AS Level - Week 1 Practical

1. AS Level - Week 1 Practical Module 3 - Fitness Testing

2. Aims • Define fitness. • Define V02 max • Take student’s peak flow. • Perform test to measure aerobic capacity, one maximal the other sub-maximal. (Multi Stage Fitness Test & Harvard Step Test) • Examine a correlation between peak flow and aerobic fitness.

3. Fitness • The successful adaptation to the stressors of one’s lifestyle. • The ability to undertake everyday activities without undue fatigue. Remember not everyone is an athlete and everyone has different fitness requirements for their jobs and everyday lives.

4. Cardio-respiratory Endurance (aerobic capacity) Definition “the ability of the cardiovascular and respiratory system to take in and transport oxygen to the working muscles where it can be utilized and aerobic performance maintained”. Aerobic performance consists of sub-maximal exercise where the activity is of a continuous nature such as long distance running, swimming and cycling. Cardio-respiratory endurance helps in multiple sprint type activities and games such as football, rugby and hockey since it will help the performer to withstand fatigue, recover during periods of less intense activity and so last the duration of the game.

5. Several factors influence a person’s cardio-respiratory endurance-: • The efficiency of gaseous exchange – both at the lungs and at the muscle cells. • The effectiveness of oxygen transport from the lungs to the muscle cells. • The ability of the muscle cells to utilize oxygen that they receive. Because of the above we would expect a performer with high cardio-respiratory endurance to possess the following-: • A greater capillarization of the aveoli and muscle. • A greater concentration of red blood cells and haemoglobin which helps to transport the oxygen to the working muscles. • A greater proportion of slow oxidative muscle fibres. • A greater proportion of myoglobin which helps to store oxygen and transport it to the mitochondria.

6. A greater number and size of mitochondria, which can utilize the oxygen to provide. Key words-: Mitochondria – The site of energy production under aerobic conditions (when oxygen is present) Slow oxidative muscle fibres – Muscle fibres that are designed for endurance and are able to produce a large amount of energy over a long period of time assuming that oxygen is present.

7. VO2 max • The maximal amount of oxygen that can be taken in, transported and consumed by the working muscles per minute. There are two methods of measuring cardiovascular fitness (VO2 max). You can use either a maximal test where you perform until exhaustion, or a sub-maximal test where you perform for a set amount of time and from your heart rate readings your level of fitness can be measured. Maximal = Multi-Stage Fitness Test Sub-maximal = Harvard Step Test

8. Tasks • Administer MSFT and record results • Administer Record Peak Flow and main sport for each student • Administer HST and record results • Discuss results and validity of tests