Distinguish health-related from skill-related fitness and define each component with a sporting example

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to distinguish health-related fitness from skill-related fitness and to define each component with a sporting example. The central idea is that "fitness" is not one thing: it is a set of separate qualities, some that keep you healthy and able to be active, and some that let you perform skilful sport well.

The answer

Two families of fitness

Fitness components split into two groups.

• Health-related fitness is about the qualities that keep the body healthy and able to cope with everyday activity. These benefit everyone, not just athletes.
• Skill-related fitness is about the qualities that let a performer carry out skilful movement well. These matter most in sport and competition.

The health-related components

There are five health-related components.

• Cardiovascular endurance: the ability of the heart and lungs to deliver oxygen to the muscles for a long time. Key in distance running.
• Muscular strength: the maximum force a muscle can produce in one effort. Key in weightlifting.
• Muscular endurance: the ability of a muscle to keep contracting over time without tiring. Key in rowing.
• Flexibility: the range of movement at a joint. Key in gymnastics.
• Body composition: the proportion of fat, muscle and bone in the body. Relevant across many sports.

The skill-related components

The skill-related components support quality of movement and performance.

• Agility: the ability to change direction quickly and under control. Key in netball.
• Balance: keeping the body's centre of mass over the base of support. Key in gymnastics.
• Coordination: using two or more body parts together smoothly. Key in a tennis serve.
• Power: combining strength and speed to produce explosive movement. Key in a long jump.
• Reaction time: the time to respond to a stimulus. Key for a sprint start.
• Speed: how quickly the body or a part of it can move. Key in a 100 m sprint.

Examples in context

Example 1. A games player across a match. A footballer needs cardiovascular endurance to last 90 minutes (health-related), agility to beat an opponent and power to strike the ball (both skill-related). A single sport draws on both families at once, which is why training must develop several components.

Example 2. A gymnast on the beam. Flexibility (health-related) lets the gymnast reach extreme positions, while balance and coordination (skill-related) keep them on the beam through a routine. Without all three the routine fails, showing how the families combine in one performance.

Try this

• Cue. List the five health-related components of fitness. (Cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, body composition.)

• Cue. Classify reaction time, flexibility and coordination into the correct family. (Reaction time and coordination are skill-related; flexibility is health-related.)

• Cue. Explain the difference between power and strength with an example. (Strength is maximum force in one effort, as in a heavy squat; power adds speed for an explosive effort, as in a vertical jump.)