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To keep your body strong and healthy, you have to move and be active every day. Kids need daily exercise just like older people do, but there's no law that says you can't have fun while you exercise your body. You probably have physical education classes at school where you learn about different types of exercise and physical activity. Keep moving even when you're not in gym class so you can grow and get stronger as you get older. These physical education vocabulary words will help you learn all about exercise and healthy activity.

Aerobic activity: An activity would be aerobic if it involves steady activity that increases your heart and breathing rates.

Agility: When you can change your body position and move quickly and accurately, you have agility.

Anaerobic activity: If you exercise to the point where your body can't supply enough oxygen to the muscles to keep it going, you're engaging in an anaerobic activity. Sprinting is an example of an anaerobic activity, because you can't keep sprinting for a long time.

Balance: Balance is the ability to maintain or regain a stable body position.

Cardiovascular fitness: When your lungs, heart, and blood vessels can function efficiently while you exercise, you have cardiovascular fitness.

Circuit training: Circuit training is a type of exercise routine that involves moving from one type of exercise to the next to work different muscles.

Cool down: After exercising, cool down to bring your heart rate down gradually and help your muscles recover.

Coordination: Someone who can put together movements using different body parts and control their movements has coordination.

Cramp: If a muscle or group of muscles contracts suddenly and painfully, you have a cramp. Cramps can be very short, or they might last for a long time.

Endurance: Endurance is the ability to keep exercising and moving for a long period of time.

Exercise: When you exercise, you exert your body. Exercise might involve cardiovascular activity, strength training, or flexibility training.

Fatigue: If you are very tired after a long day or after exercising, you are fatigued.

Free weight: Weights that aren't attached to some type of equipment are free weights.

Hydration: Your body needs a minimum balance of fluids to stay hydrated and to function correctly.

Intensity: Intensity is measured by how hard you perform a physical activity.

Interval training: Interval training is a type of exercise where you go back and forth between periods of work and periods of rest.

Muscle: Muscles make it possible for you to move your bones, lengthening and shortening to cause body movement.

Muscular endurance: Your muscular endurance is the ability of your muscles to continue working to carry, push, or pull weight.

Pulse: As your heart pumps blood through your arteries, this creates a rhythmic beat, known as your pulse. You can feel your pulse in various places, including at the wrist and on the side of your neck.

Range of motion: Your range of motion is the amount of movement your joints can make.

Relaxation: When you spend time consciously trying to reduce your intensity, tension, or anxiety, you are relaxing.

Repetitions: If you repeat an exercise or movement over and over, you are doing repetitions. An example of a repetition might be the number of times you perform a sit-up.

Resistance: Resistance is the opposite of a movement or force.

Set: A set is a group of repetitions performed for an exercise. For example, if you are doing sit-ups, you might perform three sets of ten sit-ups for 30 sit-ups total.

Sport: A sport is a type of physical recreation performed as an individual or as a team.

Stretching: When you perform exercises to improve your flexibility, you are stretching. Stretching regularly and holding your stretch positions can help you increase your flexibility.

Workout: A workout is a type of physical activity that you might do to improve your fitness level. Workouts can involve weight training or cardiovascular activities.

Weight training: When someone lifts weights to get stronger, they are weight training.

More Physical Education Resources

Written by: Ben Thompson