We all have an idea of what "fit" should look like. For some people, it means having a sleek Hollywood body, while others want to have massive muscles or a perfect hourglass figure.
But fitness isn't defined by appearance! There are five components of physical fitness you need to consider:
1. Muscular Strength
This is the "power" that helps you to lift and carry heavy objects. Without muscular strength, your body would be weak and unable to keep up with the demands placed upon it.
The way to increase strength is to train with heavy weights, working in the 4 - 6 or 12 - 15 rep ranges. The heavier the weight, the fewer reps you should perform!
2. Muscular Endurance
Endurance is the ability of your muscles to perform contractions for extended periods of time. Rather than just lifting or carrying something for a few seconds, the muscles are used for minutes.
The way to increase strength is to train with
light weights, working in the 20 - 25 rep range. Working with lighter weight will train the muscle fibers needed for muscular endurance, and the higher rep range leads to a longer period of exercise.
3. Cardiovascular Endurance
Cardiovascular endurance is your body's ability to keep up with exercise like running, jogging, swimming, cycling, and anything that forces your cardiovascular system (lungs, heart, blood vessels) to work for extended periods of time. Together, the heart and lungs fuel your body with the oxygen needed by your muscles, ensuring that they have the oxygen needed for the work they are doing.
The Cooper Run (running as far as possible in 12 minutes) is a test commonly used to assess cardiovascular endurance, but many trainers use the Step Test (stepping onto a platform for 5 minutes). Both are accurate measures of a subject's cardiovascular endurance.
4. Flexibility
Flexibility is one of the most important, yet often overlooked, components of physical fitness. Without flexibility, the muscles and joints would grow stiff and movement would be limited. Flexibility training ensures that your body can move through its entire range of motion without pain or stiffness.
To test your flexibility, lean forward and try to touch your toes. Those with good flexibility will usually be able to touch their toes, while those with limited flexibility will not. The sit and reach test (sitting on the floor and reaching toward your toes) is another good way to assess your flexibility. The more flexible you are, the closer you will come to touching your toes and beyond.
5. Body Fat Composition
Body fat composition refers to the amount of fat on your body. For example, a 100-pound person with a 25% body fat composition will have a lean body mass of 75 pounds.
To qualify as fit:
- Men must have a body fat composition lower than 17 percent
- Women must have a body fat composition lower than 24 percent
The average man tends to have about 18 to 24 percent body fat, while the average woman has 25 to 31 percent body fat.
Any program that neglects one or more of these types of fitness is NOT going to benefit your body in the long run. An effective fitness program will attempt to improve all five components of fitness!
Three Benefits of Sweating
Some people get lucky and are born with fit, toned bodies. Andy Peloquin is not one of those people... Fitness has come hard for him, and he's had to work for it. His trials have led him to becoming a martial artist, an NFPT-certified fitness trainer, and a man passionate about exercise, diet and healthy living. He loves to exercise -- he does so six days a week -- and loves to share his passion for fitness and health with others.
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- Fitness
- Cross-Training
By
Karen Frazier
Karen is a freelance writer with more than 25 years of experience writing for an array of publications, including authoring several books.
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You can do exercise for physical fitness components that will help you to gain optimal health. Being optimally fit involves more than just weightlifting or spin class. There are five components to total fitness and doing exercise for physical fitness components for each will result in optimal health.
1. Cardiovascular & Respiratory Endurance
How long can you sustain moderate physical activity such as jogging, brisk walking or other sports? This is directly related to your cardiovascular and respiratory endurance. Endurance is important because it allows you to participate in the activities you enjoy without becoming exhausted.
- The Many Benefits of Physical Fitness
2. Muscular Strength
How easily can you lift heavy objects? Can you open jars or do you need someone to do it for you? How about moving furniture when you decide to clean under it or rearrange your living room? These activities are all made easier by maximizing your muscular strength. The good news is that you can gain muscle strength without growing big, bulging muscles. Adding muscle also has an added benefit - increased muscle mass causes a metabolic increase, as well.
3. Muscular Endurance
Muscular endurance is different than muscular strength. Endurance allows repetitive motion over sustained amounts of time.
4. Flexibility
Can you bend over and tie your shoes or do you get stuck somewhere along the way? How well can you reach that book that fell under the bed? These are both activities affected by your flexibility. Flexibility comes from supple muscle and connective tissue that stretches easily, allowing you to perform motions like bending, reaching and twisting over a full range of motion.
5. Body Composition
Your body is made up of lean body mass and fat. Lean body mass is everything in your body that is not fat, such as muscle, skin, organs and bone. A healthy body composition is important for prevention of diseases such as coronary disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Exercise for Physical Fitness Components
There are exercises you can do for each. Some exercises help you hit more than one component at a time. Here are some exercises that will help you to work on each of your components of fitness.
- Interval training is a great form of exercise, because it hits a number of the physical fitness components at once. Interval training improves muscular strength and endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance and body composition. Interval training involves rapid cycling of high intensity exercise - such as weightlifting - and lower intensity aerobic training - such as a stair climber - in cycles.
- Stretching exercises can help improve your flexibility and prevent injury.
- Weight training improves both muscle strength and muscle endurance. If you get a set of simple dumbbells, you can do these types of exercises at home.
- Calisthenics can improve muscle and cardiovascular endurance. If you do them very slowly, using about 20 seconds to go through the entire range of motion for each exercise, you can also improve your muscular strength. Best of all, calisthenics require no special equipment and can be done any time, any place.
- Sports, such as tennis, soccer and racquetball are a form of extremely fun interval training. Any sport that intersperses bursts of speed and power with lower levels of running, walking and jogging can help to improve strength, endurance and cardiovascular health. This also has a positive effect on your body composition.
- Aerobic exercise such as jogging, elliptical trainer or spin class increases cardiovascular and respiratory endurance. To some extent, they also improve muscular endurance.
- Yoga can improve flexibility and, depending on the type of yoga you do, it can also improve muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance and body composition.
- Pilates is another super exercise that can affect all of the components of physical fitness.
- Walking improves cardiorespiratory endurace.
Recommendations for Exercise
- For optimal health, you should do some form of exercise most days of the week.
- Select exercises from the above list - or other exercises you might choose - that cover all of the components of fitness.
- Choose exercises that you enjoy and will stick with. If you mix it up, choosing a variety of exercises, your body will reap maximum benefits while you stay interested and engaged in building fitness.
- Always warm up before exercising and cool down after exercising.
- Stretch when you are done exercising. This is the ideal time to increase your flexibility, because your muscles are warm and more pliable. Stretching following exercise also keeps you from stiffening up when you are done.
Physical fitness is important for quality of life and for your health. By performing exercises that cover all of the components of physical fitness, you can lead a healthier, happier life.
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