Spheres of Physical Activity Experience — Study Notes

I. Physical activity experience

  • There is an enormous range of movements across a wide variety of contexts.
  • Physical activity experience is more than how much one moves; it also includes the kinds of movement one performs.
  • Seven spheres of physical activity experience:
    • i) Self-sufficiency
    • ii) Self-expression
    • iii) Work
    • iv) Education
    • v) Leisure
    • vi) Health
    • vii) Competition
  • Spheres = general dimensions of everyday life in which physical activity plays an important and distinctive role.
  • Generally, the spheres identify different purposes of physical activity, usually, but not always, in different social contexts.

II. Sphere of self-sufficiency

  • Movements that allow one to live independently.
  • Categories of self-sufficient physical activities:
    • i) Activities of daily living (ADLs)
    • 1) Personal behaviors
    • 2) Grooming, using the toilet, dressing, eating, and walking
    • ii) Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs)
    • 1) Less personal activities that are more physically demanding
    • 2) Shopping, cooking, and doing laundry
    • iii) Home maintenance activities
    • 1) More complicated than both ADLs and IADLs
    • 2) Shoveling snow, fixing a car, and painting the house
  • Key Point: To live functional, independent lives, we must perform activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs).
  • c) Self-sufficiency and aging
    • i) Physical activity limitations among the elderly
    • ii) Mobility and driving among the elderly
  • Key Point: Injury or disease can hinder a person’s ability to perform daily physical activities. To help the person recover as much functionality as possible, a physical or occupational therapist creates therapeutic strategies based on activity analyses.
  • Key Point: Limitations in performing ADLs and IADLs require many elderly people to depend on others, or on institutions, to perform their tasks of daily living. This problem holds great importance in both personal and economic terms.
  • From S.J. Hoffman and D.V. Knudson, 2018, Introduction to kinesiology instructor guide, 5th ed. (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics).

III. Sphere of self-expression

  • a) Gestures: nonverbal communication
    • i) Intentional gestures
    • 1) Emblems: actions that have a common translation (e.g., a referee signaling a touchdown)
    • 2) Illustrators: gestures that complement words; can indicate emotion or tone (e.g., using hands to show the size of a fish)
    • 3) Regulators: affect the flow of the meeting or conversation (e.g., waving someone to come while you are talking or moving toward the door to indicate the end of the conversation)
    • 4) Cultural differences
  • Key Point: We use physical activity in the form of gestures as a means of communication and expression, either in combination with or in place of words.
  • ii) Dance: convey feelings, words, symbolic meanings
  • Key Point: The art form of dance uses physical activity to express attitudes and feelings that may be difficult to express in words. Rituals often use physical activity to express sacred values or beliefs in symbolic form.
  • iii) Instrumental movements = critical to movement goal
  • iv) Expressive movements = individual expression
  • v) Rituals

IV. Sphere of work

  • a) Physical activity, efficiency, and injury in the workplace
    • i) Ergonomists (human factors engineers)
    • 1) Design workspaces and tools to improve efficiency and reduce physical inactivity
    • 2) Perform ergonomic analysis of work tasks
    • Key Point: As technology continues to shape the character of work, the amount of physical activity required on the job is likely to decrease, thus placing workers at higher risk for diseases brought on by physical inactivity.
  • ii) Physical activity-related injuries at work
    • 1) Cumulative trauma disorders
    • 2) Physical and psychological demands of work
    • a) Higher stress levels
    • b) Fitness test requirements
  • Key Point: Industrialization and technological advances have led to the creation of jobs that impose higher levels of stress while involving lower levels of physical activity. In response, some businesses sponsor exercise and sport programs for employees.
  • From S.J. Hoffman and D.V. Knudson, 2018, Introduction to kinesiology instructor guide, 5th ed. (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics).

V. Sphere of education

  • Key Point: The education sphere includes that aspect of life in which we seek to learn new skills or knowledge; in this process, physical activity usually plays an important role.
  • a) Instruction in sport and exercise
  • b) Physical education
  • Key Point: Physical education is the only near-universal program of sport and exercise instruction available to young people. For this reason, it should be of the highest quality possible.
  • i) Integral part of comprehensive education
  • ii) Curriculum varies locally, regionally, nationally
  • iii) Society for Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) content standards
  • iv) Teaching physical education for fitness
    • 1) Address poor health issues of inactivity and obesity
    • 2) Reduction in physical education programming
    • 3) Lifestyle factors
  • v) Teaching physical education for sport skill development
    • 1) Emphasis on lifetime sport skills
  • Key Point: One way to counteract the epidemic of obesity is to increase the time allotted to physical education programs in school. However, simply requiring physical education may not reduce overweight or increase physical activity among youth.

VI. Sphere of leisure

  • Key Point: Leisure is a state of being, and free-time activities can help us attain this state. For example, large-muscle physical activities (e.g., sport, exercise) can help us nourish and maintain a leisure disposition.
  • a) Distinguishing leisure from free time
    • i) Definition of leisure: a state of being
    • ii) Leisure and free time
  • b) Physical activity as leisure activity
    • i) Aging and leisure activities

VII. Sphere of health

  • a) Physical activity, health, and the public interest
    • i) Physical activity for disease prevention and therapy
    • ii) Healthy People 2020
    • iii) Surgeon General's report
  • b) How people exercise
  • c) Psychological effects of exercise
  • d) Detriments of physical activity: “The darker side”
    • i) Excess and Injuries
    • ii) Collisions
    • iii) Compulsive behaviors
    • iv) Psychological state
  • Key Point: When pursued in moderation, physical activity is desirable and health promoting. It may be undesirable, however, when it puts the integrity of the body at risk or induces questionable behavior patterns and psychological states.

VIII. Sphere of competition

  • a) Nature of competition
    • i) Side-by-side
    • ii) Face-to-face noncontact
    • iii) Face-to-face contact
    • iv) Impersonal
  • b) Effects of competition
  • (Note: The provided transcript ends after listing the types of competition; further details on effects are not included in the excerpt.)

From S.J. Hoffman and D.V. Knudson, 2018, Introduction to kinesiology instructor guide, 5th ed. (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics).