WJEC GCSE PE: Health, training and exercise (Unit 1) overview
An overview of the health, training and exercise content in WJEC GCSE Physical Education Unit 1, mapping health, fitness and well-being, diet and a sedentary lifestyle, components of fitness, fitness testing, principles and methods of training, training zones, and warm-up and cool-down, and how they are examined.
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The first content area of WJEC GCSE Physical Education builds the foundations of fitness and training. It runs from understanding health, fitness and well-being, through the components of fitness and how to test them, to the principles and methods of training used to improve them. This page maps the area and links to a focused answer page for each topic.
The health, training and exercise content
- Health, fitness and well-being
- The definitions of health, fitness and well-being, how they are linked, and the physical, mental and social benefits of being active. See Health, fitness and well-being.
- Sedentary lifestyle and diet
- The risks of inactivity, the components of a balanced diet, the role of each nutrient, energy balance and hydration. See Sedentary lifestyle and diet.
- Components of fitness
- The health-related and skill-related components, their definitions, and a sporting example of each. See Components of fitness.
- Fitness testing
- The recognised test for each component, how each is carried out, and the meaning of reliability and validity. See Fitness testing.
- Principles of training
- Specificity, progression, overload, reversibility and variance, and how overload is applied through FITT. See Principles of training.
- Methods of training
- Continuous, interval, fartlek, circuit, weight, plyometric and flexibility training, and how to choose a method for a sport. See Methods of training.
- Training zones and heart rate
- Maximum heart rate, the aerobic and anaerobic zones, and how intensity decides the energy system used. See Training zones and heart rate.
- Warm-up and cool-down
- The parts of each, their physiological benefits, and handling training data. See Warm-up and cool-down.
How this area is examined
This content is assessed in Unit 1: Introduction to physical education, a written examination of 2 hours, worth 100 marks and 50% of the qualification. Questions use audio-visual stimuli and sources and mix short answers with extended responses. Calculations (maximum heart rate, training zones and energy balance) appear regularly, so a calculator and confident arithmetic are needed.
How to study this area
Health, training and exercise rewards precise definitions and the ability to apply them to a sport.
- Learn every definition cold. Health, fitness, well-being, each component of fitness and each principle of training are worth easy marks if stated precisely.
- Link components, tests and methods. For any component, know a test that measures it and a method that develops it.
- Drill the calculations. Maximum heart rate, training zones and energy balance all appear; practise the percentages.
- Apply, do not just recall. Most marks come from choosing the right component, test or method for a named performer and justifying it with specificity.
- Use the practical link. These ideas underpin the Unit 2 personal fitness programme, so understanding them helps your coursework too.
For the official specification
WJEC publishes the full specification, past papers and mark schemes at wjec.co.uk. Always revise from the current specification and WJEC's own past papers.
Sources & how we know this
- WJEC GCSE Physical Education specification (from 2016) — WJEC (2016)