Physical Conditioning: Warming, Endurance, and Flexibility

Physical Conditioning Components

Warming Up: Preparation for Effort

The warming up is a physical activity that involves the gradual and progressive mobilization of all the muscles and joints to carry out intensive efforts without injury and maximize performance. Thanks to it, body temperature rises, blood supply improves, neuromuscular coordination increases, and cardiac efficiency is enhanced.

Warming up may be:

• Active: Done at the start of any session of physical activity or sport.
• Rehabilitation: Used to warm the affected muscles after suffering an injury.
• Distance: Used in long-term competition and performed a few hours earlier.
• General: Utilized for general activities.
• Specific: Concerns only the muscles to be engaged in physical activity.

The characteristics of a warm-up are: lasting between 10 and 20 minutes, maintaining a steady pace, adapting to the sport or activity to be engaged, being able to be practiced individually or in pairs, and potentially using material.

Endurance: Sustaining Effort Over Time

Resistance (Endurance) is the ability to perform prolonged exertion over time, avoiding the appearance of fatigue. According to the process of obtaining energy, there are two types:

• Anaerobic (insufficient oxygen intake)
• Aerobic (sufficient oxygen intake)

Anaerobic endurance is divided into two types:

• Alactic: Energy is obtained through phosphocreatine stored in the muscles. Duration is 0 to 10 seconds; physical stresses are highest (95% -100%).
• Lactic: Energy procurement is through carbohydrates; duration is 10 seconds to 2 minutes. Efforts generate 80% -90% lactic acid.

There are two methods of resistance training:

1. Continuous: With a constant or variable rate.
2. Intervals (Releases).

Flexibility: Joint Range of Motion

Flexibility is the maximum extensibility of a movement in a given joint. There are a number of distinguishing factors of this physical quality:

Factors Influencing Flexibility

• Mechanical: Types of joint and muscle flexibility and ligament structure (1, 2, or 3 planes of movement).
• Emotional: The more nervous you are, the less flexibility you exhibit.
• External:
  • Temperature (where temperature is higher, people have more flexibility).
  • Age (The older one gets, the less flexible they become).
  • Social Customs (Lifestyle affects the lower or greater flexibility in some body regions).