A practical exploration of the fitness tests that measure agility and flexibility

Hi there. Welcome to your lesson. Today's lesson is a practical exploration of fitness tests that measure agility and flexibility. My name's Ms. Hacking, and I'm really looking forward to working with you today on this lesson. By the end of today's lesson, I'm hoping that we can all apply protocols of specific fitness tests that measure agility and flexibility, and we are able to compare our results to normative data. Our keywords today include agility, which is the ability to control the movements of the whole body and change position quickly. So for example, stopping and starting, change in direction, dodging a player, I bet you can think of lots of different athletes that would require agility. Flexibility is a range of motion of your joints or the ability of your joints to move freely. Often, we associate flexibility with our ball and socket joints, particularly at our shoulder or at our hips, to enable us to do different types of activities really well. Normative data is information collected from a large group of people, to show what's typical or average so others can compare to it. Often normative data can be shown in subcategory groups such as within age, so different age categories of normative data, or gender, different gender categories of normative data as well. A protocol is a set of rules, guidelines, or procedures that should be followed for a specific process or activity to ensure validity, reliability, and safety. And when we're talking about fitness testing, it's really important that we always follow the correct protocol to make sure that our results are valid, reliable, and safe. Today's lesson is split into two parts. In the first part of today's lesson, we're going to look at the definition of agility, how it is used in sport, and how we can test agility to decide if agility is one of our strengths or one of our weaknesses. For the second part of today's lesson, we're going to look at testing flexibility. So that will include determining what flexibility is, which athletes would require high levels of flexibility, and having a go at doing a test for flexibility to see how our flexibility compares in relation to other components of fitness. We're also going to get the information that we get from the fitness test, and compare our scores to normative data to determine what level our agility and flexibility is. Let's get started. So, agility is the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly. Alex has mentioned, "Which sports do you need to constantly change direction in?" Lucas has given an example that says, "Dodging an opponent would be a good example of agility because you need to change direction at speed and keep control of your body". So I wonder if that would help you think of any sports that would require good agility in order to be successful. Okay, let's have a go to quick check. Can you identify the correct definition of agility? Is it A, to move quickly in opposite directions? Is it B, the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly? Or is it C, to move the muscles repeatedly for a long period of time? I'm hoping that you've said it's B. Agility is the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly. Like Lucas said earlier, to be able to dodge an opponent would involve high levels of agility, and that would be defined as the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly. Well done if you got that correct. So as we discussed, many sports require good agility for success. And examples of sport that require good agility include sports like tennis. Tennis requires good agility because they're constantly stopping, starting, and changing direction to react to where the ball has been hit. So if their opponent has hit a drop shot over the net, they would have to move quickly to the front of the court. But then if their opponent hit the ball right to the back of the court, they would have to quickly change direction and move to the back of the court in order to return the shot effectively so that they don't lose a point. So tennis players, badminton players, volleyball players, they would all need to change direction quickly and have good levels of agility. Lots of games players as well would also need agility. Like Lucas mentioned, they would need agility to be able to dodge an opponent, but also to move where the ball is being thrown or received by an opponent. A basketball player would also require really high levels of agility because they would need to dodge an opponent, but also they'd need to move around the court really quickly in reaction to where the ball goes or where the defender goes, so they're constantly going to be needing to change direction at speed. So a basketballer is another example of a game player that would need agility. I wonder if you can think of any more. And I guess Alex has said, "Why would these athletes constantly change direction?" And if we think, well, we've already kind of discussed that with these two athletes, but what would happen if they didn't have very good agility? What would happen to their performance? So, if we had the tennis player, if the tennis player wasn't very agile and he was not able to move around the court quickly and change direction at speed, then what would happen is he wouldn't be able to get to the shot, so therefore he would miss the ball and therefore he would lose points and his opponent would win. So if he wasn't very agile, it would really affect his performance. And also a basketballer. If they weren't very agile, they wouldn't be able to move around the court very quickly, which would mean that the opposition would be more likely to have the ball, and more likely to succeed in scoring. So again, that could really affect basketball players' performance. So the Illinois Agility Run Test is a fitness test that measures agility. So, what is the protocol? And remember from our keywords that the protocol is a guidelines or procedure of how something must be done. And in order for our results to be fair and reliable, we need to make sure that we have set up the Illinois Agility Test and we conduct it following the correct protocol. So of course, as always, we'd warm up. It's really important for the Illinois Agility Test that we warm up thoroughly because, first of all, we don't want to get injured and we're going to be moving quite quickly around this test. So we don't want to injure ourselves or pull any muscles, or do any damage to our body, but also in order for us to be the quickest we can and demonstrate the best agility, we need to have warmed up so our body is ready to perform so that we're able to compete at the highest level for this fitness test to really show off an accurate reading for our agility. So, to start the test, you would lie face down at the start cone, your partner would call on your marks, set, go, and at that point they would start the stopwatch. So then the person that is performing would jump up and complete the set course by running in and outta the cones as fast as possible. When they complete it, when they come over the finishing cones, that is when your partner would stop the stopwatch and record down your time. So, to complete the Illinois Agility Test, you would first of all jump up from lying down, you would run all the way to the 10 metre cone, and around the 10 metre cone, back to the cones in the middle. There, the cones in the middle, you would weave around the middle cones, all the way back to the first cone, and then you would go back up to the next 10 metre cone and run all the way around the cone and back through the finishing line. And it's really important, you can see on this example on the video that the measurements are done properly. So you need to make sure that it is set up to the correct measurements before you do it. This test could be made a little bit more reliable by, instead of a partner timing you using a stopwatch, you could use timing gates, because timing gates would really effectively time as soon as you cross the start line, completed the course, and crossed the finish line, it would give you a really accurate time. Now, the Illinois Agility Test is measured in seconds, because you would do this test very fast, especially if you had really good agility. Here's an example of a normative data for the Illinois Agility Test, and this normative data is for 16 to 19 year olds. And like I said earlier, it's measured in seconds. So for example, if we had a male who scored 18. 5 seconds on the Illinois Agility Test, in order to read this data and compare that result to normative data, the first thing you would do is go down the gender column and find where it says male. You would then go along the male row to where 18. 5 seconds would sit. So we know that 18. 5 seconds would be between 18. 2 and 19. 3 seconds. So there you can see that this male that we're talking about that's scored 18. 5 on Illinois Agility Test has below average agility. So that would be how you compared to normative data. Okay, let's have a go to check. It's your turn to compare some data to normative data. Aisha is a female, and she scored 17. 5 seconds in the Illinois Agility Test. What level of agility does she have compared to the normative data? Okay, so because Aisha is female, I'm hoping that you went down the gender column and found the female row, and then you went along the female row to see which category 17. 5 seconds fell into. And I'm hoping that you saw that Aisha's agility level is above average because it is between 17. 0 and 17. 9 seconds. So there it is circled where she would fall. Her rating for agility was above average. Well done if you got that correct. Okay, true or false, a 400 metre runner would require good agility? Okay, that's false. Can you tell me why? So I'm hoping you've said something along these lines, that a 400 metre runner would not need to have good agility as they do not change direction or stop until the race is over, as they just run in the same direction. So well done if you mentioned something along those lines. Okay, now it's your turn to have a go at a practise task. Now for this task, I am expecting you to take part in some practical, because for the first part of the task, I would like you to complete the Illinois Agility Test. Once you've completed the Illinois Agility Test, I'd like you to record your score and compare your score to normative data. And you can use these sentence starters to help you. So you would start by saying, "My score is", and whatever time you got, record in seconds. You would then compare to normative data. So you might want to flick the video back a little bit to get the normative data tables up for the Illinois Agility Run. Here, you would determine whether your score was poor, below average, average, above average, or excellent. Using your rating, you would then be able to tell whether your agility rating is a strength or a weakness. So whether agility is one of your strongest components of fitness, or maybe it's one of your weaknesses. Following that, you're then going to explain whether agility is or is not beneficial to your sport. And I'd like you to explain why. So tell me why it is beneficial or why it's not beneficial to your sport. You are going to have to pause the video now in order to give yourself time to complete the Illinois Agility Run, record your score, and then compare your score to normative data. Best of luck. Okay, so for the first part of the test. Okay, so for the first part of the task, you were asked to complete the Illinois Agility Test. Now I'm hoping that you've had a go at the Illinois Agility Test and that you've recorded your score ready to compare to normative data. So, to compare your score to normative data, you could have used the sentence starters to help you. I have written an example here which might not be the same as yours because it will depend on what score you achieved on the Illinois Agility Run. So my score is 18. 4 seconds, which compared to normative data, it was average for a female. Therefore, this suggests that my agility is neither a strength or a weakness. Agility is not that beneficial to my sport, which is sprint cycling, because I am always cycling in a straight line. So again, I'm hoping that you've explained why or why not agility is beneficial to your sport. So, let's move on to the second part of today's lesson. We're going to look at flexibility and how we test or measure flexibility. So, flexibility is a range of motion of your joints or the ability of your joints to move freely. And Andeep said, "What types of sport require flexibility the most?" Like you to have a think. So, you might have automatically thought about gymnastics because when we think of flexibility, often we always think of gymnastics because there are a lot of skills in gymnastics that require a lot of flexibility. For example, in the picture, we've got an example of a jump front splits. So the front splits would require great flexibility at the hips in order to perform those skills. And I'm sure you can think of some other examples in gymnastics where they would require good flexibility. But we mustn't forget that other type of sports do also require flexibility, not just gymnastics. So for example, a hurdler would require good flexibility at the hips. This would allow them to have a big wide stride that gets over the hurdles without knocking the hurdles down. But also the greater the flexibility, the more they can keep up with their stride and not break their stride when doing the hurdles and therefore they're able to run faster. But also other sports such as golf or hockey, for example, would require good flexibility at the shoulders in order to be able to swing and hit the ball effectively. And there's lots of other examples, particularly in game sports where they would require flexibility in order to reach the ball or make a tackle. I wonder if you could think of any other examples. Okay, let's have a go to check then. In which example is flexibility most needed? Would it be A, a footballer scoring a goal accurately? Would it be B, a footballer sprinting to the ball? Would it be C, a footballer reaching their arms back behind their head to allow them to throw in the ball further? Or would it be D, a footballer holding their position on the ball so another player does not push them off? Which example is flexibility most needed? So I'm hoping that you've said that a footballer reaching their arms back behind their head to allow them to throw the ball in further is the example that requires most flexibility. A footballer scoring a goal accurately would probably require a lot of coordination. A footballer sprinting to the ball would require speed and power in order to get to the ball. And a footballer holding their position on the ball so another player does not push them off would require muscular strength. So well done if you put C. The sit and reach test is a fitness test that measures flexibility. So what is the protocol? Remember protocol means the guidelines or procedures of how we complete this test. So what protocol do we need to follow to complete this test properly? Of course we would always warm up properly and especially for the sit and reach test where we're going to be reaching and it's really important our muscles and our ligaments are warm so that we are able to reach forward as best we can. So the first thing you would do would be remove your shoes and sit with your heels against the specialist box with your knees flat on the floor. Now this is important if you're working with a partner perhaps and they're conducting the sit and reach test, it's important to make sure that their knees do not raise off the floor and that they remain flat. So you would gradually reach forward to push the ruler along the top of the box and you would hold that stretch for two seconds. Remember, you're not allowed to bounce. It's how far you can reach, holding for two seconds. You would repeat this test three times and record your best score, which you would then be able to compare to normative data. So here is an example of normative data for the sit and reach test for 15 to 16 year olds, and we measure the sit and reach test in centimetres. So for example, if we had a female that's scored 8. 5 centimetres in the sit and reach test, how we would compare it to normative data would be as follows, we'd look down the gender column to find the female row, and then we'd go along the female row until we found where 8. 5 centimetres would sit. And we know that 8. 5 centimetres is between 11. 9 centimetres and seven centimetres. So that female would score average for their flexibility after doing the sit and reach test. Okay, it's your turn have a go to check now. Jun is male and scored 15 centimetres in the sit and reach test. What level of flexibility does he have compared to normative data? Okay, to answer this question, I'm hoping the first thing you did was go down the gender column and find a male because we know that Jun is male, and he scored 15 centimetres, so we need to go along the row to see where 15 centimetres would put him. And I'm hoping that you've worked out that Jun's flexibility level is excellent, because it is more than 14 centimetres. So here you can see that 15 centimetres is more than 14 centimetres, so Jun's flexibility is excellent. Okay, let's have a go to another check. True or false, a hurdler would require good flexibility? That's true. Can you tell me why? Yeah, a hurdler would require good flexibility in their hips to be able lift their legs high enough to clear the hurdle without breaking their stride. So well done if you spoke about something along those lines. Okay, now it's your turn to have a go at a task. And again, in the first part of the task, I want you to complete the fitness test. So I want you to complete the sit and reach test to measure your flexibility. Once you've recorded your score or taken your best score from three attempts, I'd like you to compare your score to normative data using the sentence starters to help you. Remember to write your score in centimetres. And you're going to compare it to the normative data that was on a previous slide. You would then use your rating to determine whether your flexibility is one of your strengths or one of your weaknesses. And then I'd like you to explain whether flexibility is or is not beneficial to your sport, and say why. You are going to have to pause the video now in order to give yourself time to complete the sit and reach test and compare your results to normative data. Good luck. Okay, so for the first part of the task, I asked you to complete the sit and reach test. Now, I'm hoping that you followed the protocol properly and you didn't cheat by raising your knees up, that your knees remained flat on the floor, and that you were able to reach forward as far as possible without bouncing. So well done if you did that, and you've recorded your score ready to compare to normative data. So with your score from the sit and reach test, I'm hoping that you're able to compare your score to normative data. Now, depending on what your score was, will depend how you finish the sentence starters, but here is an example answer that you may wish to look at. So you might have said that your score was three centimetres, and compared to normative data, it was poor for both male and female. Therefore, this suggests that my flexibility is a weakness, and flexibility is not as beneficial to my sport, which is endurance running because having good flexibility may not enhance my running time. I need components of fitness like cardiovascular and muscular endurance more. So I'm hoping that you've enjoyed taking part in some of the fitness tests, but also getting an idea of which components of fitness are your strengths and which components of fitness are a weakness. And looking at the sports that you take part in and looking at which components of fitness are more beneficial to those sports. Okay, that gives us just enough time left to summarise today's lesson. So agility is the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly. The fitness test for agility is the Illinois Agility Test. The quicker the test is completed, it's measured in seconds, the better the agility. Flexibility is a range of motion of your joints or the ability of your joints to move freely. The fitness test that measures flexibility is a sit and reach test. The further the reach in centimetres, the higher the flexibility. Well done today. I'm hoping that you've enjoyed taking part in some of the fitness tests, and that you're able to see whether your agility and flexibility are a strength or a weakness in comparison to other components of fitness. I'll see you again soon.