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SPEX 102 Exams Questions and Answers 2025- 2026 Study
Guide
1. Why should we consider these(exercise related) issues?: Acute - perfor- mance,
injury risk- time performance Chronic - skill, fitness - skill, fitness, misunderstaning Practical - employment - health, resources, unintended barriers Knowledge - knowledge - misunderstanding
2. Why do we warm up before sport?: Reduce likelihood of injury
Enhance performance
3. Balance value of warm-up against its potential adverse effects: - conflicting time
- conflicting physiology
- conflicting use of substrates - water and fuel stores
4. What is warm up: 1. Warm up likely proportional to the intensity of the effort to be
performed
2. And therefore inversely related to the duration
3. Also clinical status is important
4. Warm up does incur costs, so keep in perspective
5. Why do we have to practice?: - the human body is complex
- voluntary, coordinated movement is the result of numerous sub-systems working
together to satisfy task and environmental demands
- repetition via practice enables the human movement system to ( perceive, decide, act)
- learning rarely happens in the absence of feedback or error
6. Andres Ericsson: Expertise in different performance domains acquired over 10 years
or 10,000 hours of practice
- implicitly adopted by many talent identification and development systems
7. Accumulation of Deliberate practice: - differs from play
- emphasis is on learning
- no immediate rewards
- high intrinsic motivation
8. Deliberate practice: - increasing performance
- long- term gains
- not fun
- structure/taught
9. Deliberate play: - intrinsic motivation
- immediate gratification
- enjoyment
- unsupervised
10. What should we practice: - it used to be thought that you only learn what you
practice
SPEX 102 Exams Questions and Answers 2025- 2026 Study
Guide
Transfer of practice can occur
- information (perception)
- movement (action)
- practice content should reflect the performance environment (representative learn- ing)
11. How difficult is practice content: Changing task difficulty influences practice
effectiveness
- instruction
- assistive devices
Difficulty should be modified to meet the demands of the task for the learner optimally
The basis of 'challenge point' framework
12. Post- practice strategies: - emerging research field suggesting that sleep soon after
practice consolidates learning
- one night of sleep= 20% increase in motor speed without loss of accuracy
- quality sleep has important physical, emotional and mental benefits
13. The contextual interference effect: High
- random order of trials of all task variations
Medium
- random repetition of short blocks of trails of each task variation
- serial repetition of short blocks of trials of each task variation
Low
- non repeated blocks of trials of each task variation
14. What limits our ROM: Active structures
- muscle fascicles
passives structures
- tendons, aponeuroses, joint capsules, and ligaments contribute to ROM restrictions with
passive muscle elongation Viscosity
- as the composition of a human can range from 50% to 78% fluid, dependent on age,
sex, hydration, and other factors, the viscosity of the tissues can substantially affect flexibility Central Nervous System
- furthermore, a highly activated centra nervous system could increase muscle tonus and
with a less relaxed muscle inhibit flexibility
SPEX 102 Exams Questions and Answers 2025- 2026 Study
Guide
20. Fitness: Is a key determinant of health, and alongside skill and psychological
factors, also of performance
21. Components of physical fitness: Cardiorespiratory fitness
- ability of heart and lungs to supple oxygen and nutrients to working muscle
- aerobic endurance - ability to sustain aerobic power
- Graded exercise tests (GXT)
- submaximal tests
Musculoskeletal fitness
- muscular strength - ability to produce maximum force
- muscular endurance - ability to maintain submaximal force over a period of time
- bone strength - related to risk of fracture
Body weight and body composition
- size or mass of the person
- absolute and relative amounts of fat, muscle and bone
Flexibility
- ability to move a joint or series of joints through a full ROM
Balance
- ability to maintain centre of gravity over base of support in static position, perform- ing
voluntary movements, or reacting to external disturbances
- functional balance - ability to pick up objects from floor, dressing and turning to look
behind you
22. Principles for exercise programming: Specificity
Overload Progression Initial values Individual differences Diminishing returns Reversibility Periodisation
23. Principle of Specificity: Implication is that a specific exercise will elicit a specific
training response. However, some forms of exercise drive adaptations that are not necessarily what you would expect. Overloading the high force anaerobic system is used to increase muscle strength. Running a marathon requires the ability to produce energy constantly via the aerobic/oxidative energy system thus running long distances is require
SPEX 102 Exams Questions and Answers 2025- 2026 Study
Guide
24. The overload principle: Progressively applying greater demands on your body
induces appreciate adaptations that improves stress tolerance and potentially other forms of fitness
Overload can be achieved by increasing
- frequency
- intensity
- duration
Amount of overload necessary to elicit a training response depends on individual factors. Higher load needed in elite athletes
25. Principle of progression: Application of progressive changes. Increase training
volume, frequency or both. Overtraining client may drop out if progression occurs too quickly. For elite athletes, insufficient progression may impede performance. Important to reach a new performance/ effort plateau before progressing
26. Principle of initial values: People with low fitness/strength will show greater relative
gains in fitness and strength and improve at a faster rate than those with average or high fitness/strength. VO2max of a client with poor cardiorespiratory fitness may increase by 12% or more in the first month of training. Athlete may only experience a 1% or less improvement in the same time
27. Principle of individual differences: No two individuals are the same. Age, fitness
level and health status, motivations and preferences will differ. Each individual presents with different cardiorespiratory, metabolic and psychological capabilities. Training strategies must be customised to suit the individuals rate of improvement and practicalities.
28. Principle of diminishing returns: Genetic felling may limit extent of improve- ments
attributable to training. Rate of improvement will slow as the ceiling is ap- proached. Eventually improvements will level off
29. Reversibility principle: - adaptations to training last as long as training is
maintained at a certain intensity and volume
- a reversal of the adaptation process begins within days of cessation of training
- differs strongly between the system or structure: structure lost more slowly than
function, strength lost more slowly than aerobic fitness
- training volume can be reduced by as munch as 50% without affecting fitness in the
short term
30. Overtraining principe: Too much training not enough rest. More problematic in elite
athletes, which decreases performance and reduce aerobic capacity. De- creased ability to store glycogen and weight loss, muscle soreness, higher resting and exercise heart rates. Injury and illness and planing required
SPEX 102 Exams Questions and Answers 2025- 2026 Study
Guide
- intensity
- duration
After light exercise
- rapid, single exponential
- to baseline within a few minutes
After intense or prolonged exercise
- rapid, then slow
- baseline elevated ~ hours
36. Energetic recovery can be prolonged and arise from multiple exercise profiles:
Is not simply a matter of repaying oxygen and energy deficits
- increase tissue temperature
- remodelling in cells
- increase stress hormones
Use more fat and CHO throughout
Is an under appreciated feature of exercise
37. The recovery is valuable for additional reasons: Health effects of exercise more
valuable than is assumed from just the underlying changes alone
Blood pressure decrease minutes hours - post exercise hypotension
And blood glucose control is improved - lower and more stable both are valuable
38. Why recovery is faster with higher fitness: Less stress response Higher
repair capacity in many respects
39. What benefit recovery is faster with higher fitness: - can exercise again earlier
and more intensely
- but also need to for effective training stimulus
- can use recovery profiles as a fitness test
Pros: cheap, recover more slowly they gonna need more training Cons: isn't accurate, dont know the resting heart rate was, people with different energetic fit, unrealisable
40. Recovery profile insightful for other reasons - diagnosis: - BP profile is
prognostic of chronic disease
- Orthostatic intolerance
- Respiratory function can reveal exercise induced asthma- decrease 15% in peak
SPEX 102 Exams Questions and Answers 2025- 2026 Study
Guide
expiratory flow rate
- effectiveness of interventions
- scientific insight into body's stress responses
41. Nutritional recovery - sport drinks: Pros
- convenience
- rehydration
- energy (CHO) and salt
Bigger issues
- misrepresents value and roles - relative to food
- not most effective anyway, even just for hydration outcome, despite implied in
advertising
- does it enhance training outcome
42. Recovery strategies: Sleep 24
hrs nutritional intake
Numerous approaches show some evidence for short term effects on
- soreness and associated markers
- strength and power
These approaches almost universally not shown to enhance
- development of fitness
- underlying physical or physiological mechanisms
43. The animal kingdom: Huge range of speeds
Absolute performance
- Lager animals fastest and strongest
Relative performance
- small animals fastest and strongest
Within and between species need to scale non-linearly to correct for different size
- Allometric scaling
- human strength ~ body mass ^0.
44. Human unmatched for endurance performance in the heat: Human's bipedal gait is
relatively uneconomical
- 50-100% above quadripeds
SPEX 102 Exams Questions and Answers 2025- 2026 Study
Guide
Numerous issues
- injuries
- budget
51. Slow evolution of knowledge attitude and advice - marathon: Athletes heart rate
Female excluded
- until 1972
- reflects Ex sci knowledge in general
Nutrition
- energy; alcohol to multi day plan
- hydration; non, some, too much
52. Slow evolution of knowledge attitude and advice- reversal on approach to heart
disease: Athletes heart
- reversal of interpretation
Myocardial infarction
- reversal of approach; bedrest to exercise
Chronic heart failure
- novel exercise approaches being developed
53. Artificial intelligence: Neutral network approaches
Online shared resource - ANN
- published in nature 2019
- developed by Silicon Tech companies
Related issues
- captured, interpreted, modifiable
- and therefore also marketable
Beware of your electronic footprint and your susceptibility
54. History of obesity epidemic: Obesity was classified as a Disease relatively
recently
55. Current NZ health data: Prevalence of obesity aged +15 was 30.9% - this has
increased from 28.6% in 2011/12 but remained relatively stable since 2012/
SPEX 102 Exams Questions and Answers 2025- 2026 Study
Guide
Adult and children living in socioeconomically deprived neighbourhood were signifi- cantly more likely to be obese than those living in the least deprived neighbourhood
56. Obesity and ill health: - evidence for any link between being over weight or obese
and ill health is not very strong
- more strength in the correlation between morbidly obese and negative health
outcomes, but many comorbidity factors involved
- evidence for weight loss and ill health is very strong, and some studies have indicated
that those in the 'overweight' category live longer than those in the 'normal weight'
57. WHO definition of health: Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition
58. Do diet work: Most people regain lost weight in the long term, with only between 5-
18% maintain weight loss. One third of people gain more weight
59. What are the guideline for avoidance prevention and intervention of health issues: -
diabetes
- heart disease
- cancer
- obesity
- eat well, exercise some, reduce stress, get more sleep
60. Health as Every size: Health by the process of daily life rather than the outcome of
weight
1. Enhancing health
- attending to the emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing without focusing on
weight loss or achieving a specific ideal weight
2. Size and self acceptance
- respecting and appreciating the wonderful diversity of body shapes sizes and
features rather than pursuing an idealised weight, shape or physical feature
3. The pleasure of eating well eating
- based on internal cues of hunger, satiety and appetite, individual nutritional needs; and
enjoyment, rather than on external food plans or diets
4. The joy of movement
Metabolic and sex hormone effects os both excess and insufficient fat mass
65. If too much fat gained is harder to lose it - long term: - initial fat gains partly
hypertrophy = larger cells
- then, mostly hyperplasia = more cells
- fat mass regulated at higher 'set point'/ 'setting point'
- then harder to prevent regain of any fat lost
- this is one problem for children gaining too much fat
66. Fat is a valuable energy source: Twice as energy dense a CHO and protein Could
supply > 120h of endurance exercise Fat cells provided muscle cells with energy during exercise
- as free fatty acids, main breakdown product of fat
- due to stress hormones and adequate blood supply through adipose tissue
- can be dominant fuel use in exercise
- differences between fat store regions and sexes
- maximise during exercise
Not too intense > 50-70% VO2 max Prolonged Don't eat CHO before exercise More aerobically trained
67. Muscle and adipose tissue cells crosstalk chemically: Between each other
- muscle factors = myokines
- adipocyte factors = adipokines, adipocytokines
With other organs
- liver
- brain
- bone
- immune system
Generally
- myokines are ANTI- inflammatory
- Adipokines are PRO - inflammatory
68. Muscle factors and their effects: Anti inflammatory and anti tumour myokines
- IL-6, IL-15, IL-1ra, myostatin, Irisin
- IL- 6 has complex roles
- helps mobilise fat from adipocytes in exercise
- also implicated in several pro-inflammatory disease
Helping turn adipose tissue into an energetic tissue
- brown fat; produces heat, so use energy
- a new target in anti-obesity research
Growth factors for nerves and new blood vessels
69. Adipose tissue factors: Adipose tissue is a functionally- integrative tissue
- contains adipocytes, nerves, immune cells, blood vessels
- collectively secrete a wide range of signalling/endocrine chemical; adipokines
Some have metabolic roles
- adiponectin
- lepton; an important modulator of fat mass
But many appear to drive low grade inflammation
These factors are more important with ageing
70. Diets and exercise have important similarities and differences: Exercise decrease
fat mass but increase lean body fat Energy restriction decrease fat mass also decrease lean body fat
- illogical to consider these approaches separately
- both must be preventive rather than curative - very low chance of 'curing obesity'
71. Most of the numerous benefits of exercise for health are independent of any effect
on weight control: Exercise counteracts both
- fat mass
- its secretions
Largest benefit with
- first increment in exercise stimulus
- least fit
72. Paradoxes of fat within muscle - IMTG levels increase in athletes and in obesity
and diabetes: In endurance athletes
- valuable fuel for exercise
- up to 300g as lipids droplets, next to mitochondria
- another benefit of exercise, independent of whether lose weight
In obesity and diabetes
- but cant use if untrained
78. Closed kinetic chain: Distal and proximal segments are fixed
Adjacent joints affect each other
- squat, press up
- high muscle co-contraction
79. Resistance training: Involve moving weight
- lifting body weight
80. Endurance training: Involves sustained effort
Classification usually based on energy system to compare resistance or endurance training
81. Speed accuracy trade off: Aiming movements trade off between speed and
accuracy
- fast, accuracy drops
- movements pointing
Important for design
- office spaces
- user interfaces
Can be trained
82. Do our genes determine learning ability: Observations that family members of
skilled athletes have also shown talent, therefore genes must influence skill
At present there is limited evidence about the heritability of skill
Cognitive abilities do seem to be influenced by genetics
83. What is skill: A complex movement phenomena with many interrelated factors
- perception ( environmental, sensory function, psychological)
- decision making ( goal-oriented, influenced by past)
- action ( mechanical, physical, aesthetic)
84. What does skill look like: Accomplishment of task goal
Efficiency Consistency Adaptability
85. Skill requires: Perception/ awareness
Intention to move Postural control Coordination
86. Postural control and movement: - prepares the body for movement
- complex integration of multiple sensory input and muscle synergies
- posture is largely controlled at subconscious levels
- mature levels of postural control not achieved until about 8 years old
87. Requirements for coordinated movers: - sensitive perceptual organs
- capacity for information exchange
- motor system
- ability to alter position of centre of mass
- internal energy store
- flexibility/adaptable
- independent degrees of freedom
88. Degrees of freedom: - there are typically more individual component parts or
degrees of freedom than are necessary to perform a given task successfully
- coordination is gaining control over DF
- flexibility in achieving performance outcome is not just a feature of the number of
available motor system DF but also of these micro- components in assembling actions
89. Bernstein's learning stages - stage 1 Freezing the limbs: - restricts indepen- dence of
body part
- reduces variability of each body part
- increases success because there is less that can go wrong during movement
90. Bernstein's learning stage - stage 2 releasing the limbs: - increases the
independence of the body part
- decreases constraints on degrees of freedom, allowing greater independent motion
91. Bernstein's learning stage - stage 3 exploitation of the environment: -
maximises mechanical inertial properties of the limbs
- requires less information processing and energy costs
- exploits free energy available from environment
92. The concept of physical literacy: - agility
- balance
- coordination
- speed
- power
- precision
- strength
- endurance
93. Implication of physical literacy for society: Children need opportunities to be active,
to play to discover how to move
ments The greater the ROM of the exercise the more strength with high weight low velocity
100. Measure the effect of a push/pull: Ground reaction force
- F = ma
Dynamometty
- functional strength
101. Work: Use force to move a mass
- W= F x s ( jules )
102. Why doing work on an object is different for different people: - if we have two
people moving the same mass through the same distance the amount of work is the same
- power measure the rate at which we do work
103. How to measure power: - estimate power from a vertical jump
Peak power = 78.6 x jump height + 60.3 x mass - 15.3 x height - 1308 Average power = 43.8 x jump height + 32.7 x mass - 16.8 x height = 431
104. What is enduracde: Ability to sustain power
- P x T
- typically defined/conceptualised for efforts lasting 2+ mins
- used interchangeably with 'aerobic exercise' for this reason
Work capacity
- volume per s
- volume at a fixed pace
- max sustained power or speed over fixed task
105. Limit of human endurance - its context specific: - marathon records, Grand cycling
tours
- can be just staying alive in some environment
- humans unmatched for endurance capacity exercising in severe heat
- pace slows ~ exponentially with time
- to sustainable intensity of ~ 2.5 x BMR
106. Important enough of factors affecting endurance performance differs with duration
and nature of task: Short, intense power
- aerobic fitness
- anaerobic fitness
- strength
- economy of movement
- motivation
- psych factors
Very intense power
- aerobic fitness
- energy availability - replenishment/ economy of movement
- strength
- equipment
- physical resilience
- psych factors
107. Ways to measure endurance fitness: Performance itself
- criterion validity, but not always practical or reliable
A surrogate performance
- 10 km to predict marathon
Three key performance factors
- VO2 max
- max sustainable threshold
- economy of movement
108. What most determines aerobic power and threshold: Capability to deliver oxygen
to muscle Capability to use oxygen and energy in muscles
- heat pumping capacity
- oxygen content in blood - by Hb concentration
- muscle - capillary density, mitochondrial content, firmer composition, glycogen
content
109. Why measure max aerobic power: Determinant of endurance performance in
many contexts
- powerful and brief
- prolonged steady state
- prolonged intermittent
- very prolonged
- most prolonged
Prognostic value before surgery
