LCA Active Leisure Studies cheat sheet

Leisure is commonly defined as residual time: time left after work, sleep, chores and personal care are completed; recreation is the activity undertaken within that time.

Play is freely chosen, intrinsically motivated behaviour; it differs from leisure in that it need not be consciously chosen as discretionary time use.

Serious leisure (Stebbins) is sustained, career-like commitment to an activity producing a durable identity; casual leisure is short-lived, immediately enjoyable and requires little skill.

Flow (Csikszentmihalyi) occurs when challenge slightly exceeds skill, goals are clear and feedback is immediate; too much challenge produces anxiety, too little produces boredom.

Barriers to participation split into intrapersonal (knowledge, confidence, health), interpersonal (companions, social support) and structural (cost, transport, time, access).

Constraints are negotiated, not absolute: people modify aspirations, use substitution and re-time activities rather than simply dropping out.

Socialisation into leisure is primarily through family in childhood and peer groups in adolescence; socialisation through leisure means leisure shapes identity and status.

Leisure provision in most jurisdictions is a mixed economy of public, voluntary and commercial sectors, with public provision justified by equity and merit-good arguments.

Discretionary time budgets fall across the life course: adolescence and retirement typically show more free time, while mid-life parenting years show the sharpest squeeze.

Health-related fitness has five components: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and body composition; skill-related fitness adds speed, agility, balance, coordination, power and reaction time.

FITT principle: Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type - the four variables used to design and progress any training programme; the related FITT-VP adds Volume and Progression.

Aerobic intensity zones by percentage of maximum heart rate: moderate 64-76%, vigorous 77-93%; maximum heart rate is estimated as 220 minus age, with roughly ±10-12 bpm error.

Talk test: a person able to talk but not sing is working at moderate intensity; inability to say more than a few words indicates vigorous intensity.

Current public health guidance for adults is commonly 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity weekly, plus muscle-strengthening work on two or more days.

The Borg RPE 6-20 scale maps roughly to heart rate divided by 10; RPE 12-13 corresponds to moderate and 14-17 to vigorous effort.

Overload, specificity, reversibility and recovery are training principles: adaptation requires greater-than-normal demand, is specific to the system trained, is lost with inactivity, and occurs during recovery.

BMI is mass in kilograms divided by height in metres squared; it does not distinguish fat from lean mass, so it is a screening rather than diagnostic tool.

Sedentary behaviour is distinct from physical inactivity: a person can meet activity guidelines and still accumulate long uninterrupted sitting, which carries independent health risk.

Adventure activities are classified by the degree of real risk and uncertainty: high-adventure activities (climbing, white-water kayaking) carry consequences for error, low-adventure activities (waymarked walking) do not.

The adventure experience paradigm (Martin and Priest) plots perceived risk against perceived competence: exploration, adventure, peak adventure, misadventure and devastation are its five outcomes.

Peak adventure occurs where perceived risk slightly exceeds perceived competence and the participant holds sufficient real skill, producing optimal arousal without loss of control.

Navigation essentials are map, compass, and the ability to take and follow a bearing; a bearing is the angle measured clockwise from grid north to the direction of travel.

Three Norths must be distinguished for accurate navigation: true north, grid north and magnetic north; magnetic variation is the angular difference between grid and magnetic north and changes with location and over time.

Weather exposure risk rises with wind chill; hypothermia is core temperature below 35 degrees Celsius, with progressive shivering, confusion and loss of coordination as warning signs.

Leave No Trace principles: plan ahead, travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimise campfire impact, respect wildlife, be considerate of others.

Environmental impact in popular outdoor areas is managed through zoning, permits, carrying capacity limits and seasonal closures rather than outright exclusion.

Hazard versus risk: a hazard is a source of potential harm; risk is the combination of the likelihood of that harm occurring and its severity.

The risk assessment hierarchy is eliminate, substitute, engineering controls, administrative controls, then personal protective equipment - the least effective control is relied on last.

A risk matrix multiplies likelihood by severity to give a rating (low, medium, high, extreme) which determines whether an activity proceeds, is modified, or is stopped.

Duty of care requires leaders to act as a reasonable and prudent professional would in the same circumstances; negligence requires a duty, a breach, damage, and causation.

Consent and informed choice matter in adventure settings: participants should know the nature of the risk, and parental consent applies to minors.

Primary survey DRABC: Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation - catastrophic bleeding is controlled before airway checks.

CPR for an adult: 30 compressions to 2 rescue breaths at 100-120 compressions per minute, compressing the chest by about one third of its depth (5-6 cm).

Recovery position is used for an unresponsive casualty who is breathing normally; it maintains an open airway and allows fluid to drain.

Incident reporting should record what happened, when, where, who was involved, what actions were taken, and who was informed - contemporaneously and factually.

Facility types distinguish wet (pools, splash areas) from dry (sports halls, courts, studios), and single-use from multi-use; multi-use design raises utilisation but complicates scheduling.

Programming ratios in a facility balance peak demand (evenings, weekends) against off-peak underuse; off-peak pricing and targeted programmes are the standard tools to flatten demand.

Accessibility requirements include step-free access, accessible changing and toilets, and pool hoists; inclusive design is a legal duty in many jurisdictions, not an optional extra.

Staffing models use direct (delivery), indirect (supervision) and support roles; lifeguard-to-swimmer ratios are set locally and should be documented in the normal operating procedure.

Event planning phases run: concept and feasibility, planning, delivery, and post-event evaluation; a critical path sets the order of dependent tasks and the latest possible start dates.

Event budgeting separates fixed costs (venue hire, insurance) from variable costs (per-participant medals, catering), and identifies break-even, where income equals total costs.

Break-even point in participants equals fixed costs divided by (income per participant minus variable cost per participant).

Risk and safety planning for events includes a site-specific risk assessment, a major incident plan, marshalling, first aid cover and communication protocols.

Post-event evaluation measures against pre-set objectives and uses participant satisfaction, attendance, financial reconciliation and stakeholder feedback.

Leisure sector career routes include facility operations, coaching and instruction, outdoor instruction, event management, health referral and exercise, community development and leisure management.

Typical entry qualifications are vocational awards in sport, fitness or outdoor activity (for example instructor or coaching awards) plus, for management, a degree or higher national qualification.

Regulated roles require recognised certification: lifeguards need a pool lifeguard qualification with periodic renewal, and fitness instructors need a level 2 certificate plus insurance.

Professional bodies and chartered institutes set codes of conduct and continuing professional development requirements; CPD is normally logged annually.

Career progression commonly moves from delivery (instructor) to coordination (supervisor, programme officer) to management (facility or contract manager) to strategic roles.

Employment patterns in the sector include seasonal, part-time and sessional work, particularly outdoors; portfolio careers combining several roles are common.

Further study options include sport and exercise science, leisure and tourism management, outdoor education, physical education and event management at degree and postgraduate level.

Transferable skills valued by employers are communication, safeguarding awareness, customer service, teamwork, problem solving, and the ability to plan and evaluate programmes.