Components of Fitness Revision

Health Related Components of Fitness

These components tell us about our general fitness:
Aerobic Endurance ( or Cardiovascular Endurance): The ability of the body to
provide oxygen for continual exercise over an extended time period( more than 2
minutes) It depends on the heart being able to pump blood around the body, delivering
oxygen and removing carbon dioxide and waste from the working muscles. Example.
Long distance running, swimming, cycling, field sports.
Strength: Strength or Anaerobic Power is the maximum amount of force you are able to
exert in one effort. It can be measured by the maximum amount of weight you can lift.
Other types of skill related fitness like Speed and Power are related to strength, in that
you use produce a maximum force very quickly . Example. Throwing a shotput, high
jump, sprinting.
Muscular Endurance: The ability of the muscles to work continually over an extended
time period. The muscle group is repeatedly contracting against a low weight or
resistance. Examples: Cycling; lower body muscle groups. Swimming; mainly upper
body muscle groups.
Flexibility: is the freedom of movement of your joints. It allows you to move your body
through many movements and positions. Flexibility in sports allows us to perform certain
skills more efficiently, for example a gymnast, dancer or diver must be highly flexible,
but it is also important in other sports to aid performance and decrease the risk of injury.
Body Composition: Body composition is the amount of muscle, fat, bone, cartilage etc
that makes up our bodies. In terms of health, fat is the main point of interest and
everything else is termed lean body tissue. Too much fat can lead to disease and makes
improving your fitness and skills difficult.

Skill Related Components of Fitness

These components are more sports specific:
Speed: How quickly we can move from one place to another.
Power: Using strength in a quick, explosive action eg. Jumping as high as you can
Agility: Quickly and effectively changing direction or body position while moving.

*Other types of skill related fitness not addressed in this unit of work:
Balance: remaining stable and controlled whilst performing or playing
Coordination: putting movements together with good timing and control.
Reaction Time: how quickly we respond to a stimulus or information.
Sourced from: Smyth, D et al. Live it Up 2, 2nd ed. Melbourne: John Wiley and sons,
2006.