Chapter 3

1. Chapter 3 The Importance of Physical Activity Experiences

2. Activity Experience Defined as: training in, observation of, practice of, or participation in physical activity to increase one’s capacity for physical performance. Differentiated from subjective physical activity experiences (reactions, feelings, and thoughts; these are the focus of the next chapter). Kinesiologists are experts at designing andmanipulating physical activity experiences to bring about desired ends, such as improvement in skill, performance, and health and well-being.

3. Physical Activity as aSignature of Humanity • Is rooted in intricate, intelligent plans • Can be used to express aesthetic imagination and moral reasoning • Is flexible and adaptable • Illustrates capacity to improve performance through planned and systematic practice and training • * We were MADE to move!!! (outdoors)

4. Human Physical Activity Compared Human physical activity • Intelligence-based physical activity • Our activity tends to be more complex and has more sophisticated goals that lower animals • Animals have relatively simple plans • Cheetah can outrun a human, but….

5. Human Physical Activity Compared Human physical activity • Ethically and aesthetically based physical activity • We use movement to express imagination and moral reasoning • Express joy, beauty, wonder, other

6. Human Physical Activity Compared Human physical activity • Flexibility and adaptability of physical activity • Upright posture and bipedal gate • Great ability for movement • Hand, arms, shoulders, stereoscopic vision • Fine motor • Perform movement in our field of vision

7. Human Physical Activity Compared Human physical activity • Ability to improve performance through planned experience • Systematic and scientifically ways as means of improving health, performance, skill or for rehabilitation

8. Factors Influencing Physical Activity Experiences • Enormous disconnect between what we know about benefits of physical activity and our behavior • Why is this? • Three primary barriers: • Lack of time • Accessibility • Safe environment

9. What contributes to PA experiences?

10. Individual Circumstances Geography Local physical activity culture * Historical norm shifts Socioeconomic considerations Access Acceptable activities Personal attributes Self-perceptions Feelings

11. Social Environment • Parents • Physically active parents more likely to have active children • Same gender parent as child will have most influence • Peers • Will influence activity level along with other areas • Teachers and coaches *

12. Teachers and coaches • Influential – can confirm or disconfirm person’s competency in an activity • Can create social environment that discourage young persons from seeking out physical activity experiences • Gatekeepers – may have life long experience

13. Socioeconomic status and activities*

14. Personal Attributes • Self-perceptions • Tend to participate in activities we enjoy • Difficult to pinpoint factors why • Feelings • Research shows involvement or avoidance influenced by feelings of self-esteem or perceptions of competence

15. How Experience Changes Our Capacity to Perform Physical Activity Figure 3.4

16. Skill, Practice, and Learning Motor skills: Physical activities in which performers try to attain specific goals by executing efficient, coordinated motor responses Practice: Physical activity experience that involves cognitive processing and leads to skill improvement Learning: Permanent alteration in functioning of nervous system that enables performers to achieve a predetermined goal consistently

17. Physical PerformanceCapacity, Training, and Conditioning Physical performance capacity: Aspects of physical activity developed through training Training: Physical activity carried out for the purpose of conditioning one for performance in an athletic or other event Conditioning: Temporary end state of training reflected in the performer’s possessing adequate strength, endurance, and flexibility in order to carry out desired tasks

18. Figure 3.5

19. Performance Experience and Physical Fitness A physically fit person can perform the essential activities of daily living at a high level, has sufficient energy remaining to pursue an active leisure life, and can meet unexpected physical demands that emergencies may impose. Types of physical fitness Motor performance fitness Health-related fitness Two major U.S. tests for youth fitness President’s Challenge Physical Fitness Test Fitnessgram Anyone done these???

20. Performance Experience and Physical Fitness • Measuring physical fitness • Type of physical fitness • Motor performance fitness • # curlups/1 minute • Agility test • Health-related fitness • Run on treadmill • Monitor HR, blood pressure, oxygen consumption • Skin fold test for body composition

21. Table 3.1

22. Physical Fitness Physical fitness activities are training experiences that improve our general capacity for performing daily activities and prevent disease processes associated with low levels of physical activity.

23. Depth and Breadth of Experience • Generalists vs. specialists • Generalist: breadth of experience • Exposure to many different types of experiences will increase breadth of capactiy • Advantage: enjoyment from many different physical activity experiences; not at a high level • Specialist: depth of capacity • Limit physical activity to single/narrow range will have increased depth of capacity • Advantage: remarkable proficiency; in a limited area

24. Tailoring Experience • Principle of quality Experiences that engage us in the critical components of an activity are most likely to improve our capacity to perform that activity. • Principle of quantity Increasing the frequency of experiences that engage us in the critical components of a physical activity will lead to increases in our capacity to perform that activity.

25. Tailoring Experience • Critical component The aspect of an activity deemed most important for successfully performing that activity • Task analysis The systematic examination of a particular physical activity for purposes of disclosing its critical components

26. Planning or Happenstance If physical activity experiences are to lead to specific improvements in our learning and conditioning, they must be planned intelligently and systematically. This means that they must engage the individual in the critical components of the activity as frequently as possible.

27. Heredity and Experience • Abilities as building blocks for experience • Interactions of experience and abilities • Underachievers • Natural ability; fail to develop abilities through training and practice • Overachievers • Little natural ability; compensate through practice and training

28. Figure 3.9:Um…HUGE generalizations!!!!!!!

29. Contribution of Practice, Training, and Heredity. Figure 3.11

30. Your Activity Experiences Think about your activity experiences and their influence on your capacity to perform particular skills or achieve certain levels of fitness. Remember that, as a Kinesiologist, you need to be aware of the experiences of others!

31. chapter4 The Importance of Subjective Experiences in Physical Activity

32. Subjective Experiences Derived from physical activity • Emotions • Cognitions • Dispositions • Knowledges • Meanings • Basically, subjective experiences are how we feel, think, and react to physical activity rather than the actual performance itself.

33. Four Truths About Sport and Exercise 1. Always accompanied by subjective experiences • Experiencing an activity means more than just performing it 2. Subjective experiences are unique • How activity makes us feel determines whether we continue

34. Four Truths About Sport and Exercise 3. Might do physical activities without ever asking why or understanding purpose • How does activity fit in larger scheme of life’s meaning? 4. Will not be meaningful unless enjoyable • Experience may be hollow

35. Why Subjective Experiences Are Important One of the primary reasons we participate in exercise and sport is that they supply us with unique forms of subjective experience that are not available in other daily activities.

36. Why Subjective Experiences Are Important (continued) Subjective experiences can help clarify the bases of our career choices. Subjective experiences can help develop ourskills as physical activity professionals. Most important, how we feel and what we thinkbefore, during, and after a physical activity largely determines whether we will make that activity part of our lives. The focus is on internal dynamics rather than external performance.

37. The Nature of Subjective Experiences • Immediate subjective experiences • Your best game • Hole in one! • A “bad” day • Immediate emotional & cognitive impressions • Proprioceptive stimulation • Tendon, ligaments, muscles, inner ear • Provide information about body in space • Biochemical changes • Circulatory system • Perceptions of fatigue and effort

38. Replayed subjective experiences Do you remember the feeling? • process of examining past experiences • Opportunity for self reflection • Put experience in a framework that make it more meaningful and comprehensive • What about some of your experiences?

39. Components of Subjective Experience • Sensations • Raw, interpreted data collected through sensory organs • Perceptions • Means by which we interpret sensations • Emotions • Different from person to person • Perceptions during activity can evoke different responses • Angry, happy, enthusiastic, etc. • Emotional Expression • Tendency to reveal something about our emotional state • Fear – tremble • Excited – forceful or rapid movements

40. Components of Subjective Experience • Knowledge and subjective experience • Rational knowledge • Facts about history; math formulas • Derived from using logic, reason, and analysis • Intuitive knowledge • Derived from subjective experiences • Intuition – how we come to know something without conscious reasoning

41. Figure 4.1

42. Components of Subjective Experience • Knowledge and subjective experience • Psychoanalytic self-knowledge (deep-seated desires) • And the manner in which we pursue physical activity • Mystical knowledge (rare and special) • Experience may take you out of the real world • Peak performance • Socratic self-knowledge (we know and don’t know) • Play within yourself

43. Talking About Subjective Experiences It can be difficult to find the right words to communicate our subjective experiences of sport and exercise to others. It is important that we try, however, since this helps us better understand the personal meanings we find in physical activity.

44. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Approaches to Physical Activity • Extrinsic approaches (to physical activity) Valuing physical activity because of the benefits that come from participating • Intrinsic approaches (to exercise for health) Valuing physical activity because of the subjective experiences embedded within the activity itself

45. Sport Participation IsAbout YOU Even though sport and exercise may provide participants with many different kinds of benefits, most people likely engage in them because of the unique subjective experiences they offer.

46. Factors Affecting Enjoyment of Physical Activity • Factors related to the activity • Evenly matched challenges • Ability and skill go beyond challenge • Boredom • Challenge beyond our ability • frustration • Clear goals and feedback • Feedback from coaches, teacher, etc. • Competition • An organizing principle that frames physical activity

47. Factors Affecting Enjoyment of Physical Activity • Factors related to the performer • Dispositions • Short term, highly variable psychological states influenced by outside factors • Attitudes (see Kenyon ATPA) • Relatively stable mind-set toward concrete objects • May be favorable or unfavorable

48. Factors Related to theSocial Context Alone vs. with others Environment Sense of perceived freedom

49. Figure 4.3

50. Factors Related to the Activity We are more likely to enjoy physical activities when the challenges of the activity match our abilities, when the activity has clear goals and feedback, and when the activity is arranged in a competitive framework.