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Physical and Health Education: Class 11 (Part 08) — Chapter 08: Health Related Physical Fitness

Introduction to Physical Fitness

Physical fitness directly influences the health of an individual. It is defined as a state of health and well-being that develops your capacity to perform better in sports, your job, and day-to-day routine work. This is achieved through moderate/vigorous physical activities, a balanced diet, and proper recovery.

Regular planned fitness activities like walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, and yoga improve health and physical fitness, reducing the risk of heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension, and depression. Thus, physical fitness is related to well-being and wholesome development of an individual.

Components of Health Related Physical Fitness

There are five components of health-related physical fitness:

Muscular Strength

Muscular strength is the ability of a muscle or muscle group to exert force against resistance to overcome it or act against it as per the demand of the sports activity. It is essential for every movement, from flexing a finger to lifting heavy weights.

Types of Strength

  • Maximum Strength: The ability of a muscle or muscle group to generate force with 100 percent effort to tackle maximum resistance in a single contraction. Essential in sports like weightlifting and throw events.
  • Explosive Strength: Also known as elastic strength, where both strength and speed come into play. The muscle contracts at high speed to act against resistance with 70% to 80% effort (e.g., jumping, sprinting, boxing).
  • Strength Endurance: The ability of a muscle or muscle group to act against resistance with 50% to 60% effort for a longer duration in spite of fatigue (e.g., hill running, cycling, swimming).

Factors Determining Strength

  1. Neural Control: Depends on the number of motor units involved, the size of the motor units, and the intensity of the nerve impulse.
  2. Muscle Cross-section: Larger muscle size generates more force.
  3. Muscle Fibre Type: Muscles consist of fast twitch fibres (white, contract faster, anaerobic capacity) and slow twitch fibres (red, generate less force but have higher endurance).
  4. Energy Supply: Depends on the breakdown of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) and CP (Creatine Phosphate).
  5. Psychological Factors: Factors like anger, aggression, and motivation help develop stronger nerve impulses.

Methods of Strength Improvement

  1. Using own body weight as resistance: Exercises like sit-ups, lunges, bicycle crunches, leg raises, high knees, turning kicks, chin-ups, and full arch where gravity acts as resistance.
  2. Using external weight as resistance: Exercises using weight plates, medicine balls, dumbbell bench press, leg curls, cable pushdowns, seated rows, dumbbell shoulder press, lat pull downs, twist abs, incline sit-ups, and calf raises.
Endurance

Endurance is the physiological as well as psychological ability of an individual to do some specific type of work for a longer duration with the desired quality under conditions of fatigue.

Types of Endurance

  1. Basic Endurance: Non-task-specific endurance where the pace is slow and depends largely on aerobic capacity.
  2. General Endurance: Ability to carry out work for a longer duration with various movement patterns and changing paces.
  3. Specific Endurance: Ability to carry out a specific type of work for a longer duration with a set movement pattern and pace, involving both aerobic and anaerobic qualities.

Factors Determining Endurance

  • Muscle Fibre Type: Higher ratio of slow-twitch fibres enables better aerobic capacity and endurance.
  • Aerobic Capacity: Ability of muscles to utilize oxygen, depending on oxygen intake, transport (hemoglobin and heart capacity), and consumption.
  • Anaerobic Capacity: Ability to work with inadequate oxygen, relying on ATP-CP systems and glycolysis, and the ability to tolerate lactic acid.
  • Movement Pattern: Economical movement techniques save energy.
  • Psychological Factors: Mental toughness to tolerate pain and push oneself.

Methods of Endurance Improvement

  1. Continuous Method: Long duration activity without rest.
    • With slow pace: Develops aerobic capacity.
    • With fast pace: Improves anaerobic capacity.
    • With changing pace: Improves both aerobic and anaerobic capacity.
    • Fartlek Method (Speed Play): Unplanned pace changes decided by the athlete.
  2. Interval Method: Training with sub-maximum intensity and short breaks with incomplete recovery, monitored by heart rate.
  3. Repetition Method: Training at a pace near or above real competition pace with complete recovery intervals.
  4. Competition Method: Participating in matches or simulated competitions to develop specific endurance and tactics.

Benefits of Endurance Training

SystemIncreasesDecreases
Cardio-respiratory System1. Heart size and volume
2. Blood volume and hemoglobin
3. Stroke volume
4. Cardiac output
5. VO2 max
6. Oxygen interaction with cells
7. Lung volume		1. Resting heart-rate
2. Sub-maximal exercise heart rate
3. Blood pressure (if high)
Muscular Skeletal System1. Mitochondria (number and size)
2. Myoglobin storage
3. Triglyceride storage
4. Oxidative Phosphorylation		1. Chances of injuries
Other Systems1. Strength of connective tissues
2. Heat acclimatisation
3. High-density lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL)		1. Body weight (if overweight)
2. Body fat
3. Total Cholesterol
4. Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL)
Flexibility

Flexibility is the ability of an individual to move body parts to their maximum range around a joint, measured in degrees, radians, or centimeters.

Types of Flexibility

  1. Passive Flexibility: Movement around a joint done with external help (e.g., another person).
  2. Active Flexibility: Movement around a joint done without external help. Subdivided into:
    • Static Flexibility: Executing movement in a sitting or standing position.
    • Dynamic Flexibility: Executing movement while moving.

Factors Determining Flexibility

  • Anatomical structure of joint: Ball and socket joints have the maximum range of motion.
  • Ligaments and muscles stretchability: Stretchability of ligaments and muscles around a joint.
  • Coordination: Coordination between agonist and antagonist muscles.
  • Strength of the muscle: Basic strength required to move the associated bone to its limit.

Methods of Flexibility Improvement

  1. Ballistic Method: Flexibility exercises performed with rhythmic, swinging movements.
  2. Stretch and Hold: Stretching to the maximum limit and holding the position for a few seconds.
  3. Post-Isometric Stretch: Isometric contraction for 8-10 seconds followed by gradual stretching. Also known as Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF).
Body Composition & Cardiovascular Endurance

Body Composition

Body Composition is the classification of the human body into fat weight and lean body weight. It can be assessed using direct methods (e.g., hydrostatic/underwater weighing) or indirect methods (e.g., skin-fold caliper measurements).

Cardiovascular Endurance

Cardiovascular Endurance is the ability of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels to supply a sufficient amount of oxygen and nutrients to cells to meet the demands of prolonged physical activity. The 12-minute run/walk test is commonly used for evaluation.