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Suppose you want to be a better runner. The goal to run better is not specific. What does better mean? Is a runner someone who runs for pleasure and exercise, or is it someone who competes in marathons? If you are not a regular runner, you should start by running a mile at a comfortable pace and timing yourself. Using a reliable source, such as the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award program, compare your time with the average time for individuals your age. According to this program, the times in the table are the recommended times in which boys and girls of various ages should be able to run one mile. If it takes you longer than the recommended time to run a mile, a possible goal would be to meet the recommended time for your age. Setting a reasonable goal that is appropriate for your age gives you something to work toward. Next, outline the necessary steps to achieve your goal. Putting a goal into perspective by listing the steps needed to achieve it helps you envision how long it will take to meet the goal. To meet a running goal, you would need to set aside time to run three to four times a week. Running throughout the week will build up your endurance and get you into better shape.

Average Time for a One-Mile Run Age Boys Girls 12 8:40 11:05 13 8:06 10:23 14 7:44 10:06 15 7:30 9:58 16 7:10 9:31 17 7:04 9:22

Other Types of Fitness

Both health- and skill-related fitness assess performance, but they are not the only types of physical fitness. Other types of fitness that are not related to performance or skill, called non-performance-related fitness, are related to overall health. Physiological fitness is a type of non-performance-related fitness that influences the health of the body systems. Physiological fitness focuses not on how the body completes a physical activity but on how it changes in response to physical activity. For example, as physical activity increases, the heart and lungs in the cardiorespiratory system become healthier. Increased cardiorespiratory health lowers your risk of disease. Another non-performance component of fitness is body circumference, or the distance around the body. Body circumference can be measured around the waist or wherever fat is distributed on the body. Studies show that when more fat is concentrated around the waist, the risk of disease and health complications increases. Keeping activity levels high lowers your body's fat content. A lower fat content leads to better overall health. Bone strength and density are also types of non-performance-related fitness. They are difficult to test and therefore are not often used as a measurement of how fit you are. However, the more physically active you are over a lifetime, the better your bone density. Healthy bone density levels result in fewer health problems related to bone strength.

planning, goal

Consider the possible obstacles to your goal. After you figure out what might get in the way of achieving your goal, brainstorm possible ways to deal with those obstacles. If time is limited, for example, you could get up earlier and run before your day starts. With careful (and sometimes creative) planning, you can remove the barriers that could keep you from achieving your goal. After you set your goal and outline the steps, set deadlines for achieving your goal. Think about how much closer you want to be to your goal every few weeks. If you do not meet your goal by the deadline, don't get discouraged. Set a new deadline that is more attainable. While sticking to the goal and deadlines you set is important, you should also find balance and remain open to both failure and success. Always remember, for something to be a goal, it must have these qualities: It has to be important to you. It has to be something that you are in control of. It has to be attainable, or able to be achieved. It has to be clear and specific. It has to have a plan.

Step 1

Define an attainable, clear goal.

Moving Forward in This Course

If physical activity is not already a part of your daily life, this course might seem intimidating. To be successful at increasing your physical fitness, set aside time to make all forms of wellness a priority. Keep in mind that different activities and schedules for physical fitness work for different people. Be patient while finding the plan that works best for you.

Step 4

Monitor your activities by journaling

Step 2

Outline the steps to achieve your goal.

Setting Goals

Physical activity and wellness go hand in hand. A healthy body promotes overall wellness. However, to make changes toward a healthier body, you must have honest goals and a plan to reach them. The first step to setting a goal is defining it. Keep in mind that not everything you wish for can be a goal. When it comes to physical activity, diet, and exercise. You may wish to run a marathon before the end of the school year. However, this goal could be difficult to achieve if school ends in just a few months and you are not already training. A more reasonable goal might be to be able to run a mile in the amount of time considered healthy for your age group.

Step 3

Set a deadline to achieve your goal.

Self-Monitoring

Setting goals will not be productive, however, if you do not keep track of your activities and habits along the way. Remaining conscious of your activities and habits is a practice called self-monitoring. Self-monitoring is a process that is often best learned from a teacher, coach, mentor, or role model. A famous athlete may have natural skills in speed and agility, but the athlete must follow a strict training schedule to sharpen those abilities and gain new ones. Training schedules provide specific, clear guidelines to help athletes eliminate the negative influences that could prevent them from achieving their goals. For example, suppose your goal is not just to become a better runner but to enter a marathon. You may attend a marathon to see what it is like. Perhaps you are surprised to see that many of the runners make reaching the finish line look easy. Watching these runners could be discouraging. However, you may discover after speaking to a few of them that the key to their success is a long process of scheduled running times, careful eating habits, and a healthy lifestyle. Self-monitoring can occur in many different ways. Journaling is one helpful approach. Writing down the time of day you did an activity and how long the activity lasted will help you analyze your behavior. Once you have a record of your physical activity, you can use that information to make beneficial changes to your schedule and routine.

Wellness

Wellness refers to a healthy state of being in body, mind, and emotion. Body wellness means eating right, exercising, and keeping your bodily systems in good health. Mental wellness means feeling safe and secure in your environment and at peace with your decisions and actions. Emotional wellness means feeling your best and having the ability to deal with many different situations.

Fitness

While the words exercise and fitness are sometimes used interchangeably, they actually have different meanings. Physical exercise is the act of improving one's body through specific intentional movements. Fitness is the ability of the body to function effectively and efficiently during physical activity. The difference between the two words is important: while anyone can exercise, only someone who exercises regularly can be fit. Physical fitness can be broken into two main categories: health-related fitness and skill-related fitness. Both health- and skill-related fitness are types of fitness that focus on performance, or how the body completes a physical activity. Health-related fitness is made up of the five components of physical fitness: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. These components have a close relationship with good health. Good health-related fitness lowers the risk of illness and can improve the overall quality of lifeIt takes flexibility and balance to stand on your hands. Flexibility is a health-related component of physical fitness, but balance is skill-related. Skill-related fitness is your ability to develop and use small muscle movements, called fine motor skills, to participate in sports. Having skill-related fitness abilities may make it easier to participate in physical activity. Skill-related fitness is composed of six components: Agility is the ability to move the body with speed and accuracy. Sports teams often use agility as a screening test. Balance is the ability to maintain a steady posture while remaining still or while moving. Balance is usually measured by holding the same position for an extended period of time. Coordination is the ability to use the senses and the body during movement. Hand-eye coordination, for example, is used to dribble a basketball. Power is the rate at which strength and speed can be used by the body to perform work. Speed is the ability to perform a task or a movement in a short period of time. Reaction time is the amount of time between an action and the reaction to it. Like baseball, softball is a sport that relies heavily on reaction time. As a player, you need to react quickly to catch a fly ball or to recognize when a runner is stealing a base. How quickly you identify a fly ball or a runner can determine the course of the game

cardiorespiratory system

a system composed of the circulatory (cardiovascular) and respiratory systems

Which component of physical education tests how much force an individual can put out all at once?

muscular strength

body circumference

non-performance-related fitness

bone strength

non-performance-related fitness

physiological fitness

non-performance-related fitness

health-related fitness

performance-related fitness

skill-related fitness

performance-related fitness