14.3 Designing Activities to Improve Health-Related and Skill-Related Fitness
Key Takeaways
- The five health-related fitness components are cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition; the six skill-related components are agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time, and speed.
- The FITT principle -- frequency, intensity, time, and type -- is the design framework for a fitness activity, and progressive overload with specificity governs how it changes over time.
- Target heart rate is commonly estimated as a percentage of maximum heart rate (about 220 minus age) or, more precisely, using the Karvonen heart rate reserve method that incorporates resting heart rate.
- Dynamic warm-ups are recommended before activity, while static stretching is appropriate afterward because prolonged static stretching immediately before power activities can transiently reduce force output.
- Youth resistance training is safe and beneficial when supervised, technique-first, and appropriately loaded; the concern about stunting growth is not supported, while poor technique and maximal lifting do carry real risk.
The Two Component Sets
Health-related fitness (five components)
| Component | Definition | Sample development activity |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiorespiratory endurance | The ability of the heart, lungs, and vessels to supply oxygen during sustained activity | Continuous running, cycling, swimming, aerobic games, interval work |
| Muscular strength | Maximum force a muscle or group can generate in one effort | Resistance training with heavier loads and lower repetitions |
| Muscular endurance | Ability to sustain repeated contractions over time | Bodyweight circuits, higher-repetition resistance work, planks |
| Flexibility | Range of motion available at a joint | Static stretching after activity, dynamic mobility, yoga |
| Body composition | The relative proportion of fat and fat-free mass | Influenced by activity and nutrition; never graded and never publicly reported |
Skill-related fitness (six components)
| Component | Definition | Sample activity |
|---|---|---|
| Agility | Changing direction rapidly and accurately | Shuttle runs, cone and ladder work, tag games |
| Balance | Maintaining equilibrium, static or dynamic | Single-leg holds, beam work, unstable-surface tasks |
| Coordination | Using senses and body parts together smoothly | Juggling, dribbling, jump rope, striking |
| Power | Force applied rapidly -- strength times speed | Jumping, medicine ball throws, sprint starts |
| Reaction time | Time from stimulus to response initiation | Partner drop-and-catch, start-on-signal games |
| Speed | Performing a movement in the shortest time | Short sprints, quick-feet drills |
The distinction is frequently tested. Health-related components relate to health outcomes and disease risk; skill-related components relate to athletic performance. Power is skill-related; strength is health-related. Agility, coordination, reaction time, and speed are all skill-related.
FITT and the Training Principles
| FITT | Question | Aerobic example | Resistance example |
|---|---|---|---|
| F -- Frequency | How often? | Most days of the week | 2 to 3 nonconsecutive days per week |
| I -- Intensity | How hard? | Moderate to vigorous; target heart rate zone or talk test | Load and repetition range |
| T -- Time | How long? | Accumulating toward the 60-minute daily youth target | Sets and repetitions |
| T -- Type | What activity? | The mode -- running, swimming, cycling, games | The exercises selected |
Training principles
| Principle | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Overload | Improvement requires a demand greater than the body is accustomed to |
| Progression | Overload must increase gradually; too fast produces injury, too slow produces no adaptation |
| Specificity | Adaptations are specific to the demand imposed -- training the aerobic system does not build maximal strength |
| Individuality | People respond differently to the same program |
| Reversibility | Adaptations are lost when training stops -- the use-it-or-lose-it principle |
| Recovery | Adaptation occurs during rest, not during the session |
| Variation | Varying the stimulus sustains adaptation and interest |
Intensity Measurement
Target heart rate
Estimated maximum heart rate: approximately 220 minus age. This is a population estimate with substantial individual variation and should be presented as such.
Percentage-of-maximum method: multiply estimated maximum by the target percentage. For a 15-year-old, estimated maximum is about 205; a 70 percent target is about 144 beats per minute.
Karvonen (heart rate reserve) method, which is more precise because it accounts for fitness level through resting heart rate:
Target HR = ((HRmax - HRrest) x intensity %) + HRrest
For a 15-year-old with a resting heart rate of 65 at 70 percent intensity: HRmax is about 205, heart rate reserve is 205 minus 65, which is 140; 140 times 0.70 is 98; 98 plus 65 gives a target of about 163 beats per minute. The Karvonen result is higher than the percentage-of-maximum result for the same stated intensity, which is a frequently tested comparison.
Practical field measures
- Talk test: able to talk but not sing indicates moderate intensity; unable to say more than a few words indicates vigorous
- Rating of perceived exertion: the Borg scale (6 to 20) or a simplified 0 to 10 scale; useful and requires no equipment
- Heart rate monitors: real-time feedback; excellent for teaching self-regulation of intensity
Warm-Up, Cool-Down, and Flexibility
| Phase | Content | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| General warm-up | 5 to 10 minutes of light continuous activity | Raise muscle and core temperature, heart rate, and blood flow |
| Dynamic warm-up | Controlled movements through the range of motion resembling the activity -- leg swings, walking lunges, high knees, arm circles, movement-specific patterns | Prepares the nervous system and tissues; the recommended pre-activity practice |
| Activity | The lesson | -- |
| Cool-down | 5 to 10 minutes of decreasing intensity | Gradual return of heart rate; avoids blood pooling |
| Static stretching | Holding a stretch, commonly 15 to 30 seconds | Appropriate after activity, when tissues are warm |
Why the order matters: prolonged static stretching immediately before power and speed activities has been shown to transiently reduce force production and performance. Dynamic warm-up before, static stretching after, is the current recommendation. A candidate who recommends static stretching as the pre-activity warm-up is giving outdated guidance.
Other flexibility methods: PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation), which alternates contraction and relaxation and is highly effective but generally requires a trained partner; and ballistic stretching, using bouncing momentum, which is not recommended for general school use because of injury risk.
Youth Resistance Training
Professional organizations support supervised, appropriately designed resistance training for children and adolescents. Two facts the exam tests:
- The claim that resistance training stunts growth is not supported. Growth plate injury is associated with maximal lifting, poor technique, and inadequate supervision, not with appropriate training itself.
- Strength gains in prepubertal children come primarily from neural adaptation -- improved motor unit recruitment and coordination -- rather than from muscle hypertrophy, because the hormonal environment for substantial hypertrophy is not yet present.
Guidance for school programs: qualified supervision; technique before load; begin with body weight and light resistance; higher repetition ranges rather than maximal attempts; avoid one-repetition-maximum testing with children; 2 to 3 nonconsecutive sessions per week; whole-body balanced programming; and progressive, gradual load increases.
Class Formats
| Format | Description | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit training | Timed stations rotating through exercises | Whole-class engagement, mixed components, minimal equipment per student |
| Interval training | Alternating work and recovery periods | Cardiorespiratory development with high engagement |
| Continuous activity | Sustained moderate effort | Aerobic base; needs variety to hold interest |
| Fitness games | Activity embedded in a game structure | Motivation, especially in elementary and middle grades |
| Personal fitness planning | Students design, implement, and monitor their own program | High school; directly builds lifelong self-management |
Design constraints for a school setting: every student is active rather than waiting; tasks are self-referenced so each student works at their own level; no public comparison; and the class should never be used to punish, which converts the fitness program into an aversive experience.
Common Praxis Traps
- Trap 1: Misclassifying power as health-related. Power is skill-related; strength is health-related.
- Trap 2: Static stretching as the warm-up. Dynamic before, static after.
- Trap 3: Claiming resistance training stunts growth. Not supported; supervision and technique are the real issues.
- Trap 4: One-repetition-maximum testing with children. Avoid it.
- Trap 5: Treating 220 minus age as exact. It is a population estimate.
- Trap 6: Grading body composition. Never graded, never publicly reported.
Which of the following is a skill-related rather than a health-related fitness component?
Using the Karvonen heart rate reserve method, what is the approximate target heart rate for a 15-year-old with a resting heart rate of 65 beats per minute working at 70 percent intensity?
A teacher has students hold static stretches for 30 seconds each immediately before a sprinting and jumping unit. What revision does current guidance support?
A parent objects to a middle school resistance training unit, saying that lifting weights will stunt their child's growth. What is the accurate professional response?