How Much Physical Activity is Enough?

 Principle of Overload  Principle of Progression  Principle of Specificity

The only way to improve fitness and produce health benefits through exercise is to make your body do more than it normally does. An increased demand on your body (overload) forces it to adapt.

This principle states that the amount and intensity of your exercise should be increased gradually. When exercise becomes too easy, increase your activity slightly.

The principle of specificity states that the specific exercise you do determines the specific benefit you receive. Running = cardiovascular benefits Weight Training = strength benefits Yoga = flexibility benefits

Frequency: How often you do physical activity Intensity: How hard you perform physical activity. Time: How long you do physical activity. Type: The kind of activity you do to build a specific part of fitness.

 Maturation  Age  Heredity  Environment

Physical maturation refers to becoming physically mature or fully grown and developed.

Studies show that older teens perform better on fitness tests than younger teens. The difference is mostly because the older you are, the more you have grown and the more mature you are likely to be.

Heredity plays a role in determining the physical characteristics we inherit from our parents that influence how we do on different physical fitness tests.

 Where you live  School environment  Availability of places to be active  Social environment (friends, family, etc.)