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Fitness is such a broad term and a complex subject that can include health and skill-related fitness. Health-related fitness is often divided into several other components which form our overall health status and include cardiovascular or aerobic fitness, strength, and flexibility. Cardiovascular Fitness (Aerobic Fitness)This is also sometimes known as stamina and is the ability of your body to continuously provide enough energy to sustain submaximal levels of exercise. To do this the circulatory and respiratory systems must work together efficiently to provide the working muscles with enough Oxygen to enable aerobic metabolism. This type of fitness has enormous benefits to our lifestyle as it allows us to be active throughout the day, for example walking to the shops, climbing stairs or running to catch a bus. It also allows us to get involved in sports and leisure pursuits. If we have good cardiovascular fitness then our health is also good as it helps with:
StrengthStrength is vitally important, not only in sports but in day-to-day life. We need to be strong to perform certain tasks, such as lifting heavy bags or using our legs to stand up from a chair. Strength is defined as the ability of a muscle to exert a force to overcome resistance. Strength is important for our health as it enables us to :
FlexibilityFlexibility is the movement available at our joints, usually controlled by the length of our muscles. This is often thought to be less important than strength, or cardiovascular fitness. However, if we are not flexible our movement decreases and joints become stiff. Flexibility in sports allows us to perform certain skills more efficiently, for example, a gymnast, dancer or diver must be highly flexible, but it is also important in other sports to aid performance and decrease the risk of injury. In daily activities, we must be flexible to reach for something in a cupboard, or off the floor. It also helps:
Muscular EnduranceMuscular endurance, unlike strength, is the ability of a muscle to make repeated contractions over a period of time. This is used in day-to-day life in activities such as climbing stairs, digging the garden and cleaning. Muscular endurance is also important in sports, such as football (repeated running and kicking), tennis (repeated swinging of the arm to hit the ball) and swimming (repeating the stroke). Body CompositionBody composition is the amount of muscle, fat, bone, cartilage etc that makes up our bodies. In terms of health, fat is the main point of interest and everything else is termed lean body tissue. The amount of fat we carry varies from person to person and healthy averages vary with gender and age. A healthy amount of fat for a man is between 15&18% and for women is higher at 20-25%. It is important to maintain a healthy percentage of body fat because:
I remember back to my studies of year 12 physical education for my VCE (Victorian Certificate of Eduction). One of the earliest topics we covered in the curriculum was around different forms of fitness an individual can possess. Perhaps you too are studying these topics are want a clearer explanation of what they are. So what are these health related fitness components? Please enable JavaScript Hello from Get Gym FitThe five health related fitness components are:
Today, we’ll be exploring these components in greater depth. And giving you some examples, so you have a clearer understanding of how to design a program for them as well as test them. Let’s dive in. | Health Related Fitness Components – A BackgroundDoes being healthy and fit mean having more muscles? Does being healthy and fit mean not being fat? Or does being healthy and fit mean being able to run without losing your breath? The answer is, all of the above. Being ‘healthy’ and ‘fit’ is an extremely broad concept and possessing these characteristics can be demonstrated in so many different ways. When it comes to improving a client’s, athlete’s or even your own health and fitness, it can therefore be difficult to know where to start. Fortunately, the five health related fitness components can help us to categorise fitness into areas that are easier to understand. They can also help us start to map out a fitness plan that has greater specificity and relevance for our client and their individual fitness goals. | Cardiovascular (Aerobic) EnduranceCardiovascular endurance refers to the ability of the heart, lungs and blood vessels to deliver oxygenated blood to the working muscles of the body, especially during exercise. Of equal importance is for the body to be able to extract carbon dioxide from these same muscles and expel it via the veins, and eventually lungs and exhalation. When we have good cardiovascular endurance, we are able to sustain high energy outputs for extended periods of time, such as during running, cycling, fast walking, playing sport, etc. When we have poor cardiovascular endurance, we may become breathless during these activities, struggle to keep up and end up needing to slow down or stop to catch our breath. Examples of tests you can use to measure cardiovascular endurance include the 20 meter shuttle run (beep test), the Cooper’s Run, or time trials of various distances. Examples of training you can use to improve cardiovascular endurance include steady state training, interval training, or Fartlek training.  | Muscular StrengthMuscular strength refers to the ability of our muscular system (which attach to our bones) to produce force in order to move the various joints in our body, creating bodily movement. It’s important to note that whether we are ‘strong’ or not is a relative term, and really depends on what our goals are. Muscular strength is also specific to the area of the body that you test. When we have high levels of strength, we are able to perform activities of daily living with relative ease. For some people, this might be bench pressing 100kg, but for others, it might be as simple as being able to get up off the couch with ease. When we have low levels of strength, we may struggle with particular activities of daily living. For instance, an elderly person with very low strength may struggle to get down to tie their shoelace. Examples of tests you can use to measure muscular strength include 3RM or 1RM maximal strength tests, or more simple tests such as the sit up test. Examples of training you can use to improve muscular strength include resistance training and circuit training. | FlexibilityFlexibility refers to the ability of our muscles (and connected tendon) to move through a desired range of motion without hindrance or obstruction. Flexibility is usually specific to a particular joint or muscle – for instance – hamstring flexibility could be referred to as one’s ability of being able touch their toes or not. When we have high levels of flexibility (and mobility), we are able to get our body into a desirable position without resistance or (for the most part), pain. When we have low levels of flexibility (and mobility), we may struggle to get our body into this desirable position. We may be limited by resistance or pain. Examples of tests you can use to measure flexibility include the sit and reach or straight leg raise. Examples of training you can use to improve flexibility include stretching, mobility exercises, or yoga. | Muscular EnduranceMuscular endurance refers to our muscles’ ability to produce repeated or continuous contraction without fatiguing. Similar to strength, muscular endurance is specific to the area of the body you are measuring. For instance, you may have good core endurance but poor leg endurance (keep this in mind when choosing an appropriate test). When we have high levels of muscular endurance, we are able to continually produce high forces without dropping off or becoming susceptible to lactic acid buildup. When we have low levels of muscular endurance, we may feel lactic acid build up quickly, and will struggle to drive the same amount of force for an extended period of time. Examples of tests that are often used to measure muscular endurance include the sit up test. Examples of training you can use to measure muscular endurance include cycling, stepper machines, or walking up a steep hill. | Body CompositionBody composition refers to the percentage of fat mass (adipose tissue) we have on our body compared to fat-free mass (muscle, bone, organs, etc.). Having relatively low body fat levels can help limit the chances of developing chronic diseases such as:
If you have a poor body composition and are overweight or obese, you place yourself at greater risk of these conditions. Examples of tests you can use to measure body composition are skinfolds, bioelectric impotence, or other types of body scans. Examples of strategies for weight loss include exercising more in general and managing your calorie intake. |
What is health-related fitness components
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