Strands of Fitness

STRANDS OF FITNESS

The 5 components of physical fitness are used in schools, gyms and health clubs to measure your level of physical fitness. Total fitness is defined by how well your body performs in each of 5 categories.

Here's what you should know about the 5 components of physical fitness.

The Components of Physical Fitness

The five components of physical fitness are:

·  Cardiovascular endurance

·  Muscle strength

·  Muscle endurance

·  Flexibility

·  Body composition

These 5 components measure your body's ability to use oxygen as fuel, your muscular strength and endurance, the flexibility of your joints and your total body fat.

A range of tests are used to measure these components. Once you've been tested in all five components, a physical fitness regimen can be tailored to your specific needs.

Cardiovascular Endurance

Cardiovascular endurance refers to the ability of your heart and lungs to work together to fuel your body with oxygen. Aerobic conditioning, like jogging, swimming and cycling, can help improve cardiovascular endurance. A guide to follow to improve cardiovascular fitness it the F.I.T.T. equation:

F: Frequency (most days of the week)

I: Intensity (60-85% of Target Heart Rate Zone)

T: Time (at least 20 minutes)

T: Type (a cardiovascular activity: jogging, biking, swimming, hiking up hill, soccer, basketball etc.)

Muscle Strength

Muscle strength refers to the amount of force a muscle can exert, in a single effort. Exercises like push-ups, curl-ups, pull-ups might be used to measure muscle strength.

Muscle Endurance

Muscle endurance refers to the ability of a muscle to perform a continuous effort without fatiguing. Cycling, running 1 mile, step machines and sit up tests are often used to measure muscular endurance.

·  Muscular endurance is an aerobic mechanism, meaning that it requires oxygen. Muscular strength is an anaerobic mechanism, meaning that it does not require oxygen as an energy source.

·  Improving both muscular strength and endurance will lead to increased bone mass, reduced body fat and blood pressure, and improved lipids and blood glucose level.

·  Improving muscular strength requires lifting heavier loads for lower repetitions. Improving muscular endurance involves lighter weights for a higher number of repetitions.

·  Muscular strength is determined by the maximum load that can be lifted in one repetition. Muscular endurance is measured by the maximum number of repetitions of a muscle contraction.

Muscular strength and endurance are important for many reasons:

·  Reduce the risk of injury.

·  Help you keep a healthy body weight.

·  Improve confidence and how you feel about yourself.

·  Lead to healthier, stronger muscles and bones.

·  Give you a sense of accomplishment.

·  Allow you to add new and different activities to your exercise program.

Flexibility

Flexibility refers to the ability of each joint to express its full range of motion. A static stretch involves no movement. In other words, it can be called "stretch and hold" for at least 20 seconds. Dynamic stretching involves performing low-intensity movements similar to your workout activity that will loosen you up. Prior to a workout, a warm-up that includes dynamic stretching should be performed. For example, lunges are a dynamic stretch that helps to get the muscles warm for any type of lower body activity. Static stretching is the most beneficial if it is performed after a workout. There are many references to find dynamic and static stretches.

Body Composition

Body composition refers to the amount of body fat you have, versus the amount of lean muscles, bones and organs. There are several tests that can be used to measure body composition. The most reliable is underwater weighing, but due to the size and expense of the equipment, this type of test isn't common. Many doctors, gyms and health clubs use a pinch test instead.

List of Some Cardiovascular Activities

Cardiovascular exercise, also known as aerobic exercise, is exercise that burns fat and increases the heart rate, and which requires a certain amount of endurance over a long period of time. More technically, cardiovascular exercise is anything which forces the body to use its 'aerobic' system to get energy. The aerobic system is the body's ability to get energy from using oxygen to burn fat cells and carry the resultant energy to the required areas of the body. This then is the kind of exercise that causes you to breathe more heavily and is called cardiovascular as it relies on the heart's ability to pump blood around the body.

Because the oxygen is being used to burn off fat cells, this is one of the best ways to lose weight, and because it uses the heart to pump that blood and oxygen around the body, it also strengthens the heart as a muscle and lessens your chances of developing things such as heart disease or suffering from a stroke or heart attack. Any form of CV then is a great addition to your workout that will build muscle tone and improve your overall health. As there are so many, there is always likely to be a form of CV that suits you and fits into your routine, and if you find the right one it can actually turn out to be something that you enjoy rather than dread. Bellow are some examples of cardiovascular exercises that you could choose from, along with some of their strengths.

Running/Jogging: Running is a great way to burn calories and one of the 'go to' methods of cardiovascular exercise. You don't need any equipment which is one of the benefits, and everyone knows how to do it. At the same time you can go running outside and use the opportunity to see some scenery which past as you run through the neighborhood, or you can go running on a treadmill in your home and this way you don't need any space and can get all the exercise you need in a relatively confined space. With jogging you can put as much effort as you want to in, or as little, and there is a lot of equipment and many items that have been released specifically for joggers such as special shoes, route planners and calorie counters which can all help you to get more from your workouts. It's something where you can very clearly measure you success and progress and compare it with others (almost everyone has been running at some point) making it very addictive and very satisfying. As well as burning calories, running will also improve the fast twitch muscle fibers in your legs due to the explosive movements of running, and the slow twitch muscle fibers due to the endurance required. Jogging also triggers the release of many desirable hormones, such as endorphins which are happiness hormones that cause the 'runners' high' and make running even more addictive and satisfying, and such as growth hormone in high quantities which results in more muscle being built and more fat being burned. It will also result in particular muscle building in your legs and especially the calves. By running up hill or on grass you can increase the amount of muscle building it affords your legs, or by using interval training (varying the speed of your training) you can increase the effect it has on your body's chemical makeup and more quickly burn fat and produce growth hormone.

Swimming: Swimming is another favorite form of CV and has quite a few advantages over other forms of cardiovascular exercise. One of these is that there is no impact like there is on the knees with running, which means that you can swim with injuries and it will actually aid recovery rather than worsening it. At the same time, swimming is a great full body workout that provides resistance through a vast range of movements. That means then that you will end up toning and building muscle in your whole body and that means that swimmers have generally far more ripped and toned bodies than do runners who tend to lose a lot of muscle in their upper body. In particular as a swimmer you will work your shoulders, lats, abs, quadriceps, hamstrings and triceps which creates a very flat and wide physique that is desirable for most people. There are also many different swimming strokes which helps you to increase variety and to target different muscle groups.

Cycling: There is far less impact on the joints making it suitable for those with injuries and not hard on the joints. At the same time it is also outdoors though and you can use cycling to see lots of your local area relatively quickly making it a very interesting form of exercise. At the same time cycling gets you around fast enough that it's also actually practical and you can use it in order to get from place to place making it practical as well as healthy. This way then, when you need to be somewhere, rather than driving or walking you can cycle which is good for the atmosphere and very good for your cardiovascular fitness and fat loss. Like running, it's well known and competitive. It's again possible to get route planners, calorie counters and other useful items to help you.

Skipping Rope: Skipping is an under used and under rated form of exercise. It is one of the very best ways to burn calories quickly in a confined space. All you need to start skipping is a rope and enough floor space to swing it. This makes it one of the quickest and easiest ways to start your CV. While it might seem like a 'girly' activity, actually skipping is the form of CV used by most boxers for its practicality and for the fact that it keeps you light on your toes and requires timing. If it gets dull then this is the kind of exercise that can be done in front of the television, and at the same time there are lots of different types of CV you can learn – such as skipping backwards or with your arms crossed over. It's also easy to carry a rope with you places, and this makes it perfect for a form of CV that you can do while travelling in hotel rooms etc.

Shadow Boxing: Shadow boxing is boxing in front of your own shadow where you become the opponent. This is a great way to burn calories and requires even less space and equipment than skipping. At the same time it is also a good way to improve muscle tone, and to practice your combat training if you have any. To make it a bit more interesting you can also do shadow boxing in front of a mirror which makes for more of an active and interesting opponent. The downside of shadow boxing is that you risk over-extending your joints if you punch too hard and suddenly, so avoid this by making it lighter.

Trampoline: This is a very fun way to burn lots of calories and if you happen to have a class near you it can also be a social experience. It's something you can just as easily do at home though by buying just a small trampoline and by putting it in front of your television you can burn calories while enjoying yourself.

Dancing: Dancing is an absolutely great way to burn fat, and it doesn't have to be professional dancing. Stand in your room, put some of your favorite music on loud, and you can have a great time just shaking your hips and free styling. The good thing about this too is that you can put as much effort as you want into your dancing in order to have a big workout, or just a short one.

Other Sports: Almost any sport with a few exceptions involves a lot of CV and particularly running.(Rugby, soccer, tennis, racquet ball, basketball etc.) All of them will involve some element of running after balls and up and down a pitch or court. Taking up a sport is also fun and sociable and this means it doesn't have that sense of 'dread' before you go, and you will be less likely to avoid going. Taking up a sport then is one of the best ways to enjoy yourself and get in better cardiovascular shape.

Aerobic Machines: There are many other forms of CV provided by using resistance machines. These involve things like the stepping machine (which like it sounds involves mimicking the experience of walking up steps), the ski machine or elliptical (which uses both of your arms and legs in a skiing motion) or the climber (which involves climbing vertically up a rotating ladder). Others imitate the other forms of CV mentioned here such as the spinning machine which is an alternative to cycling, the treadmill which lets you run on the spot, the rowing machine and others.

Of course there are many other forms of CV that you can choose from and really anything that involves fast movements for an extended period of time will train your cardiovascular fitness.

Muscular Strength and Endurance Examples

·  Equipment machines

·  Exercise balls

·  Free weights (students need to be supervised by knowledgeable professional)

·  Resistance tubes or bands

·  Push-ups

·  Curl-ups

·  Pull-ups

·  Dips

·  Squats and Lunges

·  Core exercises

·  Strength and Endurance workout Media

*There many more muscular strength and endurance exercises found through research.