Fitness, Health and Performance: Definitions
Fit and healthy are not the same thing! Nail the key definitions and learn why a top athlete with a cold is fit but not healthy.
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Fit is not the same as healthy 💪
People use "fit" and "healthy" as if they mean the same thing. In PE they are **different ideas**, and examiners love to test the difference. Get the definitions exact, and the marks follow.
Four key definitions 🗂️
Learn these word for word:
Match each term to its definition
- Health
- Fitness
- Exercise
- Performance
- Complete physical, mental and social wellbeing
- The ability to meet the demands of the environment
- Activity done to maintain or improve health and fitness
- How well a task is completed
Defining health
Which is the fullest definition of health?
- Complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, not just the absence of illness
- Simply not being ill
- Being physically strong
- Winning at sport
Linked, but not the same 🔄
Fitness and health are **linked** but they are **not** the same thing. Good fitness can improve your health, and poor health can limit your fitness. But being fit does **not guarantee** you are healthy.
Fit but not healthy?
A top athlete is training hard but has a heavy cold. This shows that a person can be...
- Fit but not healthy
- Neither fit nor healthy
- Always both at once
- Healthy but not fit
The exam point 💡
The classic mark: **fitness does not guarantee health**. A fit athlete can catch a cold or pick up an injury and so be **fit but not healthy**. Equally, someone can be reasonably **healthy but not very fit**. Always keep the two ideas separate.
True or false
Select the TWO true statements about fitness and health.
- Fitness and health are linked but not the same
- Being fit does not guarantee being healthy
- Fitness and health mean exactly the same thing
- Health only means not being ill
Match each person to the best description
- A trained runner with a heavy cold
- A well person who takes gentle walks
- A footballer recovering from injury
- A well person who trains hard every day
- Fit but not currently healthy
- Healthy but not very fit
- Temporarily less fit due to injury
- Both fit and healthy
Definitions frame
Health is complete physical, mental and social _____, not merely the absence of illness. Fitness is the ability to meet the _____ of the environment. Being fit does not _____ being healthy, so an athlete with a cold is fit but not _____.
Fit, healthy or both?
An interactive activity.
Two more definitions
Fitness is the ability to meet the _____ of the environment, while performance is how well a _____ is completed. Exercise is activity done to improve health and _____.
Explain the difference
An interactive activity.