Components of fitness and how to test them
"Getting fitter" is too vague to train. Fitness splits into components, and each component has a test that turns a feeling into a number you can compare next term.
Part of your national curriculum
- Competitive sport and tactics: Analyse their performances compared to previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best
- 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
Analyse their performances compared to previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best
Key learning points
- • Health-related components
- • Skill-related components
- • Matching test to component
- • Making the numbers trustworthy
This lesson at a glance
- 24 minutes
- 20 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 20
Visual introductionPicture this
Components of fitness and how to test them
"Getting fitter" is too vague to train. Fitness splits into components, and each component has a test that turns a feeling into a number you can compare next term.
In a nutshell
Analyse their performances compared to previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 20
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Health-related components
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 20
Learn
Health-related components
Cardiovascular endurance (the heart, lungs and blood supplying oxygen over time), muscular endurance (repeating contractions without fatigue), strength (maximum force), flexibility (range of movement at a joint) and body composition (the proportions of muscle, fat and bone). These affect general health as well as sport.
Reset break
Part 4 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 5 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.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 20
Learn
Skill-related components
Agility (changing direction at speed), balance, coordination, power (strength x speed), reaction time and speed. A badminton player leans on agility and reaction time; a shot putter leans on power. Naming the components a sport demands is the first step in designing training for it.
Quick check
Part 6 of 20
Quick check
Part 7 of 20
Reset break
Part 8 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 2 of 5 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.
Learning cycle
Part 9 of 20
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Matching test to component
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 20
Learn
Matching test to component
Multi-stage fitness test — cardiovascular endurance. One-minute sit-up test — muscular endurance. Grip dynamometer — strength. Sit-and-reach — flexibility. Illinois agility run — agility. Standing broad jump or vertical jump — power. Ruler drop — reaction time. 30m sprint — speed. Standing stork test — balance. Alternate-hand wall throw — coordination.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 20
Learn
Making the numbers trustworthy
A test is only useful if it is valid (it measures the component it claims to), reliable (repeatable — same surface, same footwear, same tester, same warm-up) and used against published norms for age and sex. Record baseline results, train for six weeks, retest under identical conditions and compare. A change of one or two centimetres on sit-and-reach may be measurement error; a change of ten is progress.
Reset break
Part 12 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 3 of 5 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.
Quick check
Part 13 of 20
Quick check
A learner is retested on a different surface with no warm-up. This mainly reduces the test's:
Quick check
Part 14 of 20
Quick check
Which component matters most for a netball centre changing direction repeatedly?
Explore the idea
Part 15 of 20
Worked example
Reading your own data
Baseline: bleep test level 6.4, standing broad jump 1.62m. After six weeks of interval running plus two jump sessions a week: level 7.8, jump 1.71m. Endurance improved by more than a level, so the interval work paid off; the jump gain of 9cm is beyond likely measurement error, so power improved too. Next block: keep the intervals, add depth jumps for power, retest with the same tester and shoes.
Reset break
Part 16 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 4 of 5 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.
Challenge round
Part 17 of 20
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
Challenge round
Part 18 of 20
Game · Recall cards
Which test measures cardiovascular endurance?
Card 1 of 4
Mastery quiz
Part 19 of 20
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Components of fitness and how to test them
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Which test measures cardiovascular endurance?
2. Power is best defined as:
3. A learner is retested on a different surface with no warm-up. This mainly reduces the test's:
4. Which component matters most for a netball centre changing direction repeatedly?
Lesson round-up
Part 20 of 20
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 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaPart 1 of 20 · Watch & discover
How this is going
- Not looked at yet
Analyse their performances compared to previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best
- Not looked at yet
Develop components of fitness through sustained physical activity, understanding the effects of exercise on the body