Planning a Fitness Program- Fitness Fundamentals Ch 8/L3

Review: Physical Fitness is…. …the ability to perform daily tasks vigorously and alertly, with energy left over for leisure time activities and meeting emergency demands. Physical Fitness involves how well your heart, lungs, and muscles of the body work. Fitness also influences our mental alertness and emotional stability to a certain degree.

1) If we wanted to plan a fitness program, what do we have to consider before we get started? a) goals: how often, how long and how hard you exercise, and what kind of exercises you do should be determined by what you are trying to accomplish. b) interests: What do you like doing? If you don’t like your workout, you’ll lose motivation and quit c) commitment: Working out must become a lifelong commitment, like brushing your teeth. Unless your convinced of the benefits of fitness, you will not succeed. d) time/ convenience: how much time can you spend per workout? When can you work out? For how long? Schedule your workout during a time that you can commit to without interruptions. e) your fitness level and body limitations: don’t try to do too much too soon! Be patient - improvement takes time. You can’t regain in a few days or weeks, what you have lost in years of not being active. Let injuries heal, consider other health concerns.

2) Knowing the Basics… The Elements of Fitness and how to improve them…: Heart and Lung Endurance: Aerobic Exercise Muscle Strength: exert force over a short period of time —> lifting exercises (heavier weights) Muscle Endurance: sustain repeated contractions of a muscle (group) —> push ups, sit ups, light weights Flexibility: move joints and move muscles through their full range of motion —> various stretching exercises (Body Composition)

3) Heart Rate and Your Fitness Heart rate is widely accepted as a good method for measuring your general fitness (how quickly does it rise during exercise? how long does it take to return to “normal”?) and for measuring the intensity (how hard you are working out) during a workout. Exercise that doesn’t raise your heart rate into your Target Heart Rate Range for at least 20 minutes will not contribute to your heart and lung endurance (or cardiovascular fitness). The heart beat range that will safely give you the most benefit out of exercise is between 60%-80% of your maximum heart rate. How to calculate your Target Heart Rate Range? Look at the example on our Worksheet you received Sept.26.

4) Workout Schedule and Stages Your Fitness Program should include something from each of the Elements of Fitness each time you workout What are the 3 stages each workout should include? A) warm-up: 5-10 min of exercise such as walking, slow jogging, knee lifts, light stretching, …etc. The warm-ups get the body ready for the upcoming workout, it rises body temperature, increases your heart beat and blood flow, makes muscles more elastic —> injury prevention, especially important for teenagers whose muscles, tendons and ligaments have difficulties keeping up with the body’s growth spurts.

B) Conditioning: min depending on your goal. Try to reach your goal - you need to know what type of exercise will help you reach and improve your goal(s). muscle strength: lifting exercises at least 2x/week for 20 min muscle endurance: light weight training, push ups, sit ups, pull ups at least 3x/week for 30 min heart and lung endurance: aerobic exercises (jogging, biking, swimming,…) at least 3x/ week for 20 min flexibility: min of stretching daily C) Cool Down: 5-10 min. of slow walking, low level exercise, stretching. The cool down will get the body ready to stop exercising, prevents muscles from tightening up and collecting blood and lactic acid in muscles, prevents dizziness and soreness.

5) Factors that will improve your fitness program… a) specificity: pick the right kind of activity to reach your goal b) overload: work hard enough and long enough to bring your body over its resting level c) regularity: work out at least 3-4x/ week d) progression: increase… intensity (how hard) frequency (how often) duration/ time (how long) …….of your workouts.