UNIT 1: WARMING UP AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE

Physical exercise is not only a characteristic of the human body but it is also a necessity. The modifications that take place in our body when we do some exercise is called adaptation of the organism to the physical exercise, so that our body can respond to the effort. Warming up is the first stage of the adaptation of the organism to physical exercise. It prepares the cardio-respiratory system: the beats of the heart increase and more blood with oxygen is transported for muscles. It also prepares the locomotor system: the temperature of the muscle increases and the muscle contraction goes faster. Thus, the muscular movements improve and the risk of injuries diminishes. Warming up also helps us psychologically for the later activity. There are 3 rules to do it: we must do it progressive, we must do it with a variety of exercises, and we must do it alternating stronger and softer exercises. Calming down is the process we do at the end of the exercise so that the organism can go back to its resting state. We must always start warming up by jogging (running slowly). Next, we must move all our joints and stretch all our muscles. In between these exercises, we must jog: backwards, sideways, crossing our legs, hopping, moving our arms, etc.
Effects in the organism of the warming up
In the cardiovascular system Heart beating faster and the beats are stronger, for this reason there is more blood circulation into blood vessels, in order to send more oxygen to the muscles. We breath faster and in a deep way in order to extract the necessary oxygen. It increases body temperature, for this reason the muscles are able to move easier. More activation of neuronal connections.

In the respiratory system In the locomotor system In the nervious system.

Being fit is the combination of abilities (physical, locomotor and psychological) and good health, that means that a person is able to do any physical activity at any time. Being healthy is important for the abilities of a person, but in the same way your physical, locomotor and psychological abilities are good for your health, so if we improve our physical abilities, well improve our health. We call physical condition assessment the evaluation of the abilities and the good health of a person. We get this assessment by means of measures and tests. In order to evaluate the good health of a person, we use the heart beat rate, which informs us of the adaptation of our heart to the effort we make and of the heart recovery when we have finished an exercise. There are two ways to measure our heart rate: carotid pulse and radial pulse

A warm up is usually performed before participating in (technical) sports or exercising. A warm up generally consists of a gradual increase in intensity in physical activity. For example, before running or playing an intense sport one might slowly jog to warm muscles and increase heart rate. It is important that warm ups should be specific to the exercise that will follow, which means that exercises should prepare the muscles to be used and to activate the energy systems that are required for that particular activity. The risks and benefits of combining stretching with warming up are mixed and in some cases controversial.

THE WARMING UP STEP BY STEP Step 1: Running slowly for 2 or 3 minutes (jogging) Types: Sideways in two directions Backwards Kicking your legs backwards Knees up Step 2: Moving joints and stretching Neck: Head up and down (hands on your hip) Head right and left Head in circles (clockwise and anticlockwise) Head side to side Spine: Hands behind our head and you turn round your back twice. Hands on your hips and you turn round your back twice. Hands above our head right and left in an arch. Hips: You turn around our hip 10 times each way(hands on our hips) (clockwise and anticlockwise) You move your hip sideways. Shoulders: You swing your arms backwards and forwards. You open your arms and touch your backs. Knees: You move the knees making circles (clockwise and anticlockwise) Ankles: You move the ankles making circles (clockwise and anticlockwise) Legs: Open your legs one at the front and the other at the back and touch the floor with your hands. Step 3: Some free games.

VOCABULARY: Physical exercise: ejercicio fsico; Warming up: calentar; Rules: reglas; Progressive: progresivo; variety of exercises: variedad de ejercicios; Alternating: alternand; Blood circulation: circulacin sanguine; Blood vessels: vasos sanguneos; body temperature: temperature corporal; neuronal connections: conexiones neuronales; Beats of the heart: latidos del corazn; Blood with oxygen: sangre con oxgeno; Muscles: msculos; Risk of injuries: riesgo de lesions; calming down: volver a la calma; Jogging: carrera suave; Being fit: estar en forma; Physical condition assessment: evaluacin de la condicin fsica