1 Module

CONCEPT OF FITNESS AND WELLNESS

OBJECTIVES:

 Define the nine

dimensions of
wellness
 Identify the
behaviours that
promote wellness
 Define physical
activity and exercise
 Discuss principles of
fitness
 Concept of Fitness and Wellness | Module 1

Welcome to the Physical Education 1 Fitness and Wellness. The first

module of this course will highlight about the concepts of fitness and
wellness. As a college student, it is important for you to learn its basic
concepts for it will guide you to perform well in all the physical activities that
you will take in this course. This module will help you understand the
importance of having a healthy and fit body towards holistic wellness.
Enjoy learning!

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 Concept of Fitness and Wellness | Module 1

Healthy Behaviors and Wellness

Why Study Fitness and Wellness?

What are your fitness goals?
Why is there a need for behavior modification?
How often you engage yourself in physical exercises?

We walk in this world for a reason, those reasons are anchored with our desires,
our goals in life. As a college student we have set goals and according to Jonathan
Howard, your goals differ from those of your classmates, but everyone goals shares one
common attribute which is to improve individual wellbeing.

This lesson focuses on the importance of overall wellness, which is more than
being physically and mentally healthy, free from illness and disease. In fact, the study of
wellness incorporates all aspect of life. Achieving overall wellness means living your life
positively to the fullest.

What is wellness?

As the most familiar definition, wellness is the state of being healthy. It is simply
being free from diseases or illnesses. But wellness doesn’t just stop on positive health
status of an individual. It also contribute to person’s ability to develop, thrive, succeed,
enjoy life, and meet challenges head on with confidence and resolve.

What are the dimensions of wellness?

To achieve overall wellness, a person must be healthy in interconnected

dimensions of wellness. Here are 9 dimensions of wellness explained by Jonathan
Howard:

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 Concept of Fitness and Wellness | Module 1

Physical Wellness
People who are physically well actively make healthy decisions on
a daily basis. They eat a nutritionally balanced diet; they try to get an
adequate amount of sleep, and they make a habit of exercising three or
five times a week. They have the ability to identify their personal needs
and are aware of their personal needs and limitations.

Emotional Wellness
An emotionally well person successfully expresses and manages
an entire range of feelings, maintain a high level of self-esteem. They
have positive body-image and ability to regulate their feelings. They
know where to seek support and help.

Intellectual Wellness

Those who enjoy intellectual wellness engage in lifelong learning.

They seek knowledge and activities that further develop their critical
thinking and heighten global awareness.

Spiritual Wellness

People who can be described as spiritually well have identified a

core set of beliefs that guide their decision making, and other faith-
based endeavors, firm in their spiritual beliefs, they understand other
may have distinctly different set of guiding principles.

Social Wellness

A s o c i a l l y
respect. They have awareness of the feelings of others. They develop
network of friends, co-worker who shares common purpose and
provide support and validation.

Environmental Wellness

A n e n v i r o n m
environment can provide. Recognizes the limits to controlling an
environment and seek to understand the role an individual plays in the
environment.

Occupational Wellness

T h o s e w h o e n j o
satisfaction and enrichment in work, while always in pursuit of
opportunities to reach the next level of professional success.

Financial Wellness
P e o p l e w h o a r
goals regarding the finances that will allow them to reach their
personal goals and achieve self-defined financial success.

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 Concept of Fitness and Wellness | Module 1

Cultural Wellness
C u l t u r a l l y w e
diversity and richness present in other cultural backgrounds. Cultural
wellness implies understanding, awareness and intrinsic respect for
aspects of diversity. Those who accepts impact diversity on sexual
orientation, religion, gender, racial and ethnic backgrounds, age groups and disabilities.

How to foster wellness in your life?

Changing your lifestyle is never easy, you have to plan for it, work on it, and to
always stay on track of your plans. On the book Howard, to make your lifestyle changes
more attainable the American Psychological Association (APA) suggested the following
lifestyle behavioral changes:

Make a plan that will stick

Your plan is a map that will guide you on this journey of change. When making
your plan, it must be specific. You must set short term goals that will lead to achieving
your long term goals. It needs to be measurable and realistic so that you can identify if
you are achieving your goals. You can post your plan where in it visible so you’ll be
reminded of it.

Start small
You have set your goals. It is time to breakdown each short term goals to smaller
manageable steps. This time, you have to start with specific actions or activities like in
developing cardiovascular endurance begin with long distance walking for 2-3 hours in a
day.

Change one behavior at a time

Assess yourself by knowing and identifying your negative behaviors. Mark
behaviors that you often do and the least you do. It would be easier to begin with the
least things and replacing it with the good ones. Do it one at a time, if you feel there’s
changes then you can proceed to your next step.

Involve a buddy
A friend, a family member, a co-worker or someone else from your journey in
making behavioral changes who would make you feel motivated and accountable will be
your good buddy. It is good to have someone to talk to and share things about the
changes you are going through. It would be easier and less intimidating.

Ask for support

Everyone needs support especially those who are trying to make behavioral
changes. Plans would go smooth if someone is helping you. This time it is better to
accept help. It will strengthen your commitment in achieving your goals. It will make you
more resilient and independent in facing new challenges.

BREAK

Feeling exhausted with the mental workout? Let’s have a break and use a little of your physical energy. Stand and
stretch that muscles, finish 30 steps around your house. Then get some air, slowly inhale and exhale for 3 times.
And we’re done.

Let’s have a short activity by answering the self-assessment survey.

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 Concept of Fitness and Wellness | Module 1

ACTIVITY 1
Your Wellness Intelligence. Rate the activities that you do by marking check on it.

Rarel Sometimes Often

Do You:
y (1) (2) (3)
Participate in 60 minutes of daily physical activity?
Participate in everyday leisure activities?
Participate in sports/activities 3-5 days/week?
Participate in aerobic activities 3-5 days/week?
Participate in muscle strength and endurance 2-4
days/week?
Participate in flexibility exercises 4-5 days/week?
Minimize computer time daily? (less than 2 hours)
Eat Breakfast?
Drink 8-12 glasses of water per day?
Maintain healthy weight?
Skip Meals?
Try new sports?
Eat healthy snacks?
Eat a variety of protein foods?
Get 8-9 hours of sleep?
Read food labels for nutrition content?
Minimize TV viewing each day? (less than 2 hours)
Consult doctor when sick?
Take food supplement?
Minimize mobile gaming? (less than 2 hours)

FITNESS PRINCIPLES

Physical activities and exercises are proven to have a huge impact to physical
fitness and health. The benefits that we can get in doing physical activities are
undeniably necessary to our daily existence.

What is Physical Activity?

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 Concept of Fitness and Wellness | Module 1

Physical activity is defined as any movement carried out by skeletal muscle that
requires enough energy and is focused on building health. Physical activity are activities
you’ve done since you woke up and step out of your bed. All of those that requires
energy even in minimal effort are considered physical activities but are not sufficient in
developing or improving your health.

What is Physical Exercise?

Physical Exercise is a physical activity that is planned, structured and has

repetitive movements intended to improve fitness. It significantly improves general
health, good heart health, increased in muscle size and improve flexibility.

What is Physical Fitness?

Physical fitness is the ability of your body to carry out task without undue fatigue.
With physically fit body, one can perform aspects in sports, occupations and daily
activities. Physical fitness is generally achieved through proper nutrition, moderate to
vigorous physical exercises and sufficient rest.

What are the components of physical fitness?

Physical fitness is most easily understood by examining its components. These

components are classified into health related and skill related component. Scott Flynn
explains that health related components are necessary in carrying out daily activities
and only requires a minimal level of fitness while skill related components will help
develop optimal fitness. It do not directly affect a person’s health but most often
associated in sports performance and skill development.

In table 1, Flynn discusses the following health related components of physical

fitness.

Table 1.

Health Related Component of Physical Fitness

Cardiorespiratory The ability to carry out prolonged, large muscle. Dynamic
Endurance movements at a moderate to high level of intensity. This
relates to your heart’s ability to pump blood and your
lung’s ability to take in oxygen
Muscular Strength Muscular strength is the ability of the muscles to exert
force over a single or maximal effort.
Muscular Endurance The ability of the muscle or group of muscles to exert
force over a period of time with repetitions.
Flexibility It is the ability to move your joints through a wide range
of motion.
Body Composition Body composition is the relative amount of fat mass in
comparison with your total body mass.

The table 2 highlights Corbin and Lindsey’s definition of skill related components of
physical fitness.

Table 2.
Skill Related Components of Physical Fitness
Agility It relates to the ability to rapidly change the position of

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 Concept of Fitness and Wellness | Module 1

the entire body in space with speed and accuracy.

Balance It is the maintenance of equilibrium while stationary or
moving.
Coordination The ability to use the senses, such as sight and hearing,
together with body parts in performing motor task
smoothly and accurately.
Power The ability of to the rate at which one can perform work.
It is a combination of speed and strength.
Speed It relates to the ability to perform movement within a short
period of time.
Reaction Time This relates to the elapsed between stimulation and the
beginning of the reaction to it.

Aiming for a physically fit body requires guiding principles. This physical fitness
principles will guide you in selecting the best way to plan and approach training
exercises that are related in developing your body and gaining skills that will better your
performance in more complex activities.

Scott Flynn, Assistant Professor at Georgia Highlands College specified the

following fitness principles:

Principles of Adaptation to Stress

The human body adapt well when exposed to stress. The term stress, within the
context of exercise, is defined as an exertion above the normal, everyday functioning.
The specific activities that result in stress vary each individual and depend on a
person’s level of fitness. For example, an avid runner resistance training may expose
the runner’s muscles to muscular contractions that the athlete is not accustomed to
feeling.

Overload Principle

An athlete has to be exposed to an overload stimulus at regular intervals for the

induction of training adaptations. As a result of adaptation, more stress must be applied
to the system in order to stimulate improvements. For example, beginning weightlifter
performs squats with 10 repetitions at 150 pounds. After 2 weeks of lifting this weight,
the lifter notices the 150 pounds feels easier during then lift and afterwards causes less
fatigue. The lifter adds more pounds and established new stress until maximum
capacity has been reached.

FITT

Stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type. This principle is outlined by the
American College of Sports Medicine. Frequency relates to how often exercises are
performed over a period of time. Time or Duration of exercise this relates to the stress
experienced during exercise. Certainly, the shorter the time the less stressful the activity
is. Intensity is the degree of difficulty at which the exercise is carried out. It is the most
important variable of FITT for it is imperative for those starting a fitness program. Type
relates to the type or kind of exercise that you can manipulate to avoid overuse injuries
or weight loss plateaus.

Rest, Recovery and Periodization

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 Concept of Fitness and Wellness | Module 1

Is also called Principle of Recuperation. It suggest that rest and recovery from
the stress of exercise must take place in proportionate amounts to avoid too much
stress. Periodization suggest that training plans incorporate phase of stress followed by
phases of rest. It can be organized on a daily, weekly, monthly and even in multi annual
cycles.

Reversibility

Chronic adaptations are not permanent. As the saying goes, “Use it or lose it”.
This principles suggests that activity must continue at the same level to keep the same
level of adaptation. As the activity declines, adaptations will recede.
Individual Differences

Not everyone respond to stress in the same way. Individual differences in

exercise may respond to genetics. Some other factors such as age, gender and training
status at the start of a program affects the degree of adaptation. Those with a
background that include less training may expect rapid improvement that those who are
well trained at a slower rate.

Let’s know more about your fitness and health history. Try to remember things as you answer each question. You
may need an assistance from a family member to measure and record data about your health. Let’s begin!

ACTIVITY 2

Health History Check Yes No

1. Do you have a history of heart disease? ___ ___
2. Are you inactive? ___ ___
3. Dou you have diabetes or high blood pressure? ___ ___
4. Did anyone from your family developed any form of ___ ___
heart disease before age 50?
5. Do you smoke cigarettes? ___ ___
6. Do you drink liquor? ___ ___

Body Check
1. What is your resting heart rate? _____ bpm
-try to rest and measure your heart rate. Locate your pulse and count the number
of beats in 1 minute time.
2. What is your blood pressure? _____ mmHg ____________ remarks
- this time you may ask assistance from your local health center. You can also
use automatic arm digital blood pressure monitor.
3. What is your weight in kilogram? _____ kg
4. What is your height in centimeter? _____ m
5. What is your body mass index? _____ ____________ remarks

-to compute, use the BMI calculator or use this formula BMI= Weight(kg)
¿¿

- put a remark on your BMI. Refer to the table on World Health Organization
International BMI Categories below.

BMI Weight Status

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 Concept of Fitness and Wellness | Module 1

Below 16.0 Severely underweight

From 16.0 to under 18.5 Underweight
From 18.5 to below 25 Normal
From 25 to below 30 Overweight
From 30 to below 35 Obese

Job well done! You’ve just finished the first module of this course. It was an amazing experience knowing your
health and wellness status. I hope that you will continue your good performance because the next module will be
more intense. A lot of physical activities will excite you. In the end, you will reap the benefits of doing all these
physical activities. But before we go to the next module, let’s wrap things up.

SUMMARY

Physical fitness and wellness are two important things that we have to consider
in order to live a healthy and productive life. With proper physical activities and
exercises guided with fitness principles suited to our goals, it will reduce the risk of
injuries and become more health resilient as we get older. Enable to optimize our health
and carry out daily activities without undue fatigue, we must develop more on to the
health related component of physical fitness. For student athletes, activities on skill
related components are highly recommended for it will result to a better performance
during sports competition. Achieving our goals and living life to the fullest is never easy,
but we can start small steps, change our behavior at a time, involve a buddy and ask for
support. With this everything is possible.

References

Jonathan Howard, (2018), “Healthy Behaviors and Wellness”. Galileo, University

System of Georgia. Galileo Open Learning Materials.
Scott Flynn, (2018), “Fitness Principles”. Galileo, University System of Georgia. Galileo
Open Learning Materials.
Corbin & Lindsey, (1994), Concepts of Fitness and Wellness with Laboratories. Brown
and Benchmark Publishers.

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