Fitness components

Question 1

What are fitness components?

Answer 1

The fitness requirements of various sports and activities.
- Athletes require fitness components according to the demands of the sport.

Question 2

What are the health-related fitness components? Explain what they are (if the name wasn’t obvious enough)

Answer 2

Organs

• cardiovascular endurance: your body’s ability to deliver oxygen to working muscles during exercise
• muscular endurance: your muscles’ ability to exert force repeatedly or for an extended period of time

Others

• flexibility: your muscles’ and joints’ ability to move through their full range of motion
• body composition: your body’s ratio of lean muscle to stored fat

Question 3

What are the two types of fitness components that sports require?

Answer 3

Health-related and skill-related fitness components

Question 4

What are the skill-related fitness components? Provide a brief explanation if required.

Answer 4

Dynamic types

• Speed: ability to perform actions or cover distance quickly
• Power: ability to combine both speed and force in movements and actions
• Agility: ability to quickly change direction without losing speed or power

Passive, control types

• Balance: ability to stabilize the body both in movement and when maintaining stillness
• Coordination: ability to use your senses in combination with your actions when in movement
• Reaction time: ability to respond quickly to what you feel, see or hear

Question 5

What is cardiovascular endurance?

Answer 5

The heart’s ability to deliver blood to working muscles and their ability to use it
OR
Is the ability to exercise continuously for extended periods of time without tiring
OR
It is the ability of the circulatory and respiratory systems to make ATP (energy) using oxygen.

Question 6

Other names of cardiovascular endurance

Answer 6

It is also known as aerobic capacity, aerobic endurance and cardiorespiratory endurance.

Question 7

In what events is cardiovascular endurance most applicable?

Answer 7

It is most applicable in endurance events, such as marathons, triathlons, cross country skiing, orienteering or for those playing as centre/midfielder in team sports.

Question 8

What is muscular strength? What is it called when performed in 1 contraction?

Answer 8

Muscular strength is the ability to express force.

Question 9

What is maximum strength?

Answer 9

Maximum strength is the maximal amount of force produced in one contraction.

Question 10

In what sports is muscular strength most applicable?

Answer 10

It is most applicable in sports or activities that require great use of force, such as weightlifting/powerlifting; all types of wrestling; football/rugby/gridiron for scrums and tackling, gymnastics, etc.

Question 11

What is LME? (full form)

Answer 11

Local muscular endurance

Question 12

What is muscular endurance?

Answer 12

the muscle(s) capacity to continue contracting for a period while experiencing fatigue.

Question 13

What kind of process causes muscle fatigue?

Answer 13

Contractions of muscles create pressure that cause surrounding blood vessels to become blocked.

This limits the amount of O2 provided for the working muscles, resulting in fatigue.

Question 14

In what sports is muscular endurance most applicable?

Answer 14

It is most applicable in sports or activities that require the repetition of the same action, such as running, swimming, rowing, cycling, etc.

Question 15

What is flexibility and in what sports is it most applicable?

Answer 15

Flexibility is the range of motion around a joint.
It is most applicable in sports or activities that require a wide range of motion and/or the application of force over a greater distance, such as gymnastics, diving, throwing (baseball, softball, athletics, etc.), swimming, martial arts/wrestling, etc.

Question 16

What are we refering to when we talk about body composition?

Answer 16

This refers to body size such as height, length and girths and distribution of muscle to body fat..

Question 17

What impacts how the fitness component of body composition is applied? Provide some examples.

Answer 17

How it is applied depends on the requirements for each sport and/or position.

For example, the body composition requirements tend to be vastly different for a wide receiver compared to a defensive guard in NFL, or a netball centre compared to a goal attack; or for a sumo wrestler compared to a high jumper, etc.

Question 18

What is agility?

Answer 18

The ability to change direction quickly and accurately.

Question 19

In what sports is agility most applicable?

Answer 19

It is most applicable in sports or activities that require lots of movement in varying directions, including team sports such as hockey, soccer, basketball/netball, lacrosse; volleyball; ultimate frisbee; all racket sports (tennis, badminton, squash, etc.).

Question 20

What does speed involve?

Answer 20

movement from one point to another in the fastest possible time.

Question 21

In what activities is speed most relevant?

Answer 21

This is most relevant in activities/positions where speed is a crucial factor in determining success, such as sprints in athletics, cycling, swimming, skating, team sports, etc.

Question 22

What is muscular power? How else can it be referred to? What two other components of fitness does it include?

Answer 22

The ability to produce maximal force as quickly as possible in a contraction.
- combines speed and strength

Question 23

In what activities is muscular power the most appropriate?

Answer 23

Most appropriate where short explosive bursts are required, such as weightlifting, athletics field events, martial arts, baseball/softball/cricket, etc.

Question 24

What is balance?

Answer 24

Balance is the maintenance of a body’s state of equilibrium.

Question 25

What are the two possibilities of balance? Provide example for each.

Answer 25

This can be dynamic (when the body is moving, e.g., when an ice skater is moving on one leg) or static (when the body is stationary, e.g., holding a stork stand on one leg in yoga ).

Question 26

In what sports is balance applicable?

Answer 26

It is applicable in all sports, but mainly in ones where stability is relevant, such as gymnastics, surfing, diving, fencing, target sports, etc.

Question 27

What is coordination?

Answer 27

Coordination is when a motor skill is performed fluently and effectively.

It can rely on coordination between hand-eye; foot-eye; whole body, etc.

Question 28

In what sports is coordination relevant?

Answer 28

It is relevant in all ball sports, and other sports such as gymnastics, dance, boxing, etc.

Question 29

What is reaction time?

Answer 29

Reaction time is the time between receiving a stimulus and starting a response (see Skill Acquisition unit).

Question 30

In what sports is reaction time critical?

Answer 30

This is most applicable in sports where time to react is critical, including baseball/softball/cricket, fencing, racket sports, and particularly for goalies in sports such as hockey/soccer/water polo/lacrosse, etc.