What is Fitness?
by Peter Mellow, Senior Lecturer, AUT.
Fitness has been defined as 'being in good health or physical condition' ().
But this is a narrow definition and '"'being fit'"' or '"'achieving
a good level of fitness'"' is much more. There are 8 components that make up
'FITNESS'. Each of these 8 components are able to be measured and in a test, retest
situation, progress can be monitored.
The 8 components of fitness are broken down into 2 groups. 4 HEALTH related components
and 4 SPORT / SKILL related components. The 4 Health fitness components are all necessary
to have to some degree, to lead a healthy and functional life. The 4 Sport / Skill
components are not needed for everyday life, but are useful if you want to participate
in sporting activities.
The 4 Health Components of Fitness.
1- Cardiovascular Fitness is the most important component. What
is killing most people in western countries is poor heart and circulation system
efficiency. The heart is a muscle and like external muscles on our body, responds
to exercise by getting healthier. The lungs also get better at exchanging the carbon
dioxide that we produce for the oxygen that we need. An easier way to think of CV
( cardiovascular ) fitness is of your stamina or 'puff'. People with low levels of
CV fitness tend to get tired easier and can't maintain activities for as long as
someone who does regular exercise. To improve your CV fitness you need to do aerobic
( with oxygen ) type exercises that use large muscle groups ( like the legs ) over
and over again to increase circulation and train the heart. Such aerobic activities
include:
Aerobic exercise classes.
Walking, jogging and running.
Swimming, cycling, rowing, and stepper / stairclimbing machines in a gym situation.
The American College of Sports Medicine advise that you need to do this type of exercise
at least 3 times per week and for a minimum of 20 minutes each workout session. Monitoring
the intensity is important as well. You don't want to work too hard, but hard enough
to gain a benefit. Using your heart rate to measure intensity is common and accurate.
Other simple ways are the 'talk-test' and RPE (rating of perceived exertion).
2- Body Composition is the tissue breakdown of your body. It usually
only differentiates between fat and all other body tissue ( muscle, bone, organs,
blood etc. ). It is normally expressed as a percent body fat. Someone might have
an estimated 20% body fat, so the other 80% is everything else in their body. Fat
is not a bad thing. It has many useful functions in our body. It insulates the body,
protects it, contributes to cell health and is used as a source of fuel. There are
many ways to estimate % body fat. Skinfold measurements, electrical impedance, infrared,
and underwater weighing. Control of your % fat is done through good nutritional habits
and exercise. Only aerobic exercise uses fat as a fuel.
3- Flexibility is defined as the range of motion around a joint.
This is restricted by the structure of the joint itself, and the muscles and connective
tissue ( ligaments and tendons ) that act over it. Flexibility can be developed but
is individual to each of us. Ways of increasing flexibility are using a variety of
stretches. Static stretches are most common, and involve putting the muscle wanting
to be stretched into a lengthened position and holding that stretch for a set amount
of time, at least 12 to 15 seconds.
Flexibility is important reduce the risk of injuries and increase performance by
allowing your muscles to work over a greater range of motion.
4- Muscular Strength and Endurance. Muscular strength
is the ability to do a task ( e.g. lift a weight ). You need strength in your muscles
to do every day tasks. Without some strength you wouldn't be able to get out of bed
or walk around. But you also need some endurance in your muscles so they can contract
over and over again through the day. Muscular endurance and strength are trained
differently.
The 4 Sport / Skill Components of Fitness.
1- Agility is the ability to change direction rapidly. It is a necessary
sport skill to run around opposition team members. It is trained by doing specific
agility drills using cones and involves running sideways and forwards and backwards.
Choose movement patterns that are specific to your sport.
2- Balance and Co-ordination. Being bipeds,
we must always remain in a state of balance at all times or risk falling over.
Some sports need more balance than others (e.g. gymnastics) but all sports need
some amount of balance. Co-ordination is the ability to perform complex motor
skills in your sport. Running while kicking, passing, or catching a ball is extremely
skilful and must be practised to be developed.
3- Speed is distance over time. We are all aware of kilometres per
hour, or miles per hour. Running speeds are sometimes mentioned in metres per second.
Speed is obviously extremely important in all forms of racing, but also in team and
goal related sports when someone has the chance to 'runaway' from the opposition.
4- Power is the ability to exert force quickly. A simple equation
for power is: muscular strength X speed = Power. You can be very strong but not as
powerful someone who is weaker but faster in the way they react. Power must have
a speed component applied to it if you are trying to increase this.
The following references provide supportive information for further study
or clarification of the material in this article.
References:
() Heinemann New Zealand Dictionary.
General References:
Fitness Foundations Manual, Dept Sport & Health Science, Auckland Institute of
Technology.
Fitness and Sports medicine by David Nieman, Bull Publishing Company. Chapter 2.
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