HKDSE PE cheat sheet

Fitness components split into health-related (cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, body composition) and skill-related (speed, agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time).

FITT principle: Frequency (sessions per week), Intensity (expressed as %HRmax, %1RM, or RPE), Time (duration per session), Type (mode of activity); progression must manipulate one variable at a time.

Estimated maximum heart rate = 220 − age (years); target training zone commonly 60–85% HRmax for aerobic development, with Karvonen formula using heart-rate reserve for more individualised prescription.

Karvonen: Target HR = (HRmax − HRrest) × %intensity + HRrest; heart-rate reserve = HRmax − HRrest.

BMI = body mass (kg) ÷ height² (m²); BMI is a population screening index only and cannot distinguish fat mass from lean mass.

Borg RPE scale (6–20) maps roughly to heart rate: RPE × 10 ≈ exercise heart rate in beats per minute.

Progressive overload, specificity, reversibility (detraining) and individual differences are the four general training principles; recovery is required for adaptation to occur.

Skill classification continua: open vs closed, gross vs fine, discrete vs serial vs continuous, and externally paced vs self-paced; classification determines practice design.

Information processing model: input → perception → decision-making → effector output → feedback; feedback may be intrinsic or extrinsic, and knowledge of results differs from knowledge of performance.

Three energy systems: ATP-PC (phosphagen) ~0–10 s maximal effort, anaerobic glycolysis ~10 s–2 min, oxidative (aerobic) system for prolonged submaximal work; all operate simultaneously with dominance shifting by intensity and duration.

ATP-PC system resynthesises ATP fastest but has the smallest capacity; aerobic system has the largest capacity but lowest rate of ATP production.

Lactic acid accumulation and H+ ion build-up are associated with fatigue in high-intensity short-duration exercise; lactate is cleared and recycled as a fuel, not simply a waste product.

Muscle fibre types: Type I (slow-twitch, oxidative, fatigue-resistant), Type IIa (fast oxidative-glycolytic, intermediate), Type IIx/IIb (fast glycolytic, powerful, fatigable).

Acute responses to exercise include increased heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, ventilation, and redistribution of blood flow to working muscles; chronic adaptations include increased stroke volume, capillary density, mitochondrial volume and anaerobic enzyme activity.

Fick equation: cardiac output (Q) = heart rate × stroke volume; oxygen uptake VO2 = Q × arteriovenous oxygen difference.

Motor learning stages: cognitive (conscious, error-prone), associative (refining, fewer errors), autonomous (automatic, low attentional demand); practice may be massed vs distributed, whole vs part, blocked vs random.

Arousal and performance: inverted-U hypothesis, drive theory (linear), and catastrophe theory; optimal arousal depends on task complexity - fine skills generally need lower arousal than gross skills.

Goal setting follows SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound); outcome goals differ from performance and process goals, with process goals most directly controllable.