65 of the SEHS glossary’s terms, each with the part of the syllabus where you first meet it.
The line at the centre of a sarcomere that holds the myosin filaments in place and towards which actin is pulled during contraction.
The longest cycle of a periodised programme, usually a season or a year, built around the main competitions and divided into preparatory, competition and transition phases.
A nutrient needed in large amounts (grams per day) that provides energy and materials for growth and repair; the three macronutrients are carbohydrates, proteins and lipids.
The deflection of a spinning object from its path, caused by a pressure difference across it; the force acts perpendicular to the direction of travel, towards the side whose surface moves with the airflow.
Coping strategies that may reduce distress in the short term but are associated with poorer performance, well-being or goal attainment over time, such as disengagement, venting and self-blame.
A relatively stable personality characteristic that can nevertheless be changed or developed over time through experience, training and the environment.
The amount of matter in a body, which does not change with location or gravity; a scalar measured in kilograms (kg).
Practice with no rest intervals, or very short ones, between attempts or blocks, suited to simple skills and fit, motivated, experienced performers.
A motivational climate in which success is defined as effort, learning and personal or team improvement, cooperation is encouraged and mistakes are treated as part of learning; also called a task-involving climate.
A response to failure in which an individual attributes the failure to changeable, controllable causes, keeps positive expectations and increases effort and persistence.
The highest constant exercise intensity at which blood lactate concentration stays stable over time, because lactate production and clearance are balanced.
The highest heart rate an individual can reach during maximal exercise; it falls with age and is often estimated as 220 minus age in beats min⁻¹.
The sum of all the values in a data set divided by the number of values; the most common measure of the typical value of a continuous variable.
The ratio of the effort arm to the load arm of a lever; a value greater than 1 means a load can be moved with a smaller effort.
The situation in which the effort arm of a lever is shorter than the load arm (mechanical advantage below 1), so a larger effort is needed but the load moves faster and through a greater range.
The process by which respiratory muscles change the volume of the thoracic cavity, creating pressure differences between the lungs and the atmosphere that move air in and out.
A positional term meaning closer to the midline of the body than another structure, for example the ulna is medial to the radius in the anatomical position.
Pain along the inner border of the lower half of the tibia caused by repeated loading in running and jumping, thought to involve stress reactions in the bone; also called shin splints.
The lowest part of the brainstem, which contains the cardiovascular and respiratory control centres that regulate heart rate and breathing without conscious thought.
A hormone released by the pineal gland in darkness, mainly in the evening, that promotes sleep and helps synchronise the circadian rhythm; light suppresses its release.
A crescent-shaped pad of fibrocartilage between the articular surfaces of a joint, such as the knee, that deepens the joint, absorbs shock and spreads load.
The recurring cycle of hormone-controlled changes in the ovaries and uterus that prepares the body for a possible pregnancy, counted from the first day of menstruation and lasting about 21–35 days.
The cognitive rehearsal of a skill without physical movement, in which the performer imagines performing the skill in order to learn it or improve its performance.
An aspect of personality that partly explains how individuals manage challenging and pressurised situations, including how they appraise challenges and remain committed, confident and in control under pressure.
A medium-length training cycle, typically 3–6 weeks, with a specific training goal; several mesocycles make up each phase of a macrocycle.
A unit of exercise intensity expressing energy use as a multiple of resting metabolic rate; 1 MET is about 3.5 mL of oxygen per kilogram of body mass per minute.
The overall approach and the detailed procedure used to collect or select data to answer a research question, including the choice of methods, equipment, sampling and controls.
The shortest training cycle, usually about one week, that sets out the content, order and intensity of individual sessions and the recovery between them.
A nutrient needed in small amounts (milligrams or micrograms per day), such as a vitamin or mineral, that provides no energy itself but is needed to release energy and to build and maintain tissues.
A mental training practice of paying attention, on purpose and without judgement, to present-moment experience, repeatedly noticing when the mind wanders and returning attention to a chosen focus.
The volume of air breathed in or out per minute, equal to tidal volume multiplied by respiration rate and measured in L min⁻¹; about 6–8 L min⁻¹ at rest.
Structures inside cells, including muscle fibres, in which the Krebs cycle and electron transport chain use oxygen to resynthesise large amounts of ATP.
The process of imitating a behaviour that has been observed in another person, the model; in social learning theory it depends on attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation.
Physical activity at an intensity of about 3 METs or more, the range in which most of the health benefits of activity are gained.
The turning effect of a force about a fulcrum, equal to the force multiplied by the perpendicular distance from the fulcrum to its line of action, measured in newton metres.
The resistance of a body to a change in its angular motion, depending on its mass and how far that mass is distributed from the axis of rotation; measured in kg m².
The quantity of motion possessed by a moving body, the product of its mass and velocity, ; a vector measured in kg m s⁻¹.
A single sugar unit, such as glucose, fructose or galactose; the simplest carbohydrate and the building block of disaccharides and polysaccharides.
A system that tracks the three-dimensional position of the body over time, usually with several infrared cameras following reflective markers on anatomical landmarks, to calculate joint angles and velocities.
The internal and external forces that determine the direction of a person’s behaviour (what they choose to do) and the intensity of their effort (how hard and how long they try).
The psychological environment that a coach, teacher, parent or peer group creates through session design, instruction, feedback and rewards, which signals how success is defined and influences athletes’ motivation.
Imagery of the feelings of arousal, relaxation, stress and anxiety in competition, used to raise or lower arousal towards the optimal level.
Imagery of being mentally tough, confident, focused and in control in difficult situations, used to build confidence and self-efficacy.
Imagery used to increase motivation, set and pursue goals, control arousal and anxiety, or build confidence and mental toughness.
Self-talk that aims to increase effort, energy, confidence or positive mood, or to control arousal, such as "come on" or "stay strong".
Imagery of specific goals and goal-oriented behaviour, such as standing on the podium, winning a final or achieving a personal best.
The process by which movement skills are acquired, refined and retained through practice and experience, producing relatively permanent changes in the capability to perform them.
A neuron that carries impulses from the central nervous system to an effector, such as a skeletal muscle or gland.
A single motor neuron together with all the muscle fibres it innervates; the functional unit of muscle contraction, whose fibres all contract together.
The activation of additional motor units by the nervous system to increase the force of a muscle contraction.
The systematic observation, description and evaluation of a movement or skill, usually by dividing it into phases, to understand how it is performed and to identify improvements in performance, safety or health.
The time taken from the start of a movement to its completion, which together with reaction time makes up response time.
A 48-item self-report questionnaire, based on the 4Cs model, that measures overall mental toughness and its components of challenge, commitment, control and confidence; the MTQ10 is a 10-item version.
A theory proposing that cognitive anxiety has a negative linear relationship with performance, somatic anxiety an inverted U relationship, and self-confidence a positive linear relationship.
A maximal field test in which participants run 20 m shuttles at a pace set by beeps that gets faster every minute; the level reached is used to estimate VO₂ max.
A single skeletal muscle cell, long, cylindrical and multinucleated, containing many myofibrils and surrounded by the sarcolemma.
The process by which muscle cells build new proteins such as actin and myosin from amino acids; it is stimulated by exercise and by eating protein, allowing repair and growth.
A proprioceptor lying between skeletal muscle fibres that detects the length of the muscle and how quickly it is stretched, and can trigger the stretch reflex.
The ability of a muscle or muscle group to perform repeated contractions, or sustain a contraction, against a submaximal resistance for an extended period without fatigue.
The maximum force that a muscle or muscle group can generate in a single maximal contraction.
The thick middle layer of the heart wall, made of cardiac muscle, which contracts rhythmically and involuntarily to pump blood.
A technique applying sustained pressure to muscles and their fascia, by a therapist or self-applied with a foam roller, to reduce tension and soreness and increase range of motion.
A long, thread-like structure inside a muscle fibre, made of sarcomeres joined end to end, that contains the contractile filaments actin and myosin.
An iron-containing protein in muscle fibres that stores oxygen and transports it from the cell membrane to the mitochondria; type I fibres contain more of it than type II fibres.
The thick protein filament of the sarcomere, whose heads bind to actin to form cross-bridges and break down ATP to provide the energy for the power stroke.