Enhancing Fitness

What Enhancing Fitness covers

Enhancing Fitness is examined in Unit AS 2, The Active Leisure Industry: Health, Fitness and Lifestyle. It covers improving aerobic and anaerobic endurance, improving muscular endurance, strength and power, improving speed, agility and reaction time, improving flexibility and body composition and improving balance, co-ordination and skill fitness.

The 5 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Improving aerobic and anaerobic enduranceLong slow distance, small-sided games and swim sets, cross-training, high-intensity intervals, monitoring resting heart rate, 800 m interval sessions, repeated sprints, the lactate threshold and tempo training.Open →
• Improving muscular endurance, strength and powerMuscular endurance methods and adaptations, early strength gains, strength for different athletes, relative strength and power calculations, plyometrics, Olympic lifts and contrast training.Open →
• Improving speed, agility and reaction timeStride length and frequency with a worked speed, acceleration, resisted sprints, speed endurance, change-of-direction and deceleration drills, reactive agility and training reaction time.Open →
• Improving flexibility and body compositionHow long and how often to stretch, PNF, yoga and Pilates, too much flexibility, changing body composition for boxers and rugby forwards, skinfolds and timing across the year.Open →
• Improving balance, co-ordination and skill fitnessThe components of skill fitness, balance training for surfers, gymnasts and older adults, ankle injury prevention, improving co-ordination, needs analysis and training weak components first.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Enhancing Fitness further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Resisted sprints vs Assisted sprints

  Resisted sprints: speed drills against added load such as a sled or parachute. Assisted sprints: speed drills with outside help such as a downhill slope or tow.

• Hand–eye co-ordination vs Foot–eye co-ordination

  Hand–eye co-ordination: linking vision with arm and finger movements, as in catching. Foot–eye co-ordination: linking vision with leg movements, as in dribbling a ball past defenders.

• Reaction time vs Response time

  Reaction time: the interval from a stimulus to the start of a movement. Response time: the interval from a stimulus to the end of the movement.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Which training methods best improve aerobic endurance?

   Model answer

   Continuous training, fartlek and long aerobic intervals all develop aerobic endurance. Each keeps heart rate in the aerobic zone for extended periods.

2. 2

   Why do endurance athletes include long, slow distance sessions?

   Model answer

   Long, easy sessions build an aerobic base by increasing capillaries, mitochondria and the use of fat as fuel. The low intensity carries little injury risk and allows frequent training.

3. 3

   How can small-sided games improve a team player's aerobic endurance?

   Model answer

   Small-sided games played continuously keep heart rate high for long periods while players practise skills. The work also copies the stop-start pattern of a real match.

4. 4

   How can a swimmer improve aerobic endurance in the pool?

   Model answer

   A swimmer can use long continuous swims and aerobic interval sets, such as 10 × 200 m with short rests. Each type of set keeps heart rate in the aerobic zone for most of the session.

5. 5

   How can cross-training maintain aerobic endurance while an injured runner recovers?

   Model answer

   Cross-training such as cycling, swimming or deep-water running works the heart and lungs without the impact of road running. The runner keeps much of their aerobic fitness while the injury heals.

6. 6

   Why does aerobic endurance improve more slowly in a well-trained athlete than in a beginner?

   Model answer

   A beginner has a lot of room to adapt, so early gains are large. A trained athlete is nearer their genetic ceiling, so further gains need greater overload.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Enhancing Fitness revision questions

What does Enhancing Fitness cover in CCEA A-Level Sports Science and the Active Leisure Industry?

5 subtopics: improving aerobic and anaerobic endurance, improving muscular endurance, strength and power, improving speed, agility and reaction time, improving flexibility and body composition and improving balance, co-ordination and skill fitness. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Enhancing Fitness organised?

By the CCEA 7210 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.