6.3 Component of fitness
Health-related fitness and performance-related (skill-related) fitness
Health-related fitness: components required to meet the demands of everyday life/activities without
causing injuries. These activities can be as simple as getting up from a chair, walk…
-examples: agility, coordination, reaction time, speed, balance, power…
Health-related fitness Performance-related fitness
body composition, cardio-respiratory fitness (aerobic
capacity), flexibility, muscular endurance, and agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time,
strength
components required to meet the demands of components required to execute desired skills with
everyday activities (without causing injury) success during a sport/physical act.
Performance-related fitness: components required to execute desired skills with success during a
sport/physical activity. This is essential for training program design because being fit for one sport doesn’t
always mean being fit for another one.
Major components of fitness
Health-related fitness
Flexibility: ability to move through the full range of motion around a joint. Determined by the elasticity
of ligaments and tendons, strength and opposition of surrounding muscles (inc. antagonists), and the
shape of articulating bones.
All sports require flexibility since the dev. of flexibility → increase in speed and power of muscle
contraction, therefore reducing the risk of injury.
tests to measure: sit and reach, arm and shoulder reach, range of Motion Norms (goniometer)
Strength: ability to generate force by a muscle/group of muscles. The maximum force that can be
developed in a muscle/group in a single maximal contraction.
Strength depends on muscular and neural systems because it’s underpinned by muscle mass
available (volume and fiber type), the ability to activate the muscle, and its coordination.
Types of muscle strength (don’t study)
Maximum strength: requires a very large force to overcome resistance in a single contraction
(weightlifting)
Elastic strength (power): has to overcome resistance rapidly yet prepare the muscle quickly for
sequential contraction (sprinting, triple jump…)
Strenght endurance: required to undergo repeated contractions and withstand fatigue (rowing,
swimming)
6.3 Component of fitness 1
, tests to measure: hand-held dynamometer, grip strength dynamometer, bench/shoulder press, leg
press, knee extension
Muscular endurance/fatigue resistance: the ability of a muscle/muscle group to maintain force/power
(a.k.a the capacity of legs to repeat movements over some time without undue fatigue )
often controlled by the body’s tolerance of the increasing levels of lactic acid the activity creates,
but the nervous system also plays a very important role.
tests to measure: push-up test, curl-up test
Cardio-respiratory fitness (aerobic capacity): the capacity to take in, transport, and use oxygen
system to sustain movement/effort over a period of time. Cardio-respiratory fitness is limited by the
limits of the cardiovascular and ventilatory systems to take O2 from the atmosphere, deliver it to
tissues and use it.
commonly characterized by VO2max (the maximal rate that oxygen can be used during maximal
exercise), also called aerobic capacity
It’s important for health and sport because: 1. low levels of CV fitness→disease states and
shorter lifespan 2. impaired CV system, only low intensities of physical activity can be tolerated
before anaerobic systems kick in (less sustainable) 3. high levels of CV enable higher duration
and intensity of physical fitness
tests to measure: cooper 12-minute test, Rockport one-mile fitness walking test (field tests), open
circuit spirometry/indirect calorimetry, treadmill test (laboratory tests)
Body composition: proportion of an individual’s total body mass that is made up of fat and fat-free
mass.
body fat mass: essential fat found in tissues and organs as stored fat
free fat mass: rest of the total body mass (muscle, water, bone)
another definition: the relative amounts of body fat (mass of stored lipids) and lean body mass
(combined weight of internal organs, bones, muscles, ligaments, and tendons)
body composition is essential in sports such as sumo (high body fat mass), American football
(high FFM), and cycling (high FFM)
tests to measure: hydrostatic weighing, anthropometric measurements, skinfold and girth
measurements, BMI, and bioelectrical impedance analysis.
Performance-related fitness
Agility: the ability to move and change the direction and position of the body quickly and effectively
while under control.
it’s a complex component that includes factors such as strength, power, speed, flexibility, balance,
peripheral vision, anticipation, and experience.
tests to measure: Illinois agility test
6.3 Component of fitness 2
