Beyond Your Genes: Access, Limitations and Training That Works

Remember from Grade 9 and the last lesson

In PPL1O you learned the training principles: progressive overload, specificity, reversibility, individual differences, rest and recovery and variety, and how to apply overload with FITT. In the last lesson you saw how heredity, growth and nutrition affect fitness.

Now we look at the other A2.2 factors: social, economic and cultural factors, physical limitations, and how effective a training program is.

Hook: three students, three obstacles

• Dana wants to swim, but the nearest pool is two bus rides away.
• Luis sprained his wrist and thinks his fitness plan is over for six weeks.
• Kiran has trained for two months, doing the same 20 crunches a day to "get faster at running", and hasn't improved.

Each has a different kind of problem: access, a physical limitation, and ineffective training. Each problem has solutions.

Social, economic and cultural factors

• Social: family support, friends who are active, role models, coaches, and feeling welcome in a program. Teens with active friends are often more active.
• Economic: program fees, equipment costs, transportation, and time taken up by part-time jobs or caring for siblings.
• Cultural: values about activity, which activities are popular in a community, expectations about who plays which sports, clothing and modesty preferences, and whether programs are offered in a language you're comfortable with.

Ways to reduce barriers: free or low-cost activities (running, skipping, bodyweight training, parks and trails); school clubs and intramurals; community-centre drop-ins; fee-assistance programs that many municipalities offer; equipment swaps; women-only or culturally inclusive swim times at some pools; and programs led by and for communities, such as First Nations, Métis and Inuit sport and recreation programs and events like the North American Indigenous Games.

Physical limitations

Physical limitations can be:

• temporary: a sprained ankle, a broken wrist, recovering from an illness or a concussion;
• long-term: asthma, diabetes, a heart condition, arthritis;
• related to disability: for example, people who use wheelchairs, people who are blind or have low vision.

A limitation changes how someone trains, rarely whether they can be active. Examples: a student with a sprained wrist can still do lower-body and cardio training (with medical advice); a student with asthma follows their asthma action plan, warms up gradually and keeps their inhaler close; para sports such as wheelchair basketball, para nordic skiing (using a sit-ski) and goalball show high-level fitness with adaptations.

Always follow advice from a doctor or physiotherapist when returning from an injury or living with a medical condition.

Effectiveness of training: three principles

A2.2 names three training principles to check whether a program is working:

• Overload: is the training hard enough to cause adaptation, and does it increase gradually? Doing the same workout for months leads to a plateau.
• Individuality: does the plan fit this person: their fitness level, growth, schedule, health and goals? Copying a professional athlete's plan ignores individuality.
• Specificity: does the training match the goal? To run faster, you need running training, not crunches.

A program also only works with adherence. The best plan in the world does nothing if you don't follow it.

Why build fitness? The benefits

A2.2 also asks you to explain the benefits of developing personal fitness as part of a healthy, active lifestyle:

• Everyday energy: daily tasks (carrying groceries, climbing stairs, a long day at school or work) feel easier.
• Mental health: better mood, less stress, better sleep and focus.
• Physical health: a stronger heart and lungs, stronger bones and muscles, and a lower risk of conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes later in life.
• Enjoyment and opportunity: with more fitness, you can say yes to a hike, a pick-up game or a new sport.
• Confidence that comes from seeing what your body can do.