Chapter 9 - Skill Fitness and Fitness Programing
Skill Related Components of Fitness
There are 6 skill related components of fitness. They are important for successful
motor performance in sports but you can still live a healthy life if you have poor skill
related fitness. Physically active people can benefit from learning some of these
skills associated with physical fitness. Some of the benefits include:
Improved reaction time, balance, coordination and agility.
Improved ability to generate maximum force in a short time.
Improved speed, even as age increases.
The following are skill related components of fitness:
Agility—the ability to change body position and direction quickly and efficiently. Do
you remember the shuttle run test in grade school where you had to run down to the
end of the gym and pick up a block and run back to the starting line, put it down on
the line only to have to run back and repeat the block pick-up two more times? This
was testing your agility. A person who is agile can change directions quickly.
Balance—the ability to maintain the body in equilibrium. Hopefully you will never
have to demonstrate this in front of a police officer!
Coordination—the ability to produce correct, graceful and harmonious body
movements. Some of us are born coordinated and others have to work on it. But
don’t worry if you are one of the uncoordinated people out there. You can still live a
very happy, healthy life.
Power—the ability to produce maximum force in a short time. There are two
components of power: speed and force. It is necessary in many sports, especially
ones that require a quick, powerful start.
Reaction Time—the time required to initiate a response to a stimulus. This is very
important when driving a car.
Speed—the ability to rapidly propel the body or part of the body to a given point.
You may need this to catch a departing bus or run after a child in the street.
Specific exercise considerations:
For physically inactive people, start at 50% intensity and build gradually.
Monitor heart rate during exercise frequently.
Be sure to warm-up prior to exercise. Warm–up for about 5-8 minutes by gradually
increasing your activity until you achieve your target heart rate. Cool down should
follow every exercise session and should be done until heart rate is less than 100
bpm.
For weight loss—drop the rate of intensity so that you can exercise for longer periods
of time. Try to extend the duration up to 45 minutes.
