FREE ESSAY ON FUNDAMENTALS OF FITNESS

FUNDAMENTALS OF FITNESS

Fundamentals of Fitness
When we first took this class I thought I knew all I needed to know about physical
education. We learned that fitness is the ability to carry out daily activities with
vigor and alertness with out fatigue. When I learned this I thought everyone is fit. I
started to realize that older people have difficulty going up and down stairs and other
activities that should be easy. As they got older they did not keep fit and started to
become unhealthy. If you are physically fit then you will stay healthy, look good, live
longer, have more energy, and this will reduce the risk of heart disease. We also learned
about the FITT principle. The F stands for frequency, which is how many times you do the
activity a week. The I stands for intensity which is how hard you have to work to get the
benefit, you want to reach your target heart rate. The T stands for time, which is how
long you do the activity seconds, minutes, and hours. The last letter T stands for type,
which is what activity is the exercise.
When you work out you want to make sure you are doing it to the best of your ability,
because if you are not there is no point in doing it. When you warm up allow your heart
rate to gradually increase. This process prepares the muscles and other tissue to
function fully during the work out. You should also stretch to improve your performance.
When you reach you're physical activity or the core of the workout. This improves or
maintains 1 or more health related components. The cool down is a very important part
also. This allows the body to slow down. Your body will return to its regular rate of
functioning. You should stretch to reduce the risk of injury. We also learned about
flexibility. This is the ability of a joint to move freely through its full range of
motion. When we learned about flexibility we did some stretches to see how flexible we
were. We sat on the ground and tried to touch our feet. If you could touch your feet you
were flexible if you couldn't then that was something you should work on. I could touch
my feet but on other stretches I was not as flexible. So I need to work on that. We also
learned about the principles of exercise for flexibility. Overload is one of them. It is,
when muscles become more flexible they need to be stretched a little bit farther each
time, untill a little dicomfort is felt. The next one is progression. This is the
increase the amounts of time you hold each stretch. Increase the number of times you do
each stretch. Increase the types of stretches you do 2-3 different stretches for the same
muscle group. You can also increase the number of days you stretch. The next one is
specificity, which is when flexibility is improved by stretching. Flexibility varies from
individual to individual. The forth is regularity which is stretches and exercises need
to be done regularly. At least 3 to 7 days a week. Individual differences everybody is
unique due to differences in body fat nutrition, health, and motivation and genetic make
up.
Muscular strength is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to exert a maximal force
against a resistance. This prevents backaches, weak bones. Muscular endurance is the
ability of muscle or group of muscles to exert force repeatedly with out fatigue. We also
learned about our target heart rate. We demonstrated this by running around the room and
seeing how fast our heart was beating. Your target heart rate is 70%-85% of the
difference between your maximum heart rate and you're starting heart rate.
The last thing we learned about was body composition. Which is lean body mass and body
fat. Muscles, bones, ligaments, tenders, skin, and essential organs. These factors
influence your body composition. There are three different body types. The first is
ectomorph, which is lightweight, small amount of tissue, string muscles, and narrow
cheat. The second body type is Mesomorph. Which is medium sketal bone structure, more
muscle mass than fat and the muscle are firms. The last body type is endomorph. Which is
a heavier body large sketale, round fleshly look. I fit in to this group perfectly.
As I said before I didn't think I needed to learn anything else about physical education.
But I have learned a lot as you have seen in my report. This class has helped me
understand what it is to be fit. I know that to live along healthy life I need to
exercise a lot more and eat healthier.