Muscular Strength
Musculoskeletal Fitness
Muscular Strength is the ability to exert force or lift a heavy weight. We use it on a daily basis, for example, in pushing or pulling a heavy door. Some activities that build strength include ice hockey, football and resistance training
Muscular Endurance
Muscular Strength is the ability of muscles to work over a long period of time without fatigue. Activities that build muscular endurance include wrestling, aquatics, cycling and cross country skiing.
Flexibility Training
Flexibilty is the ability of the joints to bend through their full range of movement (ROM). The more flexibile your joints, the more you will be able to perform physical activity effortlessly. Some activities that build flexibility are martial arts, gymnastics, dance and yoga.
Musculoskeletal Fitness refers to muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility. The following will help you define the components of musculoskeletal fitness so you can understand its principals and apply them when developing exercise programs
Push ups is an excellent example of an exercise used to develop muscular strength. This exercise can be modified to fit any fitness level and can easlily be done anywhere. Video courtesy of FitnessBlender.com
Push Ups
Abdominal Workout
Abdominal workouts are great for developing muscular strength. This video provides an easy at home abdominal workout. Video courtesy of FitnessBlender.com
Relaxing Stretching Workout
Flexibility training is not only a good way to improve your bodies range of motion but it can also be used to relax and reduce stress. Video courtesy of FitnessBlender.com
Mulitple-repetition maximum method
When you begin a resistance training program, how do you know how much weight you should be lifting? Most muscular fitness programs are designed around lifting a percentage (usually between 60%-85%) of your maximum strength. This can be determined by determining your "one-rep maximum" or 1-rep max (1RM). This method can be unsafe due to the risk of injury to your bones, muscles and joints. However there is an alternative.
Using the Multiple-Repetition Maximum you can safely and effectively predict how much weight you can maximally lift once.
Knowing your predicted 1 RM is important to allow you to exercise within your ability level. This is important to prevent injury and over-training, while getting the maximum physical benefit from your workout.
Complete the following exercises and determine your 1RM by using the Multiple Repetiton Maximum Method.
Activity: Finding youR Multiple Repetition Maximum
The following describes how to determine your Multiple–Repetition Maximum. Under NO circumstances should you try to lift more than is appropriate for you.
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Only lift under the supervision of your Physical Education teacher and with the help of spotters of similar ability.
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Have your classmates act as spotters while you perform the exercise to ensure safety.
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Warm up by using lighter weights that you can lift for 15-20 repetitions.
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Estimate a weight that you think you can lift for 10 repetitions with some difficulty. Ensure to take turns and use appropriate lifting and spotting techniques
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Repeat until you find a load that you can press safely for 10 reps or less with some difficulty.
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Use the Traning Load Chart provided on your MRM worksheet to determine your 1RM.
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Once you determined your predicted 1 RM use the same Training Load Chart to obtain your safe lifting weight at 70% of your 1RM. This will be the starting weight for your exercise routine.
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Record your starting weight on your Musculoskeletal workout sheet provided.
