Fitness for health and performance.

Specific fitness is necessary if the activity you take part in is particularly demanding or if you are competing at a high level. This means you must prepare specifically for the needs of this activity. You can achieve specific fitness by training.

What is strength?

There are different types of strength; each has a different effect on the body static strength, explosive strength and dynamic strength. Static strength is the greatest amount of force that can be applied to an immovable object, like in a rugby scrum. Explosive strength is the muscular strength used in one short sharp movement, like a sprinter leaving the starting blocks. Dynamic strength is the muscular strength a sports person needs to support their own body weight over a prolonged period of time, or to be able to apply force against some type of object like in speed skating. This type of strength is closely linked with endurance. There are different methods to develop different types of strength.

Bodybuilding

Developing and increasing strength is quite easy as long as you follow the right training programme and understand the principles of training to increase muscle strength which is increasing the size of the muscle. This method is called overload which stresses the muscle gradually making them bigger. Most up to date equipment can be used by individuals and are specific for helping to build up different parts of the body. To improve on muscle tone performers can use repetitions and sets. Repetitions are the number of times you can actually move the weights. Sets are the number of times to do a particular weight activity. Isotonic training is where the amount of weight moved remains constant throughout the training. Isokinetic is where special equipment is needed so you can vary the weights while still working at a constant speed. Isometric training is where contraction is held at a particular point. On average, men have a third more strength than women. This is because men have more testosterone than women which increases muscle growth.

Flexibility

Is the range of movement around a joint. Sometimes it is called suppleness or mobility. The amount you can bend or stretch your joints is very important when taking part in physical activities. Flexibility can also decrease the chance of injury. Flexibility can increase the level of performance like in dancing, gymnastics and most athletic activities. Women tend to be more flexible than men because women have less muscle mass.

Dayna Edwin 10GB 01/05/2007