Sneak Peek
SHORT COURSE PHYSICAL FITNESS
This course is jam packed with information, as well as suggested learning experiences beyond simply reading the notes and studying the many illustrations. It helps you to understand human fitness and wellbeing, for your own benefit, or for the benefit of others you might work with. The course can be completed in around 20 hours; but if you want to learn in greater depth, and have the time to devote to learning, it can be given a lot more time, for a lot more learning.
The course helps you understand physical fitness in the broadest sense. All aspects of fitness are considered -aerobic, muscle, skeletal. psychological. A very large range of techniques for improving and maintaining fitness are covered – from gentle to high intensity techniques. Safety, biology and health/injury issues are also covered.
This is an exceptional course, which is equally useful for the everyday person wanting to better understand and improve their own wellbeing; through to people working in the health or fitness professions who will find serious benefit doing this course for professional development.
Our 20 hour courses are self paced and will help you understand a topic in a short amount of time. You can work through the course when you like- test yourself with mini-tests along the way. There are extra case studies or research you can undertake if you would really like to get into the topic. Once you have completed the lessons and self assessment tasks, there is a final exam undertaken online- you can then download your personalised certificate.
The contents of the course
Lesson 1 human biology & aerobic fitness
Sources of atp
Energy definitions
Energy production pathways from different foods
What happens during exercise
Resistance training
Types of resistance training
Muscle contraction
Terminolgy
Resistance training program components
Misconceptions about training
The major muscle groups in training
Training response
More on fatigue
Recovery from exercise
Other factors affecting performance
Human anatomy
The muscular system
The respiratory system
The circulatory system
The physiology of the circulatory system
Lesson 2 equipment & facilities
Where to exercise
Outdoor areas
Clothing and footwear
Music
Characteristics of equipment
Examples of equipment used in aerobic activities
Other types of equipment specific to aerobics classes
Aerobic home equipment
Maintaining equipment
Outdoors/park equipment used for aerobic exercises
Lesson 3 exercises
How often, how hard
Exercise movement components
Running/jogging/walking
Cycling
Swimming
Rowing
Stepping & climbing
Skipping
Ball sports
Surfing
Horse riding
Skating
Skiing
Jumping
Tai chi (tai qi)
Wilderness areas
Safety
Gym/class exercises
Stretching
Muscle conditioning
Lesson 4 special people & situations
Pregnancy
Older adults
Children
People with disabilities
Overweight people
Other health problems
Lesson 5 safety
Aerobic classes
Safety related issues
Safety in other aerobic activities
First aid considerations
Identifying hazards
Pre-screening of clients
Legal liabilities for fitness instructors
Lesson 6 fitness testing/assessment
What do we test?
What can we measure?
Designing fitness tests
Lesson 7 programming, motivation & leadership
Fitness/aerobics class design
Programming an exercise session
Designing exercise programs
A typical aerobics class
Writing an exercise program
Classes for different types of people
Configurations or patterns for movement
Motivation
Dealing with complaints
Lesson 8 back pain and injury management
Anatomy and physiology
Basic back health
First aid treatment of injuries
Types of injury
Assessment and screening
Professional treatments
Patient rehabilitation
LEARN TO BETTER UNDERSTAND MOVEMENT
And how it Impacts your Overall Wellbeing
To perform a task or movement, our brain sends signals to our motor units of individual nerves and collections of muscle fibres at precise intervals to orchestrate the contraction of muscles throughout our body. Learning a motor
skill is like writing a computer program to a disk – the program, imprinted on the brain, plays back as a motor reflex. The method of imprinting a motor skill “program” on the brain is repetition.
Over time, basic motor skills can be combined and built upon to master more complex skills – just like most things in life once you have the basics it is from there you can build.
Reaction times, limb movement speeds, kinesthesis, sense awareness, balances, mechanical aptitudes and coordination are basic motor skill characteristics. Reaction times measure how quickly someone responds to stimuli. Limb movement speed measure how quickly a person moves limbs between assigned locations. Kinesthesis measures how well someone can replicate assigned body segments alignments. Sense awareness measures how well people perceive minimal stimuli changes. Static and dynamic balance measure how well they stand perfectly still and walk narrow rails. Mechanical aptitudes measure how well someone performs fine hand-eye manipulations. Coordination measures how well people can perform unfamiliar motor skills.
To help understand motors skills and their development, it is important to know that the brain is fairly compartmentalised. The part of the brain that tells the shoulders to move is separate from the part that tells the right thumbs to move. The right side of the brain controls the movements on the left side of the body and vice versa. Therefore, movement of the right shoulder is controlled by a separate area of the brain - from that part that controls the left shoulder. This part of the brain that controls muscle movement is called the "motor strip". The motor strip is separate from the part of the brain that interprets spoken speech, stores vocabulary words, recognises symbols, signals the urge to breath, and all the other things that we do that we are unaware of doing.
How then do Motor Skills Develop?
In small children, the maturational process occurs fairly predictably from the top down. First head control is gained as the nerves supplying the neck muscles mature and the neck muscles gain strength. The shoulder, upper arms, and hand control improves. Upper body or trunk control is next, then the hips and pelvis, and finally the legs! Because hand movements are so complex, doctors track "fine motor" skills separately from gross motor skills. Balance and coordination are part of gross motor skills although they have more complex controlling systems than just the motor strip.
The familiar order of gross motor development: turning the head from side to side when lying prone on the stomach at two weeks, then lifting the head briefly when prone at two to three months, holding the head upright by four to five months, then raising up the shoulders and upper chest when four to five months. Arm movements also gain some control about age to four to five months as the infant can bring her hands to midline when lying on her back.
After that, she can reach and grab an object and bring it to her mouth. She can hold an object in one hand and transfer it to another by six to seven months. Truncal control allows the baby to sit propped against her outstretched arms about six to seven months with independent sitting by eight to nine months. Finally, pulling up as the signals to the pelvis and thigh muscles increases followed by standing and then walking. After that, signalling continues to be refined and allows the child to run, climb, hop on two feet, then one foot, then skip by age five.
Because gross motor skills are so obvious, these are the ones that people tend to notice the most. But remember, gross
motor is only one part of development. If gross motor skills are associated with delays in the other areas of development, this is more concerning for the child’s overall well-being. If gross motor skills are the only area that is lagging, this is usually not as concerning for long term well-being.
How does this course work?
You can enrol at any time
Once you have paid for the course, you will be able to start straight away.
Study when and where you like. Work through at your own pace.
You can download your study-guide to your smart phone, tablet or laptop to read offline.
There are automated self-assessment tests you can complete at the end of each lesson. You can attempt these as many times as you wish and each time, upon completion, you can see your results. You will need internet access to complete the self assessment tests.
At the end of the course, you are presented with a large assessment which can be attempted online, anywhere, anytime. If you achieve a 60% pass in the exam; you immediately receive a downloadable certificate of completion with your name on it. If you do not achieve a 60% pass rate, you can contact us to re-sit your exam. ( email- admin@acs.edu.au )
Contact us at anytime if you have any issues with the course. admin@acs.edu.au