Body Mechanics: Improve Your Quality of Life

Understanding anatomical or reference lines will further assist in understanding the location of one body part in relation to another. 

Knowing different directional terms allows us to describe where the location of landmarks are in relation to other landmarks or locations. 

Planes of motion are imaginary two-dimensional surfaces through which a limb or body segment is moved. 

For movement to occur in a plane, it must turn or rotate about an axis.

Joints come in many different varieties.  While most joints allow much movement, others have limited or no movement. 

The human body has many different joint motions and all of these occur in a body plane around an axis. 

The effective application of forces can maintain or improve range of motion such as maintaining good posture and exercising.

Flexibility is the ability of a joint to move through its full range of motion.  Maintaining flexibility is important for many reasons. 

In this lecture, I am going to discuss the proper posture and we will dive into the importance of posture and how to have great standing and sitting posture.

In this lab, notice and sense which parts of your feet you are standing on.

Back pain is one of the most common health problems in America so it’s important that we spend some time during this course talking about it. 

Today I am going to teach you some basic back exercises you can do.

Today let us take some time to discuss different lifting techniques and guidelines to protect your back from injury.

In this lecture, I am going to explain the three basic body types: ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs.

Why is it important to assess and know your body comp percentage?  Too much fat is a risk factor in cardiovascular disease. 

There are different ways to measure body fat.  Some are more reliable than others.  Some assessments are expensive while others are relatively cheap to administer.

Today, this lecture is going to touch upon determining and calculating waist to hip ratio.  A person’s waist to hip ratio is a good way to determine health risks and disease.

Determine the total number of calories to consume in order to maintain your current weight.  

There are lots of reasons people give for not exercising.  Can you relate to any of these?  Learn to identify your barriers and overcome your resistance.

Some type of testing is necessary to determine your personal need for cardiovascular fitness.  Take these tests to see where your fitness level is!

Exercise affects fat metabolism and regulates body weight.  Find out what metabolism is and benefits of exercising.

Your heart rate is a great indicator of your fitness level.  Learn how to monitor it properly and which heart rates you want to track.

Strength training works on both strength and endurance. Sometimes it is also called resistance training.

If you are just getting started, it is quite easy to become totally confused by all of the anatomical terms and gym jargon. Today, you will learn the names of the major muscle groups and the exercises that target them.

This lab will evaluate your static and dynamic muscular endurance in a series of three tests.

This lab will give you an opportunity to experience a sample resistance/weight training program.

There are additional influences on body mechanics.  Stress is one, which is your body’s reaction to emotional or physical change.

Nutrition is another influence on body mechanics.  If healthy nutritional requirements are out of balance, our bodies will respond. 

Learn and find out about my courses in the sport and fitness field.

View references and resources I used within this course.