifts a weight (analogous to duration for aerobic activity). The effects of muscle-strengthening activity are limited to the muscles doing the work. It’s important to work all the major muscle groups of the body: the legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms.

Bone-Strengthening Activity

This kind of activity (sometimes called weight-bearing or weight-loading activity) produces a force on the bones that promotes bone growth and strength. This force is commonly produced by impact with the ground. Examples of bone-strengthening activity include jumping jacks, running, brisk walking, and weight-lifting exercises. As these examples illustrate, bone-strengthening activities can also be aerobic and muscle strengthening.

Overall Components of Physical Fitness

5 Main Components of Physical Fitness

• Cardiorespiratory fitness – ability to sustain aerobic activity for a prolonged period of time
• Muscular strength – amount of force a muscle is able to exert in one contraction
• Muscular endurance – ability of the muscle to continue to perform without fatigue
• Flexibility – ability to move joints freely through their full range of motion
• Body Composition – the relative proportions of fat mass and lean mass in the body