You would like to get fit? So what does getting fit really mean to you? Does it mean that you would like to be stronger, have more muscular, reduce your body-fat, to be able to walk or jog for longer or faster or is it to be more flexible? Regrettably "getting fit" is too general a term, with too many variables to be an useful goal. In this article I'll introduce the basic components of fitness and a few by the techniques used to accomplish them.
Many exercise scientists believe that there are 9 or 10 components that can be considered to part of fitness. Even so, for the purposes of the average person setting out to develop total fitness, we can concentrate on the 5 that cover most non-sporting fitness goals. They are:
* Cardio-respiratory endurance
* Muscular strength
* Muscular endurance
* Body composition
* Flexibility
Cardio-respiratory endurance is the ability of the heart, lungs, and cardiovascular system to supply oxygen to the working muscles during protracted exercise. To improve your cardio-respiratory endurance, you should do an activity that permits you to keep your heart rate elevated for a substantial amount of time, such as walking, bicycling or swimming. Choose an activity you enjoy and begin easily. At first do your cardio training 5 day a week for about a half-hour each session. Over time you will be able to gradually build to a more intense workout.
Muscular strength is the ability of the muscle to exert force during an activity. It's generally believed that weight training is the best technique to improve muscular strength. Increases in muscular strength are generally related to improvements in recruiting your muscles during an activity and increases in muscle size. Gradually increasing the resistance used in your training will result in increased muscular strength. As with all training methods, it's crucial to incorporate a warm-up prior to beginning your work sets. For better results you should have a few days recovery between sessions focusing on the same muscle.
Muscular endurance is the ability of the muscle to continuously perform an activity. There are two approaches to improving muscular endurance. One is to do cardio-respiratory activities such as rowing, walking or cycling, where the muscles are being used repeatedly. The other is to do high rep weight training, with some people doing 20 or more reps per set.
When most people think about body composition, they're primarily concerned with the amount of fat in the body.
The amount of body-fat that a person is carrying has an important influence on overall health. Carrying too little or too much can pose a number of health risks. Be aware that your body-fat percentage and weight is not the same thing. For example, many athletes maintain low body-fat percentages but are technically overweight because of their muscle mass.
To alter body composition, you need to address both dietary modification and exercise. To loose body-fat you should look at reducing caloric intake and increasing exercise, making sure that you do both cardiovascular and resistance training. On the other hand if you want to increase muscle mass, you should increase calorie intake and focus on resistance training.
Flexibility is the range of motion that you have around a joint. Good flexibility is believed to prevent injuries and improve exercise performance. To improve your flexibility you can incorporate a stretching program after your workout or do a specific stretching session. It is important to stretch gently so you feel the muscles you want to be stretching but not so much that you experience pain. You should stretch regularly if you want to make marked improvements in your range of motion.
As you can see, fitness is a varied subject and everybody will have different priorities in regard to their fitness at different times. If you would like to be fit in all 5 elements you will need to devote time and effort to it. You will find that setting and working toward a main goal based on the most important component for you at this time, will give the best results.
Many exercise scientists believe that there are 9 or 10 components that can be considered to part of fitness. Even so, for the purposes of the average person setting out to develop total fitness, we can concentrate on the 5 that cover most non-sporting fitness goals. They are:
* Cardio-respiratory endurance
* Muscular strength
* Muscular endurance
* Body composition
* Flexibility
Cardio-respiratory endurance is the ability of the heart, lungs, and cardiovascular system to supply oxygen to the working muscles during protracted exercise. To improve your cardio-respiratory endurance, you should do an activity that permits you to keep your heart rate elevated for a substantial amount of time, such as walking, bicycling or swimming. Choose an activity you enjoy and begin easily. At first do your cardio training 5 day a week for about a half-hour each session. Over time you will be able to gradually build to a more intense workout.
Muscular strength is the ability of the muscle to exert force during an activity. It's generally believed that weight training is the best technique to improve muscular strength. Increases in muscular strength are generally related to improvements in recruiting your muscles during an activity and increases in muscle size. Gradually increasing the resistance used in your training will result in increased muscular strength. As with all training methods, it's crucial to incorporate a warm-up prior to beginning your work sets. For better results you should have a few days recovery between sessions focusing on the same muscle.
Muscular endurance is the ability of the muscle to continuously perform an activity. There are two approaches to improving muscular endurance. One is to do cardio-respiratory activities such as rowing, walking or cycling, where the muscles are being used repeatedly. The other is to do high rep weight training, with some people doing 20 or more reps per set.
When most people think about body composition, they're primarily concerned with the amount of fat in the body.
The amount of body-fat that a person is carrying has an important influence on overall health. Carrying too little or too much can pose a number of health risks. Be aware that your body-fat percentage and weight is not the same thing. For example, many athletes maintain low body-fat percentages but are technically overweight because of their muscle mass.
To alter body composition, you need to address both dietary modification and exercise. To loose body-fat you should look at reducing caloric intake and increasing exercise, making sure that you do both cardiovascular and resistance training. On the other hand if you want to increase muscle mass, you should increase calorie intake and focus on resistance training.
Flexibility is the range of motion that you have around a joint. Good flexibility is believed to prevent injuries and improve exercise performance. To improve your flexibility you can incorporate a stretching program after your workout or do a specific stretching session. It is important to stretch gently so you feel the muscles you want to be stretching but not so much that you experience pain. You should stretch regularly if you want to make marked improvements in your range of motion.
As you can see, fitness is a varied subject and everybody will have different priorities in regard to their fitness at different times. If you would like to be fit in all 5 elements you will need to devote time and effort to it. You will find that setting and working toward a main goal based on the most important component for you at this time, will give the best results.
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