Wellness and Exercise Science Lecture Notes

Practice flashcards covering the nine dimensions of wellness, behavior modification models, principles of physical fitness, nutrition, and common chronic diseases.

Holistic Wellness

A state of overalL health that involves living actively and fully, incorporating nine interconnected dimensions including physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

Transtheoretical Model (TTM)

Also known as the Stages of Change ModeL, it is a dominant framework for describing how intentional behavior change occurs through a cyclical process.

Precontemplation

The first stage of change in which individuals do not intend to take action within the next $6\,\text{months}$ and may be unaware that their behavior is problematic.

Self-Efficacy

An individual's belief in their own ability to succeed at changing a behavior or reaching a specific goal.

Consciousness Raising

A process of change that involves increasing one's awareness about a healthy behavior.

Physical Activity

Any movement carried out by skeletal muscle that requires energy and focuses on building health, such as walking or yard work.

Exercise

A sub-category of physical activity characterized as planned, structured, and repetitive movement intended to improve fitness.

Cardiorespiratory Endurance

The ability to carry out prolonged, large muscle, dynamic movements at a moderate to high level of intensity, relating to heart and lung function.

Flexibility

The ability of a joint to move through its full range of motion ($ROM$).

Body Composition

The relative amount of fat-free mass ($FFM$) to fat mass ($FM$) in the human body.

Overload Principle

The concept that improvements in fitness are driven by stress; to stimulate improvements, more stress must be applied to the system as it adapts.

FITT Principle

A framework for controlling the amount of stress placed on the body using four variables: Frequency, Intensity, Time (duration), and Type.

Principle of Specificity

The concept that the body will adapt specifically to the type of stress or exercise placed upon it.

Periodization

A training principle where fitness phases are divided into specific blocks or cycles (micro-, meso-, and macrocycles) to balance stress with rest and recovery.

Principle of Reversibility

The concept often summarized as 'use it or lose it,' stating that fitness adaptations recede when activity levels decline.

Overtraining Syndrome

A condition caused by excessive exercise without adequate rest, resulting in a decline in performance and psychological symptoms like depression or sleep disturbances.

Atherosclerosis

A condition where arteries harden and become clogged with plaque, which is a major risk factor for heart disease.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

A goal-setting criteria requiring objectives to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and have a clear Timeframe.

Motor Unit

A single nerve and all the muscle fibers it controls.

Sliding Filament Theory

The theory that muscles contract when actin filaments slide over myosin filaments, shortening the sarcomere and the muscle fiber.

Agonist

The muscle group that contracts and serves as the prime mover responsible for a specific movement.

Antagonist

The muscle group that relaxes to allow the agonist to contract and complete a movement.

Isometric Contraction

A static contraction where the muscle length and joint angle do not change, such as pushing against a stationary wall.

Isotonic Contraction

A dynamic contraction where the muscle length changes and movement occurs at the joint, consisting of concentric and eccentric phases.

Concentric Contraction

The lifting or positive phase of an isotonic contraction where the muscle shortens against resistance.

Eccentric Contraction

The lowering or negative phase of an isotonic contraction where the muscle lengthens while still contracting.

Type I Muscle Fibers

Also called slow-twitch fibers, these are fatigue-resistant, have high mitochondrial content, and are recruited for continuous, low-to-moderate intensity exercise.

Type IIb Muscle Fibers

Fast-twitch fibers adapted for short, explosive bursts of energy through anaerobic metabolism; they tire quickly compared to slow-twitch fibers.

Hypertrophy

The increase in muscle size typically achieved through resistance training with specific repetition ranges like $6-12\,RM$.

Proprioceptors

Sensory receptors like muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs ($GTOs$) that manage movement and prevent injury by monitoring muscle length and tension.

Essential Fat

The minimal amount of fat necessary for normal physiological function, typically estimated at $3\,\%$ for men and $12\,\%$ for women.

Visceral Fat

Fat that lies deep within the body surrounding the vital organs, often associated with higher health risks than subcutaneous fat.

Body Mass Index (BMI)

A measurement of height and weight used to estimate whether a person's weight is proportional to their height, calculated as $\frac{\text{weight (kg)}}{\text{height (m)}^2}$.

Macronutrients

The nutrients the body requires in large amounts to function, specifically carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and water.

Kilocalorie (kcal)

The amount of energy needed to raise $1\,kg$ of water by $1\,^{\circ}C$; used to measure food energy.

Myocardial Infarction

Commonly known as a heart attack, it occurs when a blood vessel to the heart is blocked, preventing oxygen from reaching the tissue.

Ischemic Stroke

A type of cardiovascular disease that occurs when a blood vessel carrying oxygen to the brain is blocked by a clot.

Malignant Tumor

A cancerous growth capable of invading nearby tissues and spreading to distant parts of the body via the blood or lymph system.

Metastasis

The process by which cancer cells break off from an original tumor and travel to form new tumors in other parts of the body.

Addiction

A chronic, relapsing brain disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences.