Glossary of Key Terms
Abduction
The movement where a limb moves away from the body
Adaptations
Changes that take place over a period of time.
Adduction
The movement where a limb moves towards the body.
Adherence
Sticking with doing something. For example, exercise adherence is sticking to a training programme.
Adrenaline
The hormone that causes heart rate to increase.
Aerobic
Using oxygen in the production of energy. Aerobic work is submaximal (low/moderate intensity over a period of time.)
Aesthetic
The pleasing visual appearance of the performer, looking good.
Agonist (prime mover)
The muscle that controls the body movement.
Anaerobic
The production of energy from carbohydrates without oxygen during high intensity work over a short duration.
Anaerobic Threshold
The point in exercise at which lactic acid is built up quicker than it can be cleared away.
Antagonist
The opposite muscle to the agonist, which relaxes while the agonist contracts.
Antagonistic Action
Muscle action in which muscles work in pairs: when one contracts the other relaxes.
Anticipatory Rise
The increase in heart rate just before exercise, due to adrenaline.
Anxiety
A negative mental state that causes a lack of focus and increased tension and nerves.
Arousal
A positive mental state that increases adrenaline and concentration.
Arthrosclerosis
A disease in which fatty deposits build up on the arteries.
Articulation
The meeting of two or more bones.
Associative
Intermediate stage of learning where a learner can associate the desired outcome with the task; some mistakes are made in execution.
Autonomous
Elite, expert stage of learning where decision making is automatic, efficient and effective.
Basic Skills
Simple and often core skills such as running.
Breathing Frequency
Number of breaths per minute.
Capillarisation
An increase in the number of blood vessels in muscles and lungs due to aerobic training.
Carbo-Loading
Increasing the amount of carbohydrates consumed prior to a performance or competition; usually a strategy used by endurance athletes.
Cardiac Output
Volume of blood pumped by the heart per minute.
Circuit Training
A series of exercises in a set order at activity 'stations'.
Circumduction
A circular motion involving flexion, extension, abduction and adduction.
Closed Skills
Performed in controlled conditions, with few variables.
Cognitive
The beginner stage of learning, lacking skill and confidence.
Commercialisation
Something (sport) becoming managed or exploited to make money from it.
Commodity
Something or someone that can be bought and sold, such as football players who are bought by one club from another.
Complex Skills
Skills that require coordination and contol and have elements of decision making.
Components of Fitness
Elements of exercise and fitness specific to the needs of the individual and the demands of the activity.
Concentric Contraction
Isotonic muscle movement in which a muscle contracts and gets shorter.
Continuous Training
Training without rest periods sub-maximally using the aerobic system.
Creatine Phosphate System
The first energy system drawn on, lasting for 10 seconds.
Decision-making Process
How choices are made, using short and long term memory, experience and selective attention.
Dehydration
Insufficient water in the body for daily functioning. This is usually caused by water being lost during exercise as part of the body's cooling process.
Deviance
Any behaviour that differs from the perceived social, legal or sporting norm.
Diabetes
A condition having higher than normal levels of blood sugar.
Diastole
The relaxation phase of the heartbeat.
Disability
A physical or mental condition that is 'life-long' and limits a person's daily activities.
Duration
How long something lasts (e.g training) for
Eccentric Contraction
Isotonic muscle movement in which a muscle contracts and gets longer.
Effort
The force generated by the muscle(s)
Energy Balance
The relationship between calories going into the body and the amount of calories being used up.
Ethnicity
The state of belonging to a social group that has common cultural traditions.
Exercise
Physical activity done in addition to day-to-day living.
Extension
The movement where a joint opens up.
Externally Paced Skills
Controlled by external factors such as the opposition.
Extrinsic Motivation
Desire/encouragement to achieve because of reward or prize.
Fartlek Training
From the Swedish 'speed play' training usually undertaken at different intensities across different terrains and inclines.
Feedback
Information on the success of the output. It can be intrinsic (whether it 'feels' right) or extrinsic (whether someone else thinks it is right or the results show it was effective)
First-Class Lever
EFL- Effort, fulcrum, load.
Fitness
Ability to meet the demands of your environment
Fitness Tests
Ways of measuring and assessing components of fitness; they offer a baseline of data.
Fixed Practice
Repeating the same movement; best practice for closed skills.
Flexibility Training
Active: Where the athlete controls the stretch.
Passive: The stretch is controlled externally.
Dynamic: The stretch is undertaken while moving.
PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation): Externally controlled and held for longer periods of times, moving through ranges of motion outside typical stretches.
Flexion
The movement where the joint closes.
Focus Attention
Particularly concentrating on a goal or task.
Frequency
How often something (e.g. training) takes place.
Frontal Axis
Imaginary line the body moves around, running through the hips left to right.
Frontal Plane
Imaginary flat surface that the body moves through, dividing it into back and front.
Fulcrum (Pivot)
The joint around which the lever rotates.
Gamesmanship
Bending or breaking the rules; using questionable methods to gain an advantage.
Gender
Either sex (male or female) when considering social and cultural differences in sport.
Globalisation
The development of something (sport) across the world.
Glycolysis
The breakdown of carbohydrates to produce energy.
Health
A state of physical, mental and social well-being.
Heart Rate (HR)
Number of heart beats per minute.
Hypertension
Abnormally high blood pressure.
Hypertrophy
The increase in muscle size.
Information-processing model
How we select appropriate skills and outcomes from making informed decisions and taking feedback.
Input
Information taken in from the senses.
Institutionalised
An established approach within an organisation.
Intensity
How hard someone is working during exercise, measured as a percentage of maximal heart rate.
Interval Training
Training in blocks of work and rest, usually at a high intensity for short duration.
Intrinsic Motivation
Internal desire/encouragement to achieve.
Isometric
Muscle contraction where the muscle is under tension but there is no movement.
Isotonic
Muscle contraction where the muscle is under tension either shortens or lengthens.
Knowledge of Performance
How the performance felt or appeared, its quality.
Knowledge of Results
The measurable outcome, such as the number of goals scored/conceded, distance jumped, speed reached.
Lactic Acid System
The energy system that lasts for 90 seconds of high intensity exercise but produces lactic acid-a waste product that causes fatigue.
Ligament
Connective tissue that connects bone to bone.
Load (Resistance)
The weight or load that needs to be moved.
Long-term Memory
Part of the brain where previous experiences are stored.
Manual Guidance
Takes the learner physically through the movement.
Mechanical Guidance
The use of basic equipment (such as floats in swimming) or more sophisticated equipment (such as a harness in trampolining)
Minute Ventilation
The volume of air breathed in or out per minute.
Mobility
The range of movement at a joint.
Motivation
The desire/encouragement to achieve a task.
Muscle Fibre
Elongated cylindrical cells that make up muscles and contract when stiumulated.
Notational Analysis
Recording of information with the data usually quantatitve.
Obesity
A body condition where the individual, for a variety of reasons which may include diet and lack of exercise has excessive body fat.
Open Skills
Where there are environmental variables, such as the opposition.
Osteoporosis
A condition in which the skeletal bones begin to lose strength.
Output
The effect of the decision making process, the skill.
Overload
Increasing the frequency/intensity/duration of the method of training within a programme.
Oxygen Debt
The lack of sufficient oxygen when exercising.
Part Practice
Attempting in isolation one aspect of the skill or technique; ideal for cognitive learners and closed; complex skills.
Physical Literacy
Having the skill, confidence, motivation/desire, understanding and opportunities to participate in physical activity.
Physiological Adaptations
Long term physiological changes to the body that take place after an exercise programme.
Plateauing
Reaching a point in training where no more improvements take place.
Plyometrics
The use of rebound techniques, where the muscle controlling the movement lengthens rather than shortens.
Progression
The development of the training programme, getting more difficult over time.
Pulmonary Circulatory System
The cardio-respiratory system of heart and lungs.
Qualitative
Information on the quality of a performance.
Quantitative
Information/data focussing on amounts, figures.
Reliability
Being dependably accurate and consistent.
Reversibility
When gains are lost; the consequence of training principles not being applied appropriately.
Rotation
A twisting movement at a joint.
Sagittal Axis
Imaginary line the body moes around, running from posterior (back) to anterior (front).
Sagittal Plane
Imaginary flat surface that the body moves through from back to front dividing the body into left and right.
Second-Class Lever
FLE-Fulcrum, Lever, Effort
Sedentary
A state or lifestyle with little or no physical activity.
Selective Attention
Choosing the appropriate information from the senses to pay attention to.
Self-Paced Skills
Under the control of the performer.
Skilled Performance
Consistent, confident, effective, controlled and aesthetic.
SMART
A goal-setting strategy: Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Time-Bound
Specificity
Training to the needs of the activity, allowing the correct adaptations to take place.
Spectatorism
The act of watching sport for pleasure.
Socio-economics
The interaction between social and economic factors.
Sponsorship
Where money, goods, facilities and so on are exchanged for endorsement and advertising.
Sportsmanship
Performing to the lawas, conventions and expectations of the activity and the unwritten rules, such as shaking hands before and after a match.
Stereotyping
A fixed, oversimplified image of characteristics.
Stroke Volume
Volume of blood pumped by the heart per contraction.
Synovial Joint
A freely moveable joint, containing synovial fluid.
Systemic Circulatory System
The cardiovascular system of the heart and blood vessels.
Systole
The contraction phase of the heart beat.
Tedium
When training becomes mundane due to a lack of variance.
Tendon
Connective tissue that connects muscle to bone.
Thermoregulation
Control of the body's temperature.
Third-class Lever
FEL-Fulcrum, Effort, Load
Tidal Volume
The volume of air inhaled or exhaled per breath.
Training Zones
Heart-rate thresholds that determine where an athlete is working aerobically or anaerobically.
Transverse Plane
Imaginary flat surface that the body moves through dividing it into top and bottom.
Validity
Being logically or factually sound; using the correct test for the component of fitness.
Variance
Changing/varying training to maintain motivation.
Varied Practice
Offers the adaptation of open skills in different contexts; usually suitable for autonomous learners.
Vascular Shunt
The movement of blood to the working muscles away from areas less needed during exercise.
Vasoconstriction
Closing of the blood vessels.
Vasodilation
Opening of the blood vessels.
Venous Return
The mechanism returning deoxygenated blood back to the heart.
Verbal Guidance
Oral feedback. Works well with associative and autonomous learners.
Vertical Axis
Imaginary line the body moves around running vertically from top to bottom.
Visual Guidance
Demonstration and performance analysis using images.
VO2 Max
The maximum amount of oxygen inhaled and used during exercise.
Weight Training
A method to develop strength, muscular endurance and power using weights.
Whole Practice
Attempting the full skill or technique in training: suitable for elite, open and externally paced skills.