Schools, fitness centers, and health clubs are where the 5 components of physical fitness are considered to assess your fitness level. While the definition of the term “fit” depends on the individual, these components can help anyone achieve their fitness goals and remain healthy. On that note, we’ve assembled a brief guide to educate you on the 5 components of fitness.
Cardiovascular Endurance
Cardiovascular endurance is your lungs and heart’s ability to sustain you during a workout. In other words, your heart and lungs provide your body with the necessary amount of oxygen it needs for the task at hand. This endurance will ensure that your heart and lungs are capable of working together at full capacity to achieve success during exercises such as swimming, jogging, running, cycling, and other forms of fitness that employ your cardiovascular system.
There are ways to test your cardiovascular endurance such as the Cooper run, which is a method of running as far as you can for 12 minutes, as a way to determine your endurance. Or you can take a page out of a fitness enthusiast and trainer’s book and implement the step test. This is where you step onto a platform for a mere 5 minutes to accurately measure the strength and endurance of your cardiovascular system.
Muscular Strength
Muscular strength is the amount of force your muscles produce to lift and carry heavy objects. Without it, your body will not have the power it needs to handle daily physical demands. As a result, your body will become weak and more prone to injury. To rectify this, train with heavy weights. Exercises such as the bench press and squats are very effective.
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Muscular Endurance
Muscular endurance is your ability to sustain power for an extended period of time. Put differently, it is whether or not your body can continuously and successfully perform contractions. If you struggle to lift or carry weights for longer than a few minutes, you will need to boost your muscular endurance. You can do so by commencing your training with light weights and, as the muscle fibers activate, you will be able to progress to heavier weights. In addition to that, opt for cycling, elliptical machines, and step machines to switch it up and effectively improve your muscular endurance.
Flexibility
Flexibility is a vital component of fitness as it will aid in maintaining your agility as you age. Flexibility is the body’s ability to move its joints and muscles within the available range of motion. This component often gets overlooked; however, it is extremely important otherwise, your muscles and joints will become stiff and have limited movement. This will make you more prone to injury.
Flexibility must be implemented as a significant part of your daily workout. In fact, you should end any workout by stretching the muscles and joints that were in use. Test your flexibility by attempting to touch your toes and observing the resistance in your hamstrings. Perform other functional positions such as the lunge and stretch individual muscles regularly to improve flexibility. Continue to attempt this workout and make stretching part of your daily routine.
Body Fat Composition
Body fat composition is a component of fitness that refers to the amount of fat mass compared to lean muscle mass, bone, and organs. To qualify as ‘fit,’ the ideal body composition for men should be lower than 17% whereas, for women, it should be lower than 24%. However, the majority of men fall within the range of 18% to 24% body fat and women between 25% to 31%. To measure one’s body composition, consider underwater weighing, bioelectrical impedance, and skinfold readings. Body fat measurement is best determined by underwater weighing which is considered the gold standard for its accuracy.
All 5 of these fitness components must be used to gain a comprehensive view of your strength, endurance, and overall health. As such, make sure that you are performing the right workouts to cover each component in your fitness session. With enough time and perseverance, you will finally be able to revel in the joys of maintaining a healthy body.