Health Related Fitness in Sport

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

I am a fitness instructor who works for the local sports development group, and my role is to promote health and fitness within the surrounding community. I must produce a detailed document about health and sport.

What is Health Related Fitness?

Health related fitness is a level of fitness based on fitness test scores, with good scores meaning the subject has a low chance of developing health problems. Health related fitness is needed by everyone, regardless of whether or not they do sport. Benefits include weight loss, improved self-esteem and less risk of heart and lung problems. According to another definition, “fitness is the ability of the body to carry out everyday activities without excessive fatigue and with enough energy left over for emergencies. This means that, as well as performing our normal daily tasks, we can also perform additional physical activities including sport. There is what we call "components of Health Related Fitness" and if there is a good balance between the developments of all of these, then we can say that a good level of Health Related Fitness has been reached.” (www.teachpe.com)

The Five Components of Health Related Fitness (HRF)

Health related fitness can be divided into five key components. These are muscular endurance, strength, flexibility, aerobic endurance and body composition. The basic definitions of these components are:

Muscular Endurance –

“This is a combination of strength and endurance. It is the ability to perform many repetitions against a given resistance for a prolonged period.” (www.gk22.com)

Aerobic endurance -

This is the ability of the cardio respiratory system to supply the muscles with oxygen to maintain aerobic exercise for long periods. It is also “the ability to do prolonged exercise without fatigue.” (www.topendsports.com)

Flexibility –

This is the “ability to move a body joint through its normal full range of motion.” (www.specialolympics.org)

Strength –

“This is the ability of a person to exert force on physical objects using the muscles.” (Class notes)

Body Composition –

“This is the amount of body fat and lean body tissue in an individual.” (Class notes)

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Flexibility –

This is the “ability to move a body joint through its normal full range of motion.” (www.specialolympics.org)

Strength –

“This is the ability of a person to exert force on physical objects using the muscles.” (Class notes)

Body Composition –

“This is the amount of body fat and lean body tissue in an individual.” (Class notes)

The two sports I will be comparing are weightlifting and marathon running. I chose these two as I believe they both use the body to its maximum effort but in different areas. For instance, a weightlifter would be using more strength and muscular endurance, whereas a marathon runner would be using more aerobic endurance and they would need a good body composition.

The Importance of HRF within Weightlifting

When a weightlifter is practicing or performing in a competition they must use all of their upper body strength when lifting weights. This means that strength is the key component for a weightlifter, as seen in the pie chart below. If a weightlifter does not use their maximum amount of strength then they will not be lifting as much as they possibly could, and therefore will not be working to the best of their ability.

The second and third most important components for a weightlifter are muscular and aerobic endurance. If a weightlifter does not have a good level of muscular endurance, their muscles will tire much quicker and easier and so they will not be able to hold weights for long periods of time or train for a long period of time. If a weightlifter were to overtire their muscles, this could lead to injury or serious strain on the muscles. A weightlifter must remember to rest and recuperate which can help in achieving a higher level of muscular endurance and strength as it gives the body time to recover before putting it back to work. If they do not rest and recuperate, this could lead to overtraining, which is defined as “a physical and metal state which occurs due to excessive training without adequate recovery.” (www.topendsports.com)

In my opinion, aerobic endurance is also important as a weightlifter must be able to breathe deeply for continuous stretches of time otherwise their bodies will heat up quicker, occurring in fatigue and tiredness. I believe flexibility and body composition play a small element in a weightlifter’s health related fitness. A weightlifter needs to be quite flexible as they need to flex their muscles when lifting and performing. Also, if their muscles are not very flexible they may pull a muscle or a strain could occur. A good body composition is also important as a weightlifter needs to be quite large so that they can support the weight they are lifting.

The Importance of HRF within Marathon Running

Marathon runners need their bodies to be able to perform for long periods of time, without fatigue setting in too quickly. That is why aerobic endurance is the most important factor of Health Related Fitness. A high level of aerobic endurance is helpful in many ways, as it “improves athletic endurance, it strengthens the heart muscle and it improves the lung capacity.” (www.topendsports.com)

All of these benefits are extremely useful to a runner as they must be able to pace themselves and to breathe deeply for a long time, without getting tired or running out of breath. A large lung capacity enables the runner to perform for a much longer period of time, and so it is vital that a marathon runner has a high level of aerobic endurance.

A good body composition is also quite important for a marathon runner. If they have high levels of body fat then they will not be able to perform as well as they possibly could as they will be short of breath quickly, whereas if they have low levels of body fat then they could be worn out too easily. A runner needs to be quite thin, but still have enough power to keep going. A study was taken out to find the best body composition type for a marathon runner and it was found that “Male and female runners are slight in build with little body fat and possessing large lung volumes.” (Christine L Wells) This is also more evidence to show that aerobic endurance is extremely important to marathon runners as the study showed that top marathon runners possessed ‘large lung volumes’.

Muscular endurance and flexibility are equally as important to a runner in my opinion. They need their muscles to be able to repeatedly generate a force for at least an hour, which many people’s muscles would not be able to take, resulting in injury.

Flexibility is important to a marathon runner as their muscles are flexing each time they take a step, and so need to be able to stretch with the runner in order for them to keep a steady speed.

The Contrasts of Weightlifting and Marathon Running

Within weightlifting, the key component is strength, accounting for 60% of their Health Related Fitness, whereas strength is the least important within marathon running, accounting for only 5% of a runner’s Health Related Fitness. Within marathon running however, the most important factor is aerobic endurance, which makes up 60% of their Health Related Fitness, whereas it only accounts for 15% of a weightlifter, which means that although a weightlifter does not necessarily need a brilliant aerobic endurance, it still needs to be fairly good for them to excel within their sport.

Flexibility is a small factor in both sports people’s Health Related Fitness, accounting for only 5% for a weightlifter and 10% for a marathon runner. Muscular endurance is also a smaller aspect of Health Related Fitness, as it only makes up 10% for a marathon runner. However it does account for 15% of a weightlifter, making it slightly more significant but still quite small in my opinion. However according to a recent newsletter by Paige Waehner, muscular endurance is the “…Ability to make repeated contractions against a moderate load. When your goal is good muscular endurance, lift a heavy enough weight that you can only complete 12-16 repetitions of each exercise.” This shows that some people believe that to obtain a good level of muscular endurance, weightlifting is a key sport in achieving this goal. A weightlifter does not need perfect body composition, as strength is a lot more important, and body composition only makes up 5% of a weightlifter’s Health Related Fitness. However, body composition is slightly more important for a marathon runner as if they have a too high or too low level of body fat their speed and performance will drop considerably.

Conclusion

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