Unit 15: Instructing Physical Activity and Exercise
Assignment 1: Safe and Effective Training
Task One
P1
Your presentation will begin by covering the principles of fitness, it is important that when
presenting you are logical and clear.
P1 Describe the principles of fitness training
Requirements:
Describe principles of fitness, covering the following:
Components of Fitness
Strength
Aerobic Endurance
Muscular Endurance
Flexibility
Body Composition
Adaptations to training for each component of fitness (e.g. hypertrophy,
increase muscle tone, decreased resting heart rate, increased stroke volume)
How FITT (frequency, intensity, time and type) for each component of fitness
Components of Fitness:
Strength is vitally important, not only in sports but in day-to-day life. We need to be strong to
perform certain tasks, such as lifting heavy bags or using our legs to stand up from a chair. Strength
is defined as the ability of a muscle to exert a force to overcome a resistance. An example of an
athlete who needs a lot of strength would be a weightlifter as they need to be as strong as possible
to lift the highest amount of weight that they can.
Aerobic endurance is also sometimes known as stamina and is the ability of your body to
continuously provide enough energy to sustain submaximal levels of exercise. To do this, the
circulatory and respiratory systems must work together efficiently to provide the working muscles
with enough oxygen to enable aerobic metabolism. This type of fitness has enormous benefits to our
lifestyle as it allows us to be active throughout the day, for example walking to the shops, climbing
stairs or running to catch a bus. It also allows us to get involved in sports and leisure pursuits. An
example of an athlete who would need this is a marathon runner such a Mo Farah because he needs
to run continuously for a prolonged period of time.
Muscular endurance, unlike strength, is the ability of a muscle to make repeated contractions over a
period of time. This is used in day-to-day life in activities such as climbing stairs, digging the garden
, and cleaning. Muscular endurance is important for athletes in sports such as rugby as they need to
use their muscles all of the time to do things like tackling, rucking and getting back up of the floor.
Flexibility is the movement available at our joints, usually controlled by the length of our muscles.
This is often thought to be less important than strength, or cardiovascular fitness. However, if we are
not flexible our movement decreases and joints become stiff. Flexibility in sports allows us to
perform certain skills more efficiently, for example a gymnast, dancer or diver must be highly flexible
to perform certain moves, but it is also important in other sports to aid performance and decrease
the risk of injury.
Body composition is the amount of muscle, fat, bone, cartilage etc that makes up our bodies. In
terms of health, fat is the main point of interest and everything else is termed lean body tissue. The
amount of fat we carry varies from person to person and healthy averages vary with gender and age.
A healthy amount of fat for a man is between 15&18% and for women is higher at 20-25%. An
example of an athlete who needs a low body composition is a bodybuilder as they need to show as
much muscle as possible so they need to get rid of the fat to be able to show more.
Adaptations to Training:
Strength:
Hypertrophy- There are two types of hypertrophy, sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar. Sarcoplasmic
hypertrophy is bigger in bodybuilders’ muscles. A general rule would involve higher reps of
moderate weight with short rest periods. Your aim is to ‘pump up’, filling the muscles with blood.
Myofibrillar hypertrophy is more advantageous and common in competitive weight lifters, martial
arts and gymnastics. You should aim for very heavy weights (a majority percentage of your one rep
maximum) and focus on few (one-five) reps that ensure slow, perfect technique. Longer rest periods
between sets are advisable. Your larger muscle fibres will increase force, meaning more strength and
speed. Therefore, myofibrillar hypertrophy is the most functional form of muscle growth.
Increased Muscle Tone- Fat-to-lean to body mass ratio can be improved both aerobically and
anaerobically. The resistance required to increase muscle tone is a moderate level with more
frequent repetitions. Dietary considerations need to be taken into account if you want to achieve a
good muscle tone.
Aerobic Endurance:
Decreased Resting Heart Rate- The heart pumps blood around the body to deliver oxygen to working
muscles and remove waste products (Carbon dioxide and water). The demand of oxygen increases
during exercise. The body will make physiological changes in order to improve its ability to transport
and use oxygen:
The heart muscle becomes larger and stronger
Haemoglobin is produced in greater amounts
Skeletal muscle becomes more efficient
Increased Stroke Volume- Stroke volume is the amount of blood that can be pumped from a heart’s
ventricle in one contraction. Cardiac output is the amount of blood that is pushed out of the heart in
one minute.
