Personal Fitness for You
Preface
 

          If you are like most teenagers, you are concerned with how you look.  Your appearance is important to your self-esteem and to obtaining peer acceptance.  Hopefully you also understand the role that diet and physical activity play in developing the body image you desire and the energy you need for daily activities.

This text will guide you in reaching and maintaining a weight that is right for you and the muscle development to look your best.  It will help you achieve a level of fitness that means you are healthier and have improved energy.  This text will also assist you in learning valuable skills that can help you now and in the future.  You will be challenged and guided in learning life skills such as goal setting, time management, and responsible behavior.

As with any course you take, your results will be in direct proportion to the effort you put in to attaining the objectives.  This course and the text are designed to help you achieve Personal Fitness for You.  However, achieving your fitness goals will require a commitment to following the principles presented and completing the many student activities.  You are encouraged to strive for your optimal level of health and fitness – your personal best – rather than being satisfied with minimal standards or comparing yourself to others.  Only you can make the commitment to good health – only you can make the choice to seek personal fitness!  The decision is yours!  Go for it!
Supplemental Materials

Teacher's Resource Manual

  • Detailed lesson plans
  • 70 Laboratory Activities Worksheets (individual, partner and group)
  • Chapter Crossword Puzzles
  • Chapter Tests
  • Final Examination
  • Resource List of CD-ROM discs, videodiscs, videos, books, and equipment

Chapter Study Guides
(available in English and Spanish)

Subject Supplements
Weight Training, Walking, Jogging, Aerobics, Aquatics

Audiovisual Support Materials
Personal Fitness for You Videotape
Video explaining the Personal Fitness course and describing how to administer the health related fitness tests. The introductory section can be shown to parents.

Chapter Overviews Videotape
A video which gives a brief introduction to each chapter in the book

Color Transparencies
Extensive collection of transparencies for each chapter in the book

Classroom Posters
Colorful, informative posters which can used in the classroom or fitness room

Technology Support Materials
Test Bank
Test questions for each chapter and a final exam

Lesson Plan Program
Lesson plans for each chapter which can be revised

Student Portfolio Program
Program for students to prepare a computerized portfolio

Goal Setting Software Programs
A program which helps students design their own fitness program.

Health Related Fitness Test Program
Allows students to enter fitness scores and print out results

Nutrition CD-ROM Discs - 3
Menu Planner, Weight Loss Planner, Executive Diet Helper

Internet Information (provided in the Teacher Resource Manual)
Basic information on using the Internet, resources for classes, and web sites for personal fitness

Additional Instructional Software Programs
Weight Training
Exercise Physiology
Food Pyramid Guide
Aerobic Fitness
Health/Wellness Inventory
Human Anatomy
Personal Fitness Class Activities
The Teacher Resource Manual which accompanies Personal Fitness for You has many creative activities for you to use in your class. Listed below are a few examples. Send us your class activities so that we can share them with other teachers.

Food Pyramid Game
          See the Teacher Resource Manual for details and sample cards for this game which promises to get your students involved and give them a good workout. Basically the idea is for you to prepare a set of cards with a food named on one side and an exercise on the other side. Students pick up a card and do the exercise. After a set time period, students place the cards on the pyramid to see if all groups have been identified.

Circuit Workout
          Prepare large posters with the names of exercises to be completed (i.e. curl-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks, flexibility exercise). Place the cards in a circle around the track, gym or any large area. Divide the class so that there are 3 or 4 students at each station.
           On the signal students begin doing the exercise at their station. When the whistle sounds, students stop the exercise they are doing and jog around the circle to the next exercise station. However, each time they must go past the next station and make a complete circuit around the stations to come back to the next station. The time of exercises can be adjusted based on the fitness level of the group.

Predictor Mile Run
Organize class into 2-4 teams. Each team writes down the time it will take each member and the entire team to complete a mile run. After the run, the team closest to the prediction wins.

Flash Card Review
          Prepare a series of large cards which have answers to fitness questions. Place the cards at the opposite end of the gym, track, or other area appropriate for jogging. When the teacher asks the class a question, the first student in line runs to the cards, finds the one with the correct answer and runs back to the group. The first student to hold up the card with the correct answer gets a point.
Lesson Ideas for Personal Fitness
Share these HeartFacts with your students:
  • About 1 percent of U.S. children and adolescents have high blood pressure.
  • Average blood pressures tend to rise with age-slowly before adolescence and faster after puberty.
  • Children's high blood pressure tends to persist into adulthood, even for children with high-normal pressure.
  • Average blood cholesterol levels in American children and adolescents are too high.
  • Children and adolescents with elevated blood cholesterol levels are more likely to have elevated levels as adults.
  • Children typically start smoking cigarettes in grades 5 and 6.
  • Eleven percent (or 4.7 million) of those ages 6 to 17 are overweight - more than double the percentage of a decade ago.
  • Up to 20 percent of overweight children remain so throughout life.
  • Most children accumulate at least 1 hour of physical activity daily, but a sizable percentage do not get frequent, vigorous, continuous activity.
  • Of high school students, only about half of boys and a quarter of girls do vigorous physical activity three or more times a week.
  • Activity levels of girls are below those of boys and tend to decline with age.

Source: Heart Memo, National Institutes of Health, Summer 1998

Eggs and Cholesterol - the latest information:
According to The Physician and Sportsmedicine, July 1998, eggs have less cholesterol than originally thought - 210 milligrams, not 275. In addition, saturated fat probably plays a larger role than cholesterol in heart disease. The AHA still recommends limiting eggs to four yolks per week (or one yolk per week if your blood cholesterol levels are high) including those used in cooking.

Increase the Energy Cost of Step Aerobics by following these tips from the American College of Sportsmedicine Health and Fitness Journal:

  • Higher platform
  • Arm movements
  • Hand-held weights
  • External weight loading
  • Choreographed routines
  • Accelerated cadence
  • Propulsion
  • Straddle position

    Salt and High Blood Pressure
    According to a recent study (see DASH at http://dash.bwh.harvard.edu) the most important dietary change to prevent high blood pressure is not necessarily a low-salt diet but a diet high in fruits, vegetables and dairy products rich in the minerals calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

    New Exercise Recommendations from the American College of Sportsmedicine:
              The new guidelines include flexibility exercises and modifications to the aerobic and weight training recommendations. In particular, the new guidelines state that exercise does have an additive effect. A member of the ACSM board stated that: "Cardiovascular benefits gained in three 10-minute exercise bouts are almost the same as those from one 30-minute exercise bout." People are urged to be active in their daily living.
    The guidelines for flexbility training are to stretch all the body's major muscle/tendon groups using 4 repetitions per muscle group, 2 to 3 days per week. They recommend dynamic and range of motion stretching.

    		•

    Personal Fitness Websites

    In addition to the extensive websites listed in the Teacher Resource Manual of Personal Fitness for You, visit these sites:

     

     

     

    AAHPERD

    http://www.aahperd.org/

     

    Advice for Consumers on health, food, transportation, children, product safety, etc.

    http://www.consumer.gov/

     

    Aerobics & Fitness Association of America:

    http://www.afaa.com/

     

    Allergy Internet Resources

    http://www.immune.com/allergy/allabc.html

     

    American Academy of Ophthalmology

    http://www.aao.org/

     

    American Cancer Society:

    http://www.cancer.org/

    American College of Sport Medicine

    http://www.acsm.org/

     

    American Diabetes Assoc

    http://www.diabetes.org/

     

    American Dietetic Association

    http://www.eatright.org/

     

    American Heart Association

    http://www.americanheart.org/

     

    American Medical Association

    http://www.ama-assn.org/

     

    Arthritis Foundation

    http://www.arthritis.org/

     

    Ask the Dietitian

    http://www.dietitian.com/

     

    BioMechanics World Wide:

    http://per.ualberta.ca/biomechanics

     

    Blair's Quitting Smoking Resource Page

    http://www.chriscor.com/

     

    Calorie Control Council

    http://www.caloriecontrol.org/

     

    Cancer News

    http://cancer.med.upenn.edu/

     

    Cardiorespiratory Fitness:

    http://www.americanheart.org/

     

    Center for Human Simulation

    http://www.uchsc.edu/sm/chs

     

    Centers for Disease Control

    http://www.cdc.gov/

     

    CenterWatch - Trials for drug test subjects

    http://www.centerwatch/

     

    Classroom Activities

    http://forum.swarthmore.edu/alejandre/magic.square.html

     

    CNN Food and Health

    http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH

     

    Consumer Checkbook:

    http://www.checkbook.org/

     

    Cooking Light Online

    http://cookinglight.com/

     

    Curricula and resources for secondary fitness classes

    http://www.InnovativeFitness.com/

     

    Cyberdiet:

    http://www.cyberdiet.com/

     

    Cyberkids

    http://www.cyberkids.com/

     

    DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension):

    http://nih.gov/news/pr/apr97/dash.htm

     

    Diabetes

    http://www.diabetes.org/

     

    Diet City

    http:///www.dietcity.com

     

    Education World - archive of best educational sites on the WWW

    http://www.education-world.com/

     

    Educational Resources Information Center

    http://ericir.syr.edu/

     

    Essential Nutrients

    http://www.worldguide.com/Fitness/nut.html

     

    Exercise Physiology Club

    http://www.doitsports.com/index.html

     

    Fast Food Facts

    http://www.olen.com/food

     

    Fat Free Recipes:

    http://www.fatfree.com/

     

    Federal Drug Administration

    http://www.fda.gov/

     

    Fitness and Health On-Line

    http://www.fitnessonline.com/

     

     

    Fitness Information

    http://www.fitnesszone.com/

     

    Fitness Zone:

    http://www.fitnesszone.com/

     

    Five A Day Program-Benefits of eating

    http://dole5aday.com/

     

    Florida Medical Association

    http://www.floridamedicalnetwork.com/

     

    Food Allergy Resource

    http://www.foodallergy.org/

     

    Food and Drug Administration

    http://www.fda.gov/

     

    Food and Nutrition Management Homepage

    http://foodnut.firn.edu/

     

    Food and Nutrition Resource Center Homepage

    http://www.firn.edu/databases/fnrc/food.html

     

    Food Guide Pyramid:

    http://www.NAL.USDA.GOV/fnic

     

    Food Labeling Nutrition Video

    http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/labelwww.html

     

    Global Gourmet

    http://www.globalgourmet.com/

     

    Harvard Health Publications

    www.health.harvard.edu

     

    Headache Information:

    http://www.headaches.org/

     

    Health Answers

    http://www.healthanswers.com/

     

    Health Finder

    http://www.healthfinder.gov/

     

    Health Hotlist

    http://www.fi.edu/tfi/hotlists/health.html

     

    Health Information:

    http://cooperwellness.com/tips/default.aspx

     

    http://www.drkoop.com

     

    Health News and Medical Resource Center

    http://www.e-scripts-md.com/resources.asp

     

    Health World Online:

    http://www.healthy.net/

     

    Healthfinder

    http://www.healthfinder.gov/

     

    Healthwise @ Columbia University Æ Go Ask Alice

    http://www.columbia.edu/cu/healthwise

    Heart Information

    http://www.fi.edu/biosci/monitor/vitals.html

     

    Heartinfo

    http://heartinfo.org/

     

    Help for Eating Disorders

    http://www.nmisp.org/

     

    Human Anatomy Online

    www.innerbody.com

     

    Index of Food and Nutrition:

    http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/etext/fnic.html

     

    Internet Food Channel

    http://www.foodchannel.com/

     

    iVillage Health

    http://www.onlinepsych.com/

     

    Kaiser Family Foundation

    http://www.kff.org/

     

    Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators

    http://www.schooldiscovery.com/schrockguide

     

    KidsHealth Æ How  the Body Works

    http://www.kidshealth.org/

     

    March of Dimes

    http://www.modimes.org/

     

    Mayo Clinic

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/

     

    MedAccess Online

    http://www.medaccess.com/

     

    Medical Condition Information

    http://www.healthgate.com/

     

    MedicineNet

    http://www.medicinenet.com/

     

    Medicine Æ National Library of Medicine

    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/

     

    Medscape

    http://www.medscape.com/

     

    Melpomene Institute - Womens health and physical activities

    http://www.melpomene.org/

     

     

    Muscular Strength

    www.strengthcoach.com

     

    National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information

    http://www.health.org/

     

    National Eating Disorders:

    http://www.nmisp.org/

     

    National Headache Foundation

    http://www.headaches.org/

     

    National Institutes of Health

    http://www.nih.gov/

     

    National Mental Health Services

    http://www.mentalhealth.org/

     

    National Stroke Association

    http://www.stroke.org/

     

    National Weather Service:

    http://www.weather.com/

     

    National Women's Health Resource Center

    http://www.healthywomen.org/

     

    New England Journal of Medicine

    http://www.nejm.org/

     

    Nutribase

    http://www.nutribase.com/

     

    Nutrition Action Healthletter

    http://www.cspinet.org/

     

    Nutrition advice from the American Dietic Association:

    http://www.eatright.org/

     

    Nutrition Analysis

    http://spectre.ag.uiuc.edu/~food-lab/nat

     

    Nutrition Navigator

    http://www.navigator.tufts.edu/

     

    Obesity and Weight Control:

    http://www.weight.com/

     

    Osteoporosis:

    http://www.nof.org/

     

    P.E. Central Æ Health and Wellness Website

    http://www.pecentral.org/

     

    Partnership for a Drug Free America

    http://www.drugfreeamerica.org/

     

    PE Office - Pys Ed Resources

    http://whidbey.net/~eriise/jriise/peoffice.html

     

    Physician and Sportsmedicine Online

    http://www.physsportsmed.com-/

    Pilates

    www.balancedbody.com

     

    President's Challenge

    http://www.indiana.edu/~preschal

     

    Price Check:

    http://www.consumerworld.org/

     

    PubMed - Links to New England J. of Med

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed

     

    Puzzle Maker

    http://www.puzzlemaker.com/

     

    Road Runners Club of America

    http://www.rrca.org/

     

    Running Page

    http://sunsite.unc.edu/drears/running/running.html

     

    Shape-Up America

    http://www.shapeup.org/

     

    Skin Cancer:

    http://www.cancer.org/

     

    SleepNet

    http://www.sleepnet.com/

     

    Sports Medicine Performance Center

    http://www.sportmedicine.com/

     

    Sports Products

    www.sportlink.com

     

    Stress

    www.stress.org

     

    Study of Services for Consumers

    http://www.checkbook.org/

     

    Swimming, water aerobics, water polo, and other water workouts:

    http://www.webswim.com/

     

    Teacher's Edition Online - information on lesson plans and projects

    http://www.teachnet.com/

     

    U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission:

    http://www.cpsc.gov/

     

    U.S. Department of Education

    http://www.ed.gov/

     

    U.S. FDA - Center for Food Safety and Nutrition

    http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/list.html

     

    Vegetarian Resource Group

    http://www.vrg.org/

     

    Virtual Hospital

    http://vh.radiology.uiowa.edu/

     

    Vitality Magazine

    http://www.vitality.com/

     

    Walking Index

    http://www.ava.org/

     

    Wealth of Fitness Information:

    http://www.fitnesszone.com/

     

    Weight Loss Tips:

    http://www.vitamin.com/

     

    Whole Brains Atlas

    http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.html

     

    WWW Virtual Library: Biosciences

    http://www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl

     

     

     
    Personal Fitness Resources
    This section will be updated frequently to provide references to books, magazines, newsletters, etc. that will assist teachers in personal fitness. When you identify helpful materials, let us know so that we can include them here.

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