Physical Education: Movement Forms, Biomechanics, and Fitness
This domain tests mechanics, fitness components and prescription, and knowledge of movement forms and game categories. Quantitative items on heart rate, levers, and training principles are common, so be able to show the arithmetic.
Fitness components
Health-related: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, body composition. Skill-related: agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time, speed. Strength is maximal force; endurance is repeated submaximal force; power is force times velocity (strength plus speed).
Biomechanics essentials
- Newton's laws: inertia (an object at rest stays at rest), F = ma, and action–reaction.
- Levers: first class, fulcrum between load and force (head nod, triceps extension); second class, load between fulcrum and force (calf raise, wheelbarrow); third class, force between fulcrum and load (biceps curl - most human levers, favoring speed and range over force).
- Balance: widen the base of support, lower the center of gravity, and align the center of gravity over the base to increase stability.
- Summation of forces: sequence segments proximal to distal and large to small for maximal speed (throwing, striking).
- Projectile motion: about 45° maximizes range in a vacuum, but a lower angle with a faster release or higher release point may travel farther in practice.
Training and prescription
Principles: overload, specificity, progression, reversibility, recovery. Use FITT-VP. Target heart rate by Karvonen: [(HRmax − HRrest) × intensity] + HRrest, with HRmax estimated as 220 − age.
Movement forms and game categories
Invasion (soccer, basketball), net/wall (volleyball, tennis), striking/fielding (softball, cricket), target (golf, archery), plus dance, gymnastics, aquatics, and outdoor pursuits. Tactical instruction emphasizes space, off-the-ball movement, and decision-making within these categories.
Worked example
A 16-year-old with a resting heart rate of 70 wants a 60–80% training zone. HRmax = 220 − 16 = 204. Heart rate reserve = 204 − 70 = 134. Lower bound = (134 × 0.60) + 70 = 80.4 + 70 = 150 bpm. Upper bound = (134 × 0.80) + 70 = 107.2 + 70 = 177 bpm. The zone is 150–177 bpm. Reasoning: Karvonen uses heart rate reserve, so the resting rate is added back; simply taking 60% of 204 (122 bpm) is the common wrong answer.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling a biceps curl a second- or first-class lever.
- Confusing muscular strength with muscular endurance in a prescription item.
- Using 220 − age as an exact measured value rather than an estimate.
- Believing maximal heart rate rises with training - resting heart rate falls, and stroke volume rises.