Personal Fitness

This course is designed to provide students with the basic skills and information needed to begin a personalized exercise program and maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.  Students participate in pre- and post fitness assessments in which they measure and analyze their own levels of fitness based on the five components of physical fitness: muscular strength, endurance, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, and body composition.  In this course, students research the benefits of physical activity, as well as the techniques, principles, and guidelines of exercise to keep them safe and healthy. Throughout this course students participate in a weekly fitness program involving elements of cardio, strength, and flexibility.

Prerequisitest: None

Course Length: One semester

Course Cost: $325/student per semester

Course Objectives:

• Apply physiological principles related to exercise and training such as warm-up/cool down, overload, frequency, intensity, specificity, or progression.
• Apply biomechanical principles related to exercise and training such as force, leverage, and type of contraction.
• Apply rules, procedures, and etiquette.
• Recognize and resolve conflicts during physical activity.
• Demonstrate safety procedures such as spotting during gymnastics and using non-skid footwear.
• Describe examples and exercises that may be harmful or unsafe.
• Explain the relationship between fluid balance, physical activity, and environmental conditions such as loss of water and salt during exercise.
• Identify the effects of substance abuse on physical performance.
• explain the relationship between physical fitness and health;
• Participate in a variety of activities that develop health-related physical fitness activities including aerobic exercise to develop cardiovascular efficiency.
• Demonstrate the skill-related components of physical fitness such as agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time, and speed.
• Compare and contrast health-related and skill-related fitness.
• Describe methods of evaluating health-related fitness such as Cooper's 1.5 mile run test.
• List and describe the components of exercise prescription such as overload principle, type, progression, or specificity.
• Design and implement a personal fitness program.
• Evaluate consumer issues related to physical fitness such as marketing claims promoting fitness products and services.
• Investigate positive and negative attitudes towards exercise and physical activities.
• Describe physical fitness activities that can be used for stress reduction.
• Explain how over training may contribute to negative health problems such as bulimia and anorexia.
• Analyze the relationship between sound nutritional practices and physical activity.
• Explain myths associated with physical activity and nutritional practices.
• Analyze methods of weight control such as diet, exercise, or combination of both.
• Identify changeable risk factors such as inactivity, smoking, nutrition, and stress that affect physical activity and health.