Fitness Test

Physical Fitness Test For Youth Athletes

Physical fitness test, traditionally many children grow up thinking of conditioning activities as a punishment for poor behavior. Late for gym class? 25 push-ups. Talking too much during volleyball practice? 10 laps around the gym.
However, conditioning is an essential method of building muscle strength, flexibility, and overall athlete readiness for an active lifestyle, and coaches and parents should work to remove the negative connotations it can carry.
To help your players understand the importance of conditioning and how it fits into a healthy sports preparation program, include it regularly as part of your practices. If physical fitness is presented as a normal, everyday part of an athlete's activities at sports practice, there will be no resentment toward it or avoidance of it.

Here are some tips on how to incorporate physical fitness testing as part of your regular practices:
• Inform parents and players at the beginning of the season about your conditioning plan
• Include conditioning in practices regularly and at the same point in practice, such as just after the warm-up
• Measure athlete progress during conditioning by testing their abilities at the beginning of the season, in the middle, and near the end
• Give awards or recognition for athletes making improvements because of conditioning
• Explain the impact that conditioning has on players abilities to perform certain skills and improve their performance
All athletes should come to respect and understand conditioning and its impact on sports performance. If they begin to look at it as a tool to build strength, endurance, and agility on the field, they will come to the exercises with more dedication and enthusiasm.
Physical fitness is comprised of many different components. The following factors affect an athlete's overall fitness level and ability to play a sport:
• Lung capacity and ability to process adequate oxygen while exercising
• Body mass index, or percentage of body fat
• Muscle flexibility
• Muscle endurance
• Response time
• Proper diet and nutrient intake
A coach's physical conditioning plan should take into account the basic benchmarks for physical fitness for certain levels and ages. If a coach has unreasonable expectations for their players endurance levels, they will be disappointed with team's performance at conditioning drills as well as during the actual competition.
However, when coaches understand that all factors of physical fitness develop with time, they are more able to create a plan that takes into account the age and sport of their players to develop the most appropriate plan possible for the skills those players need to develop.
Creating a physical fitness program is also a great way to catch any limiting factors for athletes, such as dangerously high BMI, or body mass index. This factor, which determines the percentage of fat in the body in relation to muscle, is an indicator of other issues that may require a doctor's care. Another factor, lung capacity can also be determined simply through a physical fitness program.
Though it may seem that some players do not have the endurance that others do, the problem may actually be related to lung capacity and that player's ability to process oxygen. Exercise-induced asthma, a common condition brought on by rigorous sports participation, affects many athletes but goes unnoticed or misdiagnosed. A simple physical fitness program may bring this condition to light, because if a player is conditioning at the same level as their peers in exercises such as push-ups and sit-ups, they should have a similar level of endurance. If not, something else, such as asthma, may be to blame.

By Elise Jackson

Gym Membership

How to Save Money on Gym Membership
Gyms membership generally runs to several hundred dollars over the course of a year (and often more than a thousand). With joining fees on top of this and contracts which are sometimes difficult to get out of as well as the intimidating atmosphere of some gyms and the inconvenience of actually getting there, it can be enough to put you off getting fit entirely.

Gyms actually rely on you signing up and then not turning up very often - that's what 80% of the membership or more actually does. If all the members turned up on a regular basis you would not be able to move. If you've ever witnessed packed machines and crowded locker rooms in January only to find the gym equipment and shower stalls so much more accessible for the rest of the year you'll know that's true.
So if you can't afford the gym or you suspect you'd be one of those funding the regular gym goers most of the year, what's the alternative?
One answer is create your own gym at home where you can get in shape without spending a fortune.
How much would it cost to kit out a home gym?
How about less than $100?
You see, while the kind of equipment you will find at your local gym costs thousands of dollars, there is no need to equip your home like that (unless you want and can afford to). You really just need a few simple items to get fit at home (and there are ways you can get fit without any money at all too).
What kind of equipment do I mean?
Equipment like a simple jump rope, step or rebounder, hand weights, fitness bands and door way bar. There is no need to buy it all - you choose a selection of items which you will most enjoy using and which will cover all aspects of getting in shape: cardio fitness, strength and flexibility.
These days we have become too used to seeking out and paying for solutions (and sometimes when we pay a lot we feel we have done our bit even without doing the work). But it's actually taking action rather than paying for an expensive gym membership which counts.
If you want to join a gym that will set you back a lot of money, why not invest in a little equipment first and promise yourself if you use it regularly for 3 months you will reward yourself with that gym membership (if you still want to go there, that is (chances are you will enjoy working out at home so much you won't bother)). And for those of you who won't make it past the 3 months you are guaranteed to save yourself a fortune in fees.
If you would like to explore the range of options for putting together an effective home gym (including many free ideas) take a look at these low-cost home gym ideas at SimplyFitnessGear.com. The $100 Home Gym Project was started there to make sure that there is information available to everyone on how to set up a home gym no matter what their budget.

By Jan Small