Exercise And Physical Fitness (1973)

[Music] here comes the first runner a baby mikil of Ethiopia making Olympic history a baby Mikila coming through with a first in front of at least 75,000 Wild enthusiastic F putting on a fantastic kick toward the finish of baby Beil of Ethiopia really pouring it on right now just look at him go ladies and gentlemen a baby beila winning the marathon race in Tokyo a man who has just undergone an appendicitis operation a man racing against a tremendous personal physical handicap the first man to do so in Olympic history twice in a row what a finish a baby b Killa and he's he's not even resting he's not even breathing hard going through a few exercis is here winning a tremendous race a 32-year-old guard in Emperor H sasi's Palace guard a baby Mika over here we have a magnificent marble from the fifth century BC in the ancient world there were no Heroes to compare with the athletes the ancient historian opan wrote an athlete crowned with fresh Laurels is beset by Boys youths and Men Who conduct him to his house and crowd around him in troops until he crosses the threshold of his home Plato considered the form of the young athlete to be the most perfect in nature there was a practical side to Greek Athletics though Athletics was considered training for military service so that the athlete who distinguished himself in war was doubly a hero if all this seems terribly antique to you and you think that people no longer idolize athlete Heroes [Applause] [Music] [Applause] but obviously people exercise for many reasons beside Athletics generations of students have practiced something called calisthenics in classes with the mysterious name of physical education [Music] [Music] [Music] why do people exercise in the course of this film we will see exercise for flexibility and relaxation inhale bridge pose we will see exercise for strength we will see exercise for [Music] agility and we will see exercise for endurance but first let's consider flexibility inhale exhale inhale exhale inhale exhale rest you must relax before you start exercising proper breathing is an integral part of all yoga exercises it is is a sort of purification inhale assume the plow position straighten your legs bring your knees to your shoulders yoga is an Indian philosophy which is associated with many difficult exercises they are especially effective for flexibility and relaxation you must not try these exercises without a teacher they can actually be dangerous this is a twisting movement which will stretch your back muscles exhale and down all yoga exercises have to be counteracted when you stretch one way you must stretch the other to counterbalance the plow assume the fish position inhale up exhale and rest now relax totally breathe deeply it is very important to know how to relax in all exercises [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and of course this is a bench presser supine press for petrols triceps and deltoids we've had this program of weightlifting at the high school for several years it's done in conjunction with running and swimming which of course are much more important exercises you know weightlifting doesn't actually make you any healthier and most people are surprised to learn that it doesn't add to their physical fitness now this is what we don't encourage lifting more than you can manage most of these boys are football players and need extra strength for that but the rest like the way it makes them look and there's that feeling of accomplishment a lot of boys don't like competitive Sports and there's no reason they should but the feeling of self-confidence and accomplishment that some get in basketball or soccer others can get with a program like this of course girls should do this sort of thing too because so many are underst strength they're not prepared for emergencies for one thing a girl with a little more strength will have an easier and safer childbirth [Music] [Music] these are professional circus performers the kinds of exercises they do every day are designed for agility and strength their lives depend on their exercises [Music] to [Music] but physical fitness isn't flexibility and it isn't strength it's about getting energy to muscles having endurance and not fatiguing easily when you exercise energy stores within the muscles must be mobilized whenever you perform any sudden or strenuous movement like standing up or swinging bat your muscles have only a split second to convert these chemical stores into energy but what happens after the small energy stores and your muscles have been exhausted has a lot to do with the oxygen you breathe in preparing this film we have asked some physiologists at the University of California to test two athletes the first athlete John Davies is a weightlifter while he's obviously strong and appears to be fit we are more concerned with the state of his lungs and heart our reasoning is that most energy for Contracting muscles comes from oxygen and that oxygen is delivered by the lungs and heart these machines are measuring the efficiency of the weightlifter's cardiorespiratory system which is what the lungs and heart are called turn on your EKG okay anytime you're ready step on at the same time that we test the weight lifter we are testing a runner Karen bolt now obviously a runner exercises different muscles than a weightlifter and exercises them in different ways our question is which is a better kind of exercise for General good health running or weightlifting the runner and weightlifter both begin about the same their heart rates are close though the runners is a little slower and their lungs are absorbing the same amount of oxygen however very quickly the situation changes the weightlifter's heart begins beating faster and faster while the runners increases very little this means that the runner's heart doesn't have to work as hard as the weightlifters but more interesting than that as we increase the workload the weightlifter is becoming tired and his lungs are absorbing less oxygen so there is less energy for his muscles to use meanwhile the runner keeps working with little strain this in fact is a common pattern weightlifting will strengthen muscles but it cannot help your endurance nor strengthen your heart and lungs the muscles that really count running however along with swiming bicycling and especially walking directly exercises your cardiorespiratory system we've seen that your muscles need oxygen to contract there are two ways in which your muscles can get oxygen normally the oxygen is drawn from your blood stream that is one of the most important functions of blood to carry oxygen to other muscles and tissues your lungs Supply oxygen to the blood and your heart pumps the oxygen-rich blood to your muscles which use the oxygen to power their [Music] contractions whenever you run or swim or play tennis or do any exercise that makes you breathe hard and your heart beat fast you are exercising your lungs and heart but there isn't all always time for your muscles to get energy from oxygen so your muscles can also get energy by breaking down chemicals like glycogen which are stored in them when you lift things for instance there isn't time for oxygen to get to your muscles from your lungs when you do any quick or sudden activity your muscles may get sore that's because lactic acid is produced by strenuous work it makes your muscles ache [Music] there's only a small amount of energy available from chemical stores in the muscles and when you run the 100 yard dash for instance they are quickly exhausted you become tired but when you run more slowly your heart and lungs can deliver oxygen as fast as your muscles use it up when you are physically fit you may be able to run for hours without becoming particularly tired [Applause] [Music] but most of us aren't long-distance Runners what then is the best exercise for keeping fit and mentally alert any exercise that makes you breathe hard and your heart pound is exercising your cardiorespiratory system it has been shown that the safest most effective total exercise is walking n a [Music] d [Music] [Applause]