39 of the SEHS glossary’s terms, each with the part of the syllabus where you first meet it.
Anxiety symptoms that a performer interprets as helpful to performance, as a sign of readiness; the opposite interpretation, as harmful to performance, is debilitative anxiety.
A form of continuous training in which speed and intensity are varied, often over varied terrain, so that both aerobic and anaerobic energy systems are stressed.
Sheets of collagen-rich connective tissue that surround and separate muscles and muscle groups, allow them to slide past one another and help transmit force between them.
A bundle of skeletal muscle fibres wrapped in a layer of connective tissue called the perimysium; many fascicles make up a whole muscle.
The first 2–3 minutes of recovery, when oxygen consumption falls rapidly as phosphocreatine and ATP are resynthesised and the oxygen stores of myoglobin and blood are restored.
The mass of the body excluding all fat, made up of muscle, bone, organs, connective tissue and water; often called lean body mass.
A reduction in the maximal force or power that muscles can produce, or a rise in the perceived effort needed to maintain a given output, caused by exercise and reversed by rest.
A chain of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached and an acid group at one end; saturated fatty acids have only single carbon–carbon bonds, unsaturated ones have one or more double bonds.
Information received by a performer about a movement or its outcome, during or after the movement, which can be used to detect and correct errors.
An earlier model describing three interrelated conditions in female athletes: low energy availability (with or without disordered eating), menstrual dysfunction and low bone mineral density.
A protein that stores iron in the body, mainly in the liver; the concentration of ferritin in the blood (serum ferritin) is used as a measure of iron stores.
A tough type of cartilage containing dense bundles of collagen fibres that resists compression and tension, forming the menisci, intervertebral discs and pubic symphysis.
A joint in which the bones are held together by dense fibrous connective tissue without a joint cavity, allowing no or almost no movement, such as the sutures of the skull.
A skill that uses small muscle groups and small, precise movements, often needing high hand–eye coordination, for example an archery release or a snooker shot.
A lever in which the fulcrum lies between the effort and the load, such as the head nodding at the atlanto-occipital joint; its mechanical advantage can be above, equal to or below 1.
The ability to meet the physical demands of a task or environment, such as daily life, an occupation or a sport, without undue fatigue.
A planning aid for applying overload by adjusting the frequency, intensity, time (duration) and type of exercise.
A muscle that contracts, usually isometrically, to stabilise the bone to which the agonist is attached, so that the agonist moves only the intended bone.
The range of motion available at a joint or a group of joints, determined by joint structure and the extensibility of muscles, tendons and ligaments.
A planned programme of stretching exercises that aims to increase or maintain the range of motion at a joint, using static, dynamic or PNF techniques.
A movement in the sagittal plane that decreases the angle between the bones at a joint, such as bending the knee or raising the arm forwards at the shoulder.
A substance, either a liquid or a gas, that can flow and takes the shape of its container; in sport the main fluids are air and water.
The first phase of the menstrual cycle, from the start of menstruation to ovulation, in which oestrogen rises as ovarian follicles develop while progesterone stays low.
The final phase of a discrete skill, in which the body keeps moving after release or contact, ensuring maximum speed at contact and slowing the limbs gradually to reduce peak forces.
A push or pull acting on a body that can change its state of motion or its shape; a vector measured in newtons (N).
A measuring platform in or on the floor that records the ground reaction force applied to it many times per second, used to analyse jumping, landing, running, balance and gait.
The phase of a movement in which the muscles contract to generate the force that moves the body or an object, usually sequencing joint actions from large proximal to small distal segments.
A graph of the force acting on a body against time, usually recorded with a force plate, in which the area under the curve equals the impulse.
Drag caused by the difference between the high pressure in front of a body and the low pressure in the turbulent wake behind it; it depends on shape and frontal area. Also called pressure drag.
A break or crack in a bone, caused by a force greater than the bone can withstand or by repeated loading; classified as open or closed and by the pattern of the break.
The principle that the more the ventricle is filled and stretched during diastole, the more forcefully it contracts, so greater venous return produces a greater stroke volume.
A diagram of a single body showing all the external forces acting on it as labelled arrows from their points of application, with lengths roughly proportional to their size.
A force acting parallel to two surfaces in contact that opposes their relative motion, or the tendency of one surface to slide over the other.
An axis running horizontally from side to side through a joint or the body; rotation about it occurs in the sagittal plane, as in flexion, extension and a somersault.
A vertical plane running from side to side that divides the body into front and back parts, also called the coronal plane; abduction and adduction occur in it, about the sagittal axis.
The freezing of body tissue, usually of the fingers, toes, ears or nose, when skin temperature falls below freezing; severe frostbite can cause permanent tissue loss.
The fixed point or axis about which a lever rotates; in the human body, usually a joint.
The principle that imagining a movement uses many of the same brain areas and processes as physically performing it, so imagery that closely matches real performance is more effective.
A planned, short-term increase in training load that causes a temporary fall in performance lasting days to about two weeks, followed by improved performance after recovery.