Lecture
Physical culture is an organic part of universal human culture,
its own special and independent field. At the same time,
it is a specific process and result of human activity,
a means and method of the physical improvement of the
individual [25]. Physical culture affects vitally significant aspects of the
individual, acquired in the form of inclinations that are passed
on genetically by heredity and are formed throughout the whole
of life under the influence of upbringing, activity, environment, and
society. Physical culture satisfies social (public) needs for communication, play,
and entertainment, and for certain forms of individual self-expression through
socially active and useful activity. At its core, physical culture
is based on rational motor activity in the form of
a variety of physical exercises that make it possible to
develop the necessary skills and motor abilities and physical qualities,
and, in addition, to optimize the state of health and
physical and mental working capacity. Physical culture is represented by
a combination of material and spiritual values. The former include
sports facilities, equipment, special apparatus, sports gear, and medical support.
The latter include information, works of art, various kinds of
sport, games, sets of physical exercises, ethical norms regulating human
behavior in the process of sport and physical-culture activity, and
so on. In its developed forms, physical culture produces aesthetic
values (physical-culture parades, mass sport-and-fitness events, and sport demonstration performances).
Since physical culture is part of the culture of society,
it possesses, above all, general cultural and social functions. These
include the educational, cognitive, value-orientational, communicative, economic, and other functions.
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By their common features they can be grouped as follows:
1. The overall development and strengthening of the body of
all people regardless of age, sex, state of health, or
degree of physical development (the formation and development of physical
qualities and abilities, the improvement of motor skills, the strengthening
of health, the slowing of involutional processes, etc.); 2. The
physical preparation of people for labor activity and for the
defense of the homeland (the mobilizational function of physical culture,
professionally applied physical training); 3. Satisfying people's need for active
recreation, leisure, and the rational use of free time (diverting
from harmful habits, forming a healthy way of life); 4.
The development of a person's volitional physical abilities and motor
capacities from an optimal to a maximal level; 5. The
economic significance of physical culture is determined by a reduction
in the incidence of illness and injury among workers, an
increase in their labor productivity, and greater longevity, including working
longevity. The result of activity in physical culture is physical
fitness and the degree of perfection of motor skills and
abilities, a high level of development of vital powers, sporting
achievements, moral, aesthetic, and intellectual development, and social activity. Physical
culture, as an academic subject, has a complex structure: it
includes an effect on the physiological systems of the learners'
bodies, the improvement of physical and moral-volitional qualities and psychological
stability, and an influence on the students' nervous-emotional and mental
spheres. It is a process of planned, systematic influence on
students under the responsible observation and guidance of instructors, who
are called upon to give future specialists knowledge and to
form in them a deep understanding of the social significance
of physical culture and sport in the conditions of production
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activity, and on this basis to shape the physical culture
of the individual [15]. Physical culture as an academic discipline
at a higher education institution differs substantially, in its content,
organization, and conduct of classes, from physical education lessons in
secondary school. Physical culture is the foundation of an
individual's social and cultural existence, a fundamental modification of
their general and professional culture. As an integrated result
of upbringing and professional training, it is manifested in
a person's attitude to their own health and physical
capabilities, in their way of life and professional activity,
and appears as a unity of knowledge, convictions, and
value orientations together with their practical embodiment. The professional
orientation of the educational process in physical culture is
incorporated into all sections of the curriculum, performing a
connecting, coordinating, and activating role. Thanks to professionally applied
physical culture, the preconditions are created for successfully mastering
a given profession and for performing work effectively. The
need for the further development of physical culture and
sport among students is dictated by the demands and
rights of young people as individuals, by the age-related
and individual features of their development, by constantly changing
conditions of life activity, and by society's "social mandate"
for the training of highly qualified specialists. This mandate
presupposes that future specialists must necessarily possess a general
and professional culture, physical and mental health, a high
working capacity, and the ability to master and enrich
the cultural potential of society. The content and composition
of the means of professionally applied physical culture, and
the order of their application, are determined by the
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specific features of the work process. Thus, physical culture
should be regarded as a particular kind of human
cultural activity whose results are beneficial to society and
to the individual. In social life, in the system
of education and upbringing, in the sphere of the
organization of labor, everyday life, and healthy recreation, physical
culture manifests its educational, formative, health-improving, economic, and general
cultural significance, and contributes to the emergence of such
a social movement as the physical-culture movement, that is,
the joint activity of people in using, disseminating, and
increasing the values of physical culture. Physical education. Included
in the system of education and upbringing beginning with
preschool institutions, it characterizes the basis of people's physical
fitness — the acquisition of a fund of vitally
important motor skills and abilities and the all-round development
of one's physical abilities. Its major elements are movements:
a system of gymnastic exercises and the rules for
performing them, by means of which the ability to
control movements in a differentiated way and to coordinate
them in various combinations is formed; a system of
exercises for the rational use of strength when moving
through space (the basic methods of walking, running, swimming,
skating, skiing, etc.), when overcoming obstacles, in throwing, and
in lifting and carrying weights; the "school" of the
ball (playing volleyball, basketball, football, tennis, etc.). Physical development
is the biological process of the formation and change
of the natural morphological and functional properties of the
body over the course of a person's life (height,
body weight, chest circumference, vital lung capacity, etc.). Physical
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development is one of the essential indicators and is
closely interrelated with human health. Health acts as the
leading factor that determines not only the harmonious development
of a young person but also the success of
mastering a profession, which together constitute general life well-being.
In studying individual physical development, methods of external examination
and the measurement of morphological and functional indicators are
used. Physical development is manageable. With the help of
physical exercises, various kinds of sport, rational nutrition, and
a regimen of work and rest, the above-mentioned indicators
of physical development can be changed in the required
direction. The management of physical development is based on
the biological law of trainability and the law of
the unity of the forms and functions of the
body. At the same time, physical development is also
conditioned by the laws of genetics (heredity), which must
be taken into account as factors that either favor
or, conversely, hinder a person's physical improvement. The process
of physical development is also subject to the law
of age-related stages. Therefore, intervening in this process for
the purpose of managing it is possible only by
taking into account the features and capabilities of the
body during different age periods: formation and growth, the
highest development of forms and functions, and aging. In
addition, physical development is connected with the law of
the unity of the organism and its environment, and
also depends on a person's living conditions, including the
climatic and geographic environment. Therefore, when choosing the means
and methods of physical education, the influence of these
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laws must be taken into account. Physical fitness is
the result of physical training achieved through the performance
of motor actions necessary for a person to master
or carry out professional or sporting activity. To determine
the level of all-round development of the basic physical
qualities — endurance, flexibility, speed, and so on —
certain tests and control exercises are used. These may
include short- and long-distance running, pull-ups on a bar,
push-ups, standing long jumps, and many others. The results
of these tests are used to assess the level
of physical fitness and sporting form of those training
in any sport or engaging in physical culture in
general physical training groups or on their own. The
means of physical culture used include physical exercises, the
natural forces of nature (sun, air, and water, and
their hardening effect), and hygienic factors (personal hygiene —
daily routine, sleep hygiene, diet, work activity, and the
hygiene of the body, sportswear, footwear, and places of
exercise, etc.); their combined effect provides the greatest health-improving
and developmental effect (for more detail, see Section 2).
1. List the social functions of physical culture
and sport. 2. Describe the current state of
physical culture and sport in Russia. 3.
Think about why physical culture and sport
serve as effective means of preserving and
strengthening people's health and of physical self-improvement.
4. Recall what role physical culture and
sport play in preparing students for professional
activity and for extreme life situations. 5.
Think about what vitally necessary skills and
abilities can be acquired through physical culture?
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