Core 2 - The Body in Motion
What you must understand
Link anatomy (skeletal, muscular, joint structures) to biomechanics and physiology. Know the planes and axes (sagittal, frontal, transverse planes; corresponding axes) and the movement terms they generate. Classify joints (fibrous, cartilaginous, synovial - hinge, ball-and-socket, pivot, saddle, gliding, condyloid) and match each to available movements. Understand muscle roles (agonist, antagonist, stabiliser, synergist) and contraction types (concentric, eccentric, isometric). Apply Newton's three laws to human movement, and explain levers (class 1, 2, 3) with the body as a lever system. Know the components of fitness (health- and skill-related) and how the FITT principle and progressive overload drive adaptation. Explain acute responses to exercise (heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, ventilation, redistribution of blood flow) and chronic adaptations of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, plus the anaerobic (ATP-PC, lactic) and aerobic energy pathways and their fuel and duration limits.
Traps in questions
- Naming a plane without the matching axis, or vice versa.
- Calling the antagonist "inactive" - it usually lengthens under control (eccentric).
- Confusing cardiac output (Q = HR × SV) with stroke volume.
- Assuming the aerobic system only uses fat, or that ATP-PC lasts minutes (it lasts seconds).
- Describing a lever class incorrectly: most body levers are third class (effort between fulcrum and load).
Worked rule of thumb
For any "analyse the movement" item, run J-M-C-L: Joint → Movement → Contraction type → Lever class. Example: in a biceps curl, the elbow (hinge joint) flexes; the biceps brachii is the agonist contracting concentrically while the triceps lengthens eccentrically; the elbow acts as a third-class lever because the effort (biceps insertion) lies between the fulcrum (elbow) and the load (hand).