Exercise Habits and Physical Fitness
FoundationAccumulate at least sixty minutes of activity every day, mix aerobic, muscle and stretching exercises, warm up before and cool down after, and increase gradually — then your fitness will grow steadily.
- Fitness includes cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and body composition.
- Accumulate at least sixty minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity every day.
- Warm up for five to ten minutes before and cool down after exercise to avoid injury and soreness.
文體小知識：生活常識說明文把運動知識分點列出，配上實際例子，讀完就能設計自己的運動時間表。
§Text Passage
1Physical fitness is the body's ability to handle daily activities and exercise. It mainly includes cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and a healthy body composition. Someone with good endurance can run up several flights of stairs without panting; someone with good flexibility can touch their toes easily. All of these can be built through exercise.
2The World Health Organization advises children and teenagers to accumulate at least sixty minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day. Moderate intensity means the heart beats faster and breathing is a little heavy but you can still talk, as in brisk walking and cycling; vigorous activity includes running, swimming and rope skipping. The minutes can be added up: fifteen minutes of skipping in the morning, thirty minutes of ball games after school and fifteen minutes of brisk walking after dinner make the goal.
3Exercise needs good method. Warm up for five to ten minutes before, such as jogging and stretching, so the body eases into action and injuries are less likely. Cool down afterwards, letting the heart rate fall slowly, then stretch the muscles to reduce soreness the next day. During exercise, drink small amounts of water often instead of waiting until you feel thirsty.
4Increase step by step: what you cannot do today, try a little more of tomorrow, adding a little each week. Together with enough sleep and a balanced diet, fitness will rise steadily. Never force yourself to exercise when ill or injured; ask a doctor or PE teacher for advice when necessary.
1Summary 重點摘要
Accumulate at least sixty minutes of activity every day, mix aerobic, muscle and stretching exercises, warm up before and cool down after, and increase gradually — then your fitness will grow steadily.
2Vocabulary cards Vocabulary
The body's ability to handle daily life and exercise, including endurance, strength and flexibility.
The heart and lungs' ability to supply oxygen during long activity, trained by running and swimming.
How far joints and muscles can stretch, improved by stretching exercises.
Gentle activity before exercise, such as jogging and light stretching, to ease the body into action.
Gentle activity after exercise, such as walking and stretching, to let the heart rate return to normal.
A level where the heart beats faster and you breathe harder but can still talk.
The force muscles produce against resistance, trained by push-ups and sit-ups.
Drinking water before, during and after exercise to replace water lost in sweat.
Increasing the amount of exercise gradually instead of doing too much at once.
3Step by step Steps
- Step 1: Accumulate sixty minutes of activity each dayChildren should accumulate at least sixty minutes of physical activity every day. It does not have to be done all at once; short sessions also count. For example, skip rope for fifteen minutes in the morning, kick a shuttlecock for ten at break, swim thirty minutes after school and take a five-minute brisk walk after dinner — exactly sixty minutes in total. A daily habit keeps the heart and muscles growing strong. A suitable intensity makes the heart beat faster and breathing a little heavy while you can still talk; too easy an activity shows little effect.
- Step 2: Mix different kinds of exercisePhysical fitness includes endurance, muscle strength and flexibility, so we should mix different kinds of exercise for all-round growth. For example, run on Monday and Wednesday for endurance; do push-ups and sit-ups on Tuesday and Thursday for muscles; stretch on Friday for flexibility; cycle with the family at the weekend — fun and useful at the same time. The richer the variety, the more all-round the training for every part of the body, and repeating the same movement is less likely to bore you.
- Step 3: Warm up for five to ten minutesA warm-up lets the heart speed up slowly and the muscles grow warm, which lowers the chance of strains and sprains. Before running, jog two easy laps, do eight lunges, and rotate your wrists and ankles ten times each. Start the main exercise only when your body feels warm and slightly sweaty. With this habit, exercise becomes much safer. In cold weather the warm-up should be even longer, so the body is fully warm and less likely to be hurt during exercise.
- Step 4: Drink small amounts oftenExercise makes the body lose water and salt, so drink small amounts often instead of gulping a lot down at once when thirsty. For example, take two or three sips every fifteen to twenty minutes; about half a bottle is enough for a forty-minute ball game. In this way you replace the water without upsetting your stomach. Sports drinks are high in sugar and are not needed for ordinary amounts of exercise — clean plain water is enough.
- Step 5: Cool down after exerciseAfter hard exercise, do not stop and sit down at once; spend five to ten minutes cooling down so the heart and breathing settle slowly. For example, walk for five minutes after a run, then sit and reach for your toes for thirty seconds and stretch each arm for thirty seconds. This helps the muscles relax, so they are less sore the next day and recover faster. Drink water after exercise too, and wait until the sweat has dried and the body is cool before bathing, to avoid catching a chill.
- Step 6: Increase step by step and keep a recordFitness should improve step by step: add only a little more exercise each time, so the body can cope. For example, jump rope three hundred times a day in week one, four hundred in week two, five hundred in week three. Write the numbers in an exercise diary; seeing your own progress keeps you going, and adding slowly protects you from injury. Never force yourself to exercise when ill or injured; rest first, and ask a doctor or PE teacher for advice when necessary.
4Diagrams Diagrams
5Worked example Example
Example: Kin wants to get fit before the sports day. On day one he runs for ten minutes and does fifty push-ups; the next day his muscles ache badly and he dares not exercise for a whole week. What went wrong, and how should he change his plan?
- He did no warm-up and did not build up gradually; the first day's amount was far beyond what his body could handle.
- Bad muscle pain means the muscles were overworked; pushing on could cause a strain, and a week without exercise loses all the benefit.
- The right way: warm up for five to ten minutes every time, start from an amount he can manage, and increase slowly.
- Add a little each week, cool down after exercise, and plan rest days so the muscles can recover — only then does progress stay steady.
- Answer: The problem was no warm-up and no gradual build-up. Kin should start with a manageable amount, add a little each week, warm up before and cool down after exercise, and give his body enough time to recover, so that his fitness improves steadily.
6Common mistakes Mistakes
7Quick check Quick check
Q1How many minutes of physical activity should children accumulate each day?
Q2What is moderate-intensity exercise?
Q3Why do we warm up before exercise?
Q4What are the main elements of physical fitness?
Q5How should we drink water during exercise?
8Recap Recap
- Fitness includes cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and body composition.
- Accumulate at least sixty minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity every day.
- Warm up for five to ten minutes before and cool down after exercise to avoid injury and soreness.
- Drink water little and often during exercise, not only when thirsty.
- Build up gradually and mix kinds of exercise; never force exercise when ill or injured.