Download Fitness Plan Homework Article

Developing Your Personal Fitness Plan
WHAT IS A FITNESS PLAN?
It seems like there are dozens of reasons to work out. The most popular ones are to
lose weight, to increase muscle tone, and to improve the heart and lungs. When people
exercise regularly, their metabolism goes up and stress goes down. They look and sleep
better. They feel better and may even live longer.
Why is it so easy to become an exercise dropout when fitness offers such wonderful
health benefits? A fitness plan may be the missing key to getting and staying fit. First,
let's do an attitude check. Are negative feelings associated with exercise? Do shame,
embarrassment, or guilt prevent you from starting or staying with a fitness program?
Does exercise feel like a chore? Are you too busy to exercise? Do you feel guilty when
you don't exercise?
One activity may be pleasurable to one person and grueling to another. Substantial
health benefits can be gained simply by fitting moderate amounts of physical activity
into your days. Traditional health club activities are one way to get moving. Playful and
chore-oriented activities are also a fun way to add exercise. Do them whenever you can.
A fitness plan is an excellent tool that helps you manage your fitness and nutritional
goals based on your needs and interests. You may want to get help with your plan from a
trainer or sports physician. Make it enjoyable and part of your lifestyle. Don't use
exercise as a quick fix. Allow it to nurture your body, not punish it. Give your body what
it needs to be healthy and strong. Measure and reward your effort. Follow these tips to
change your approach to food and exercise for good:
• Set realistic short and long-term goals.
• Focus on your progress, not the end result. Let go of old patterns and habits that
do not work.
• Gauge your progress by the healthful habits you are adopting rather than by the
numbers on the scale.
• Identify the emotions and stressors that cause negative behaviors such as
eating when you are not hungry.
• Stop the "should do's" and do what is right for you.
• Think positive thoughts about yourself like "I can", "I am", "I will."
• Make healthful food choices, eat low fat and lots of vegetables and grains.
• Make exercise part of your life, not just a way to lose weight.
WHY DO I NEED TO BUILD A FITNESS PLAN?
There are several reasons why it is important to know how to build a fitness plan. The
new California State Physical Education standards require that all students in 6th, 7th
and 8th grade be able to design and implement a fitness plan. A fitness plan is an
effective tool to define strengths and weaknesses in your fitness and nutrition goals. A
fitness plan also helps to specifically define short-term and longer-term fitness and
nutrition goals as well as identify obstacles that might stand in your way. Learning to
design, implement and track a fitness plan is a lifetime skill that you can use to always
help to improve your fitness and health. Most importantly, a fitness plan is
individualized and custom fit to apply to your own lifestyle challenges.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BUILDING A FITNESS PLAN?
The benefits of a fitness plan are numerous. Aside from some of the obvious ones
mentioned above like setting goals, recognizing strengths and weaknesses, fitness plans
have shown to be motivational. You stay more motivated when you have a plan written
that tells you what you need to do. Humans feel good when they accomplish their goals
and fitness plans are a way to help guide you in meeting very important fitness and
nutrition goals. Another benefit of a fitness plan is that it provides living proof of
whether you are making progress or not.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BUILD A FITNESS PLAN?
To really build a good, effective, beneficial fitness plan, you need to be able have some
basic background in the following areas:
• You need to know what your strengths and weaknesses are
• You need to know how to set goals using the correct criteria
• You need to know the 5 fitness components
• You need to know what the FITT formula is and how to use it
• You need to know the basic training principles
WHAT ARE THE STEPS IN BUILDING A FITNESS PLAN?
Step 1
Fitness
history and
fitness
evaluation
(FitnessGram
data)
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Set Goals in
Assign
Determine a Implement,
each fitness specific
realistic
track and
component activities to FITT for modify your
to maintain your fitness
each
plan
and improve
goals
activity
fitness and
including
nutrition
warm-up
and cooldown
exercises
Final Product
Personalized Fitness Plan
that works
Source:
http://www.baptistonline.org/health/library/exer4493.asp
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/health/fitness/fitforlife.html#