Lecture
Physical health reflects the degree of a person's physical development,
their motor skills and abilities, which allows them to most
fully realize their creative potential. Moreover, quite often a person's
physical preparation and their individual level of physical culture
determine the choice of their future profession. At most
modern enterprises and institutions good physical
form is mandatory, being a necessary condition for being hired. A person
who leads a physically active, healthy lifestyle is able to
fully carry out any professional duties
assigned to them by the employer within their profession.
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Speaking of the professional activity of university
graduates engaged predominantly in intensive intellectual
activity (with heightened strain on attention and vision),
accompanied by low mobility, it often leads to
considerable mental strain and fatigue.
Modern labor leads to overload of some functional
systems of the body and underload of others, which negatively affects the
overall capability of the person. To correct these
psychophysiological «imbalances», measures are carried out within the system
of labor organization, among which is the targeted application of specially
selected physical exercises. The use of the means of physical
culture and sport for the purpose of maintaining and increasing the general and
professional capability of a person has, in the theory and practice of physical
culture, come to be known as workplace physical culture.
Workplace physical culture (WPC) is a system
of physical-culture and health-improvement measures whose form and content
are determined by the particular features of the labor process.
The goal of WPC is to help strengthen health and increase
the productivity of the working person's labor. The basis of workplace
physical culture is the theory of active rest. Working capacity
is restored faster and more fully not in a state of rest or passive
relaxation, but in an active state.
Main tasks of WPC:
- to prepare the human body for engaging in the labor process;
- to maintain a high level of working capacity throughout
the working day and to ensure the body's recovery after
work ends;
- prevention of the effects of unfavorable labor factors,
promoting increased resistance of the body to their influence.
Methodological features of WPC:
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- the greater the physical load in the process of labor, the less it should be during
the period of active rest, and vice versa;
- the less the large muscle groups are involved in active
activity, the more they are engaged when practicing various
forms of workplace physical culture;
- the greater the neuro-emotional and mental strain in
professional activity, the less it should be present in
the various physical exercises of workplace physical
culture.
Workplace physical culture manifests itself in various
forms:
- during working hours in the form of workplace gymnastics and
professionally applied physical training;
- in free time in the form of health-restorative
procedures, health-preventive physical exercises,
classes in sports sections, and, when necessary, professionally-applied physical training for particular types of professional
work.
Classes in any of the forms of WPC can be conducted both
individually and in groups. The choice of methods and means of WPC
is influenced by the dynamics, character, and degree of developing fatigue
over the course of the working day, week, month, or year. In cases of significant
overwork, the active-rest method is less effective than
passive rest. Therefore, assessing the degree of work-related fatigue during
working time or after it is a necessary condition for the optimal
methods and means of WPC.
Workplace gymnastics is a set of special exercises
applied during the working day in order to increase overall and
professional working capacity, as well as for the purpose of prevention and
recovery.
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The types (forms) of workplace gymnastics are: introductory
gymnastics, the physical-culture break, the physical-culture minute, and the micro-pause
of active rest.
It is recommended to begin the working day with introductory gymnastics, consisting
of 5-8 general developmental and special exercises, lasting
from 5 to 7 minutes, with the goal of activating the physiological processes in those
organs and systems of the body that play a leading role in performing
the specific activity.
The physical-culture break is conducted for urgent active rest with
the goal of preventing a decline in working capacity over the course of the day.
The set usually consists of 7-8 exercises, repeated over 5-
10 minutes as needed, several times a day. The exercises
are selected taking into account the working posture, movements, character, and
degree of strain of the working day. The place where it is held and the number of repetitions
depend on the dynamism and duration of the work load.
Among the smaller, more individualized forms of active rest is
the physical-culture minute, which is conducted briefly and
affects a specific muscle group more locally. As a
rule, it consists of 2-3 exercises lasting from 1 to 2
minutes and is performed several times during the day. Individually,
the physical-culture minute can be performed at the workplace precisely when
the need for a short break arises.
The shortest form of workplace gymnastics is
fittingly called the micro-pause of active rest. This
form, lasting only 20-30 seconds, is applied with the aim of reducing
general and local fatigue by partially lowering or
raising the excitability of the central nervous system in order to reduce fatigue
in individual analyzers and improve blood circulation. Techniques of
self-massage, muscle tension and relaxation are used, applied
multiple times throughout the working day.
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Main forms of physical exercise in free time:
- morning hygienic gymnastics;
- morning or evening sessions of specially targeted physical
exercises;
- brief physical exercise sessions during the lunch break;
- incidental (on-the-go) training;
- physical-culture and sports activities for the purpose of active rest and increasing
functional capabilities, and professionally applied training.
«Warm-up exercise», or a simple set of morning hygienic
gymnastics (MHG), makes it possible to freely and smoothly move into an
active state, more quickly eliminate the stagnant phenomena that have arisen in
the body after nighttime passivity, increase the excitability of the central
nervous system, and gradually activate the body's main systems.
Such sets include exercises of a corrective and
preventive nature, lasting 8-10 or 20-30 minutes, at a pulse
load of up to 150 beats/min. However, for some people,
an increased morning load may consist of a minimal number of
exercises aimed at a smooth awakening, while more active
exercises can be moved to the daytime or evening.
Specially-targeted sessions in the form of a selected set of
exercises are conducted with an increased load for preventive purposes,
to relieve the unfavorable effects of sedentary, heavy
physical, monotonous labor performed in a forced posture, as well as labor with
heightened neuro-emotional strain. Thanks to
physical exercise, one can also increase the body's resistance to
other unfavorable factors.
Instead of accumulating calories during the lunch break, one should
actively expend them through brief physical exercise sessions,
such as: walking, jogging, eye gymnastics, and
table tennis, with the aim of increasing motor activity and relieving
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emotional strain. Many employees of various institutions,
carried away by playing tennis during their lunch break, receive significant
functional exertion, which is part of their workplace
physical culture through an accessible and simple game.
Incidental training is an individual action aimed at
increasing motor activity without spending additional time, under
normal conditions of work and everyday life, for example, walking or cycling
to work. Climbing stairs is beneficial, as is housework around the home,
at a garden plot, etc., which is equivalent to labor of moderate intensity.
Additional physical load is very important for representatives of
sedentary types of labor (the optimal energy expenditure on muscular
work is 1300-2200 kcal per day). It is also useful to apply
isometric exercises for any muscle group, which are outwardly almost
unnoticeable to those around.
Self-check questions:
1. Consider what workplace physical culture
(WPC) is needed for, its goal and tasks, and list the methodological foundations
of workplace physical culture.
2. Explain how a specialist's working and living conditions influence the choice
of forms, methods, and means of WPC during working and free time.
3. Give a characterization of workplace gymnastics: introductory
gymnastics; the physical-culture break; the physical-culture minute; the micro-pause
of active rest.
4. Compile a set of various types of workplace gymnastics and
determine their place over the course of the working day.
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