By Mike Behnken 5 Components of Physical Fitness
Why the Five Components of Physical Fitness are Important
Remember High School P.E. Class? 5 Components of Physical Fitness
If
you have searched for the five components of physical fitness and are
now reading this article, there is a good chance that you first heard
about the five basic components of physical fitness many years ago.
Your
parents and teachers told you to get off the couch, out of the house,
and exercise because it’s good for you. Exercise is indeed good for you,
but in order to get the most out of exercising, you should follow a
balanced exercise program. That is where the five components of physical
fitness come in.
What is the Definition of Physical Fitness?
There
is no easy answer to that question. Physical fitness means something
different for everyone. If you want to find a definition that works for
almost everyone, you should visit the
Definition of Physical Fitness.
An Effective Long-Term Exercise Program is a Balanced Exercise Program
The
following five aspects of physical fitness are each very important to
your health, because if you have all five components covered through a
balanced exercise program, you are likely to stay healthier, be happier,
and live longer.
You can look at the five components of physical
fitness as markers of true fitness. You are only as strong as your
weakest link, and if you are weak in any of the following five areas,
you should work at them to become a more balanced, physically fit
person.
1. Cardiovascular Endurance
What is Cardiovascular Endurance? 5 Components of Physical Fitness
Cardiovascular
exercise, also called cardiopulmonary exercise, or simply cardio,
consists of aerobic physical activities lasting longer than 90 seconds.
To
better understand the terminology, you should know that cardio- refers
to the “heart”, vascular means related to blood vessels, and pulmonary
means related to the lungs.
Cardiovascular or cardiopulmonary endurance is your physical ability to maintain aerobic exercise for prolonged periods of time.
Physiologically,
cardiovascular endurance refers to the efficiency of your heart, lungs
and vascular system’s delivery of oxygen-rich blood to your working
muscles during activities that last longer than 90 seconds.
Why is Cardiovascular Endurance Important? 5 Components of Physical Fitness
Cardiovascular
endurance is very important because the more fit your cardiovascular
systems becomes, the healthier your lungs, heart and vascular system
will be.
If you demonstrate high levels of cardiovascular
endurance during exercise, you also have a more efficient heart, lungs,
and vascular system while at rest.
This means less stress is put
on your heart and lungs around the clock, enabling you to avoid illness
and live a long, healthy life. Many argue that cardiovascular endurance
is the most important of the 5 components to physical fitness.
2. Muscular Strength 5 Components of Physical Fitness
What is Muscular Strength?
Muscular
strength is the amount of force your muscles can exert against
resistance for short duration, anaerobic (without oxygen) activities.
Resistance includes external objects such as free weights or household
objects, or even own body weight during
bodyweight exercises.
Physiologically,
muscular strength it is the ability of your cells to supply muscle
energy in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) to your muscle fibers
for concentric, eccentric and isometric contractions in time frames
ranging from 0 to around 15 seconds.
Why is Muscular Strength Important? 5 Components of Physical Fitness
The
primary reason why muscular strength is important is its effect on
activities of daily living (ADLs). Efficiency and safety during ADLs are
two of the most important reasons for becoming proficient in all 5
components of physical fitness. The best way to build fitness for
performing ADLs is through
functional training, or exercises that mimic the activities you do in daily life or your sport of choice.
At
the very least, to be physically fit in the muscular strength
department, you should demonstrate the basic muscular strength needed to
efficiently your ADLs. While ADLs vary from person to person, you can
also consider activities such as push-ups, pull-ups, and carrying heavy
objects to be ADLs.
Each of the 5 components of fitness depends on
the others. Poor muscular strength can negatively affect aerobic
fitness and muscular endurance.
- Weight Training Exercise Videos
You can use all forms of resistance training to increase your muscular
strength. If muscular strength your weak link in the 5 components of
physical fitness, you need to start weight training.
3. Muscular Endurance 5 Components of Physical Fitness
What is Muscular Endurance?
While
muscular strength deals with short duration muscle contractions, muscle
endurance deals with sustained muscle contractions and other anaerobic
activities lasting less than 90 seconds.
Why is Muscular Endurance Important? 5 Components of Physical Fitness
Muscular
endurance is the bridge between muscular strength and cardiovascular
endurance. In order to be have a fit cardiovascular system, you must
demonstrate muscular endurance.
While
muscle strength deals primarily with fast-twitch type II muscle fibers,
muscular endurance deals with primarily slow-twitch type I muscle
fibers. Your body contains both types of fibers, but only anaerobic
exercises which last longer than around 15 seconds and less than 90
seconds strengthen your type I muscle fibers. 5 Components of Physical Fitness
- Sets and Reps
Learn all about how your resistance training workouts can improve each
of the 5 components of physical fitness through different exercise
selection, sets, reps, weight training volume and weight training
splits.
4. Flexibility / Mobility
What is Flexibility?
Flexibility is the range of motion possible for each of your joints or groups of joints.
5 Components of Physical Fitness
Why is Flexibility Important?
To
some degree, your flexibility determines the efficiency of your
muscles. Increased flexibility has also been associated with decreased
risk of acute and chronic (overuse) injuries.
Poor flexibility can
directly affect cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength, and muscular
endurance. Physiologically, flexibility can include extramuscular
factors, such as range of motion at a joint, as well as intramuscular
factors, such as hypertonicity (knots) within the muscles themselves.
- Posture Problems
Learn in detail why flexibility is very important for your muscle balance, which affects all 5 components of physical fitness. 5 Components of Physical Fitness
- Self-Myofascial Release
Learn how to increase flexibility, decrease tension and soreness, and
correct postural problems using self-myofascial release with a foam
roller.
- Cumulative Injury Cycle
Learn all about the Cumulative Injury Cycle including how and why flexibility training prevents injury.
5. Body Composition 5 Components of Physical Fitness
What is Body Composition?
Body composition is the percentage of your body’s tissues which are composed of fat versus tissues which are fat-free.
The
easiest and most common way to look at body composition is with a
two-compartment analysis which compares the amount of body fat you have
with your lean body mass, which includes muscle, bone, water, and
organs.
It takes expensive equipment for a three-compartment
analysis which isolates bone mass, which can also be considered an
important part of body composition.
Why is Body Composition Important? 5 Components of Physical Fitness
You
could say body composition depends on the other components of physical
fitness. Focusing on the other four aspects of physical fitness will
naturally lead to improved body composition over time.
Having a
poor body composition has many negative physical and psychological
effects, such as increased chance of chronic diseases and depression. As
mentioned previously, improper exercise habits and poor lifestyle
choices can not only lead to being overweight or obese, but decreased
bone mass associated with osteopenia and osteoporosis.
5 Components of Physical Fitness
- Body Fat Measurement
If you want to know if you are physically fit according to the 5
components of physical fitness, you should learn about the cheap and
effective ways to estimate your body composition.
- Fat Loss 101
If you think your scale weight is too high, you may want to estimate
your lean body mass as well as fat mass. Scale weight alone does not
accurately reflect the more important metric of body composition. From
body composition data you can find out how much fat you should lose to
accomplish your weight loss goals while sparing your lean mass. Check
out this Fat Loss 101 article if you are new to fat loss. 5 Components of Physical Fitness
Which of the 5 Basic Components of Fitness is the Most Important?
You Are Only as Physically Fit as Your Weakest Link 5 Components of Physical Fitness
You
cannot rank one of the health-related components of physical fitness as
more important than the others, as all 5 components of physical fitness
are interdependent upon each other.
Finding which of the 5
components is most important for you to focus on is as simple as
identifying your weakest link. If you are very strong but cannot jog a
mile without getting out of breath, you need to focus more on your
aerobic exercise. If you are very lean and have high cardiovascular
fitness but you cannot touch your toes, you need to work on your
flexibility, and so on.
5 Components of Physical Fitness
If you’re in pain, there's a temptation to skip exercising. But
exercise can often help reduce pain and improve your quality of life.
If you’re in pain, there's a temptation to skip exercising. But
exercise can often help reduce pain and improve your quality of life.
Food Intake
Cardiorespiratory Training
Food Supplementation
Resistance Training
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