Andrea Audine P. JandonganMPE – Sports Stream

Fitness Management

If one lives long enough, health problems

will develop, leading to an inability to function

independently and eventually causing death. One

aspect of an individual’s quality of life is to

prevent or delay the premature development of

these health problems, prolonging the healthy

and independent living portions of life.

There is an evidence that physical activity is

related to lower risk of premature development of

many health problems including;

Anxiety Atherosclerosis

An active lifestyle is also related to estimates of

prolonged quality of life and independent living in

the elderly.

Primary and Secondary Risk Factors for Heart Disease

Primary Secondary

Smoking Obesity

High total cholesterol High very low-density cholesterol

High low-density cholesterol Inability to cope with stress

Low high-density cholesterol Older age

High blood pressure African-American

Physical inactivity Male

Low cardio respiratory fitness Family history

Diabetes High-fat diet

High fabrinogen

Although this distinction has been helpful in the past, the differentiation between primary and secondary is increasingly difficult to maintain. For example, earlier reviews concluded that physical inactivity was a secondary risk factor, and cardio respiratory fitness was not listed under either category of risk.

Later studies have found strong evidence that both physical inactivity and low levels of cardio respiratory fitness are primary risk factors. For our purposes, the health fitness instructor should know all the risk factors and, more importantly, what individuals need to do to lower their risks of developing health problems.

Alterable and Unalterable Risk Factors

Another way to classify risk factors is to distinguish between inherited risk factors that cannot be altered and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours that can be modified. The risk factors that cannot be altered include the family history of premature cardiovascular disease, gender, race, and age.

Part of the risk associated with family history and age cannot be changed. The good news however is that some of the family history risks can be changed. These alterable family history risks include an unhealthy diet; sedentary lifestyle; smoking; and poor stress-coping behaviors that tend to be transmitted from parents to children.

In terms of aging, many fitness characteristics get worse with age; that is, if people from 20 to 80 years of age were tested and the results were plotted against age, a steady deterioration would occur with each decade. This decline starting in the mid-20s, has been called the aging curve. A portion of the deterioration seen in aging curves, however, is caused by older individuals participating in less activity-not by aging process itself. People who maintain active lifestyles slow down the fitness decline seen in typical aging curves.

Clinical evidence indicates that several risk factors are associated with low - back problems.

• Lack of abdominal muscle endurance• Lack of flexibility in the midtrunk and hamstrings• Poor posture - lying, sitting, standing, and moving• Poor lifting habits• Injury of low back

Risk factors - A characteristic, sign, symptom, or test score that is associated with increased probability of developing a health problem. For example, people with hypertension have increased risks of developing coronary heart disease.

Low - back problems - Strong discomfort in the low back area, often caused by lack of muscular endurance and flexibility in the midtrunk region, or improper posture or lifting.