Yoga, Exercise and Physical Fitness
Yoga, Exercise and Physical Fitness
This domain tests fitness components, training principles, exercise types and the theory and practice of yoga.
Fitness components
- Health-related: cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, body composition.
- Skill-related: speed, agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time.
Exercise and training
- Aerobic exercise uses oxygen over a long duration; anaerobic is short and intense.
- Isotonic contractions move a joint (push-up); isometric contractions hold without movement (plank).
- Overload, progression, specificity, reversibility and recovery are the training principles.
- FITT = frequency, intensity, time, type.
Yoga
- Codified by Patanjali's Yoga Sutras; the eight limbs are yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi.
- Asana is posture; pranayama is breath regulation. Benefits include flexibility, balance, stress control and better concentration.
- Surya Namaskar has 12 steps and works major muscle groups.
- Practise on an empty stomach, on a mat, without straining; avoid inverted postures in high blood pressure and neck injury.
- International Yoga Day is 21 June, adopted by the UN in 2014 and first observed in 2015.
Worked example
Target heart rate for a 15-year-old at 60–70% of maximum. Max HR ≈ 220 − 15 = 205 bpm. Lower limit = 0.60 × 205 = 123 bpm; upper = 0.70 × 205 = 143.5 ≈ 144 bpm. So the aerobic zone is about 123–144 bpm. Show the subtraction and both multiplications - that is where marks lie.
Traps
- Defining yoga as only asana.
- Classifying flexibility as skill-related (it is health-related).
- Confusing isometric with isotonic.
- Using static stretching as the main warm-up before power events; dynamic warm-up is preferred.