Physical Training

What Physical Training covers

Physical Training is examined in Component 1, Fitness and Body Systems. It covers health, fitness, exercise and performance, components of fitness, the purpose and value of fitness testing, fitness tests and normative data, principles of training, training methods and fitness classes, long-term effects of training, PARQ, sports injuries and RICE, performance-enhancing drugs and warm up and cool down.

The 10 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Health, fitness, exercise and performanceWhat health, fitness, exercise and performance mean, how they are linked, and why a person can be fit but unhealthy or healthy but unfit.Open →
• Components of fitnessCardiovascular fitness, strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, body composition, agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time and speed, and which matter most in different sports.Open →
• The purpose and value of fitness testingWhy performers test their fitness, test protocols, reliability and validity, choosing the right test for a sport, and the limitations of fitness testing.Open →
• Fitness tests and normative dataThe protocols of the Cooper, Harvard Step, Illinois agility, grip dynamometer, sit-up, press-up, sprint, vertical jump and sit and reach tests, and rating results against normative data.Open →
• Principles of trainingIndividual needs, specificity, progressive overload, FITT, overtraining and reversibility, and the aerobic and anaerobic training zones with worked calculations.Open →
• Training methods and fitness classesContinuous, Fartlek, circuit, interval, plyometric and weight training with their advantages and disadvantages, and fitness classes such as body pump, aerobics, Pilates, yoga and spinning.Open →
• Long-term effects of trainingIncreased bone density, stronger ligaments and tendons, muscle hypertrophy, a lower resting heart rate, higher stroke volume, capillarisation and faster recovery, and why rest matters.Open →
• PARQ, sports injuries and RICEThe PARQ, preventing injury through training, rules, protective equipment and checks, concussion, fractures, dislocations, sprains, strains and other injuries, and RICE.Open →
• Performance-enhancing drugsAnabolic steroids, beta blockers, diuretics, narcotic analgesics, EPO, growth hormone, stimulants and blood doping, with their effects on performance and their risks.Open →
• Warm up and cool downThe purpose and three phases of a warm-up, static and dynamic stretching, warm-ups for particular sports, and what a cool down includes and why.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Physical Training further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Sprain vs Strain

  Sprain: a stretched or torn ligament at a joint. Strain: an overstretched or torn muscle or tendon.

• Reversibility vs Overtraining

  Reversibility: losing fitness gains once exercise stops or is cut back. Overtraining: working too hard or too often without enough rest.

• Continuous training vs Fartlek training

  Continuous training: steady and moderate exercise without rest for at least twenty minutes. Fartlek training: speed play that mixes changes of pace and terrain.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   How is health defined in physical education?

   Model answer

   Health is a state of complete physical, emotional and social wellbeing. Health is more than simply being free of disease or illness.

2. 2

   What does fitness mean in physical education?

   Model answer

   Fitness is the ability to meet the demands of the environment. A fit person copes with the physical demands of daily life and their sport.

3. 3

   What is exercise?

   Model answer

   Exercise is physical activity carried out to keep or improve health or fitness. Unlike competitive sport, exercise has no result to win.

4. 4

   What is meant by performance in physical activity and sport?

   Model answer

   Performance is how well a task is carried out. A performance can be judged against a standard, an opponent or a previous best.

5. 5

   How does regular exercise affect health and fitness?

   Model answer

   Regular exercise improves fitness by developing the components of fitness. Exercise also improves health by lowering the risk of illnesses such as heart disease.

6. 6

   How can improved fitness lead to better performance?

   Model answer

   A fitter performer can meet the physical demands of their sport for longer. A fitter midfielder can keep sprinting and tackling late in a match.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Physical Training revision questions

What does Physical Training cover in Edexcel GCSE Physical Education?

10 subtopics: health, fitness, exercise and performance, components of fitness, the purpose and value of fitness testing, fitness tests and normative data, principles of training, training methods and fitness classes, long-term effects of training, parq, sports injuries and rice, performance-enhancing drugs and warm up and cool down. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Physical Training organised?

By the Edexcel 1PE0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.