Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← PE
PEFitness and how the body responds20 min★★ difficulty

Components of fitness

Being 'fit' isn't just one thing — different sports demand different combinations of strength, stamina, speed and flexibility, and understanding these components helps you train smarter.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Health and fitness: Develop components of fitness through sustained physical activity, understanding the effects of exercise on the body

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Develop components of fitness through sustained physical activity, understanding the effects of exercise on the body

Key learning points

  • • Cardiovascular endurance and strength
  • • Speed, flexibility and agility
  • • How exercise affects the body

This lesson at a glance

  • 20 minutes
  • 14 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

componentsfitnesssustainedphysicalactivity

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 14 · Discover7%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 14

Watch first

Components of fitness

An English teaching video on this topic from British Heart Foundation. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Develop components of fitness through sustained physical activity, understanding the effects of exercise on the body

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 14

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Cardiovascular endurance and strength

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 14

Learn

Cardiovascular endurance and strength

Cardiovascular endurance is the heart and lungs' ability to supply oxygen to muscles during sustained activity, crucial for sports like distance running or football. Muscular strength is the maximum force a muscle can produce, important for activities like weightlifting or a rugby scrum.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 14

Learn

Speed, flexibility and agility

Speed is how quickly the body can move over a distance; flexibility is the range of movement possible at a joint, important in gymnastics and swimming; and agility is the ability to change direction quickly while keeping control, vital in sports like netball or squash.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 14

Quick check

What is cardiovascular endurance?

6

Reset break

Part 6 of 14

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
7

Quick check

Part 7 of 14

Quick check

Which fitness component is most important for quickly changing direction under control, like in netball?

8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 14

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · How exercise affects the body

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 14

Learn

How exercise affects the body

During exercise, heart rate and breathing rate increase to deliver more oxygen and glucose to working muscles, and the body sweats to cool itself as muscles generate heat. Regularly exercising over weeks and months (training) causes long-term adaptations, such as a stronger heart and increased lung capacity, which is why fitter people have lower resting heart rates.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 14

Quick check

Why do fitter people tend to have a lower resting heart rate?

11

Challenge round

Part 11 of 14

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

12

Challenge round

Part 12 of 14

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Cardiovascular endurance is the heart and lungs' ability to supply oxygen to muscles during ____ activity, crucial for sports like distance running or football.

13

Mastery quiz

Part 13 of 14

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Components of fitness

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Which activity best develops cardiovascular endurance?

  2. 2. What is cardiovascular endurance?

  3. 3. Which fitness component is most important for quickly changing direction under control, like in netball?

  4. 4. Why do fitter people tend to have a lower resting heart rate?

14

Lesson round-up

Part 14 of 14

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Article

What a warm-up is actually for

A warm-up raises the heart rate, sends more blood to the working muscles and raises muscle temperature by a couple of degrees. Warm muscle stretches further before it tears, and messages between brain and muscle travel faster, so movement is more accurate.

A good warm-up has three parts: a few minutes of easy movement, mobility that takes joints through the range the sport needs, and short bursts at close to game speed.

Long, still stretching before explosive sport can slow the muscle down. Save that kind of stretching for the cool-down.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Explain in your own words two things a warm-up does to the body.
  2. Design a ten-minute warm-up for one sport, with times for each part.
  3. Keep a training log for three sessions: what you did, how long, and how you felt after.

  • Training log

    Writing

    Write what you did, for how long, and how your body felt afterwards.

    Half a page

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 14 · Watch & discover

How this is going

  • Not looked at yet

    Develop components of fitness through sustained physical activity, understanding the effects of exercise on the body

Good Learning Co. — personalised UK curriculum learning, built around what each learner loves.