Exercise and training

This section of GCSE Physical Education contains presentations and guidance to help you teach the exercise and training topic, which forms Section A of the Edexcel syllabus.

This is the material students will rely on most when they are producing their personal exercise programmes (PEPs) – in fact, the more closely students’ PEPs follow the principles and methods of training outlined in this section, the better. For this reason, it makes sense to teach this section (and make sure it is thoroughly understood) before students start work on their PEPs. See Teaching PE theory for an example scheme of work.

The Effects of exercise topic is shown first in this section since you may wish to use it as a link between Applied anatomy and physiology (particularly The circulatory system) and the topics in this Exercise and training section. However, if you are following the suggested scheme of work, and have not yet covered the anatomy topics of The respiratory system, Energy and recovery and Aerobic and anaerobic activity, you may wish to use it later in the course since it refers to some of these elements.

In addition to the material covered here, Section A of the Edexcel syllabus contains material on diet and health. Presentations and guidance for teaching this material are given in the Health and safety section of this resource, and it is recommended that they are taught alongside Safety Aspects and Risk Assessment (Section B of the Edexcel syllabus). This is to help students see safety and injury prevention in the wider context of general health, and to prevent the amount of material in this Exercise and training section from becoming too overwhelming.