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Fitness is defined as the condition of being physically fit and healthy, improving your ability to execute daily activities. Being physically active is important for good health.
This article discusses components of fitness, including what they are and how they contribute to overall health.
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Fitness is a general term that includes multiple health-related components. These include:
Cardiovascular endurance: Your heart's ability to pump blood to your muscles, allowing you to exercise for longer periods of time
Muscular strength: The maximum force your muscles can exert for one movement
Muscular endurance: Your muscles' ability to continue to exert force against repeated resistance
Flexibility/mobility: The ability of your joints to move freely and through a normal range of motion
Body composition: The makeup of your body, including your muscles, bones, fat, and other structures
Each component of fitness is important for overall health. Together offer have a wide range of benefits for the body and the mind, such as:
Decreased risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke
Healthy body weight
Healthy cholesterol levels
Helping to manage blood sugar levels, lowering risk of type 2 diabetes
Improved ability to perform daily tasks
Improved cognition (such as thinking and problem solving skills)
Improved mood
Lower depression risk
Lower blood pressure
Reduced risk of falls or injuries
Slowed biological aging and lowered risk of premature death
Stronger bones
Cardiovascular endurance activities strengthen your heart muscle and lungs. This type of exercise improves your ability to use oxygen brought in through the lungs and pump it more efficiently to muscles throughout your body.
Examples of cardiovascular endurance activities—also called aerobic exercise, include:
Aerobic exercise classes
Cycling
Dancing
Hiking
Jogging/running
Rowing
Sports Activities
Swimming
Walking
Water aerobics
Daily activities that increase your heart rate also qualify as aerobic activity. Examples include:
Climbing stairs
Gardening
Lawn care
Pushing a shopping card
Muscular strength can be measured by your ability to perform one repetition of a particular movement. Strengthening exercises involve using your muscles to resist an external force.
Strengthening exercises can be performed with or without equipment. For example, push-ups, sit-ups, and squats are strengthening exercises that use your body weight as resistance.
Other equipment that can be used for strength training includes:
Barbells
Cable machines
Dumbbells
Elastic bands
Gym equipment
Kettlebells
However, simple objects, such as water jugs and sandbags, can also be used in strengthening exercises.
Weight lifting, or strength training, is the most important component of an exercise regimen for aging adults as it helps mitigate the decline in muscular strength and power, which delays the transition to frailty.
Before engaging in strengthening exercises, it is crucial to learn proper form and biomechanics to avoid injury.
Muscular endurance is the ability of your muscles to perform lots of repetitions of a specific movement. Many of the exercises that improve cardiovascular endurance—cycling, running, and swimming—also improve muscle endurance.
Isometrics is another type of exercise that improves muscular endurance. These exercises involve holding a static position as long as possible—such as performing a plank or holding a squat position. Your muscles are contracting, but your body is not moving.
Isometrics are a great option for individuals with injuries, previous or current, as well as those with limited mobility due to pain or an underlying health condition.
Muscular endurance exercises help you maintain a stable posture during daily activities, which can decrease your risk of falls.
Mobility/flexibility is a component of fitness that is sometimes overlooked. However, this aspect plays an important role in maintaining your range of motion and improving your ability to move when performing daily tasks or participating in other types of exercise.
There are several types of stretching techniques and exercises that improve mobility and flexibility.
Static stretching is the most familiar type of flexibility exercise that is typically performed. This type of exercise involves bringing a muscle into a position where it is under tension, then holding this position for at least 30 seconds.
Examples of muscles and body parts commonly targeted with static stretches include:
Dynamic stretching elongates muscles (stretches them out) while the body is moving. Typically, this type of stretching or mobility exercise is done before a specific aerobic activity, such as running or playing a sport.
For example, a person might perform walking lunges, taking very large steps prior to sprinting.
Dynamic exercises are activities that improve flexibility and mobility through movement. Examples include:
Pilates
Tai chi
Body composition, or how your body is made up, includes fat, muscle, bone, and other structures. Learning about your body composition can give you an idea of your overall health.
Body composition can be measured in various ways, including the following, with some being more accessible to the public than others:
Bioimpedance (also called bioelectrical impedance): Smart scales use this technology to send electrical impulses through the body to estimate the amount of body fat vs. lean tissue that is present.
Skin calipers: This technique measures skinfold thickness at specific areas of the body. The data collected is used to estimate body fat percentage.
Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA or DXA scan): This type of testing uses X-rays to assess body composition. DEXA scan is most commonly used with athletes.
Hydro-densitometry (also called underwater weighing): This technique measures the amount of water displaced when a person is submerged to assess body composition.
Air displacement plethysmography (ADP): This method of assessing body composition utilizes a machine that measures the amount of air displaced when a person is in a sealed chamber.
A well-rounded training program includes activities that address all components of fitness.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides guidelines for adults who are looking to start an exercise program:
Aim to get at least 150 minutes of aerobic activity (exercises or activities that increase your heart rate) each week. Depending on your lifestyle, this can be broken up into smaller chunks of time throughout your day or performed during a formal exercise session.
Perform strength training exercises at least two days per week.
Include flexibility and mobility work at least two to three times per week. They can be done before or after exercise or independently of other exercise activities.
Related: Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Exercise: How to Benefit From Both
Physical fitness consists of five components: cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, mobility/flexibility, and body composition. Each contributes to improved function during daily tasks and an overall better quality of life by allowing you to be active for longer periods of time and move with ease.
A body composition assessment compares the amount of fat versus lean muscle tissue to help track your overall health. To get the most benefit from an exercise program, include activities that address all five components of fitness.
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