10 Components of Physical Fitness: You Must Know Before Exercise
Are you still panic about how to start your physical fitness journey? Do you want to look like a celebrity? Some people want inverted triangular or hourglass figures. We can’t define fitness by appearance because your skeletal structure may differ from others. It is a good rule of thumb to learn the ropes of something before taking action. Likewise, you need to know the ten components of physical fitness before you strive to improve your health and wellness.
“Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.”
(John F. Kennedy)
The University of California & Madrid stated that components of physical fitness enhanced the academic performance of youth. Undoubtedly, physical activity gives a new lease on life, and you become invulnerable to various diseases. Every exercise or diet plan doesn’t conform to everybody. So it’s crucial to track your health status through these physical fitness components. So, here I’ll share 10 components of physical fitness that you must know before jumping into the physical fitness journey.
Health-Related Components of Physical Fitness:
Health-related elements gauge health issues according to which health professionals suggest specific exercises. Regular physical activity lowers your risk of heart problems, cancers, and diabetes type 2. It raises your odds of living longer. The health-related components of fitness are:
1. Muscular Strength:
It is the muscle potential that helps you to lift heavyweight. Muscle strength assessment ensures neurological illness or muscle imbalance.
The Oxford scale method calculates muscle strength. Muscle fitness provides grip strength and limits the results of the muscle-strengthening task. It increases lean body mass and reduces excess body fat. Some muscle strengthening workouts include:
· Push-ups and squats
· Hiking and climbing stairs
· Cycling and heavy gardening
2. Muscular Endurance:
A muscle can sustain fatigue for a specific time. Muscle endurance is resistance training with repetitive motions. First, trainers train the muscles to work for a few minutes rather than seconds; then, they work at 20–25 rep. Endurance training prepares the muscle fibers to lift the weight without being tiresome for a more extended period.
· It is most likely tested through squats, push-ups, and sit-ups.
· Low muscle endurance and strength level is the sign of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and, in rare cases, cancer.
3. Cardiovascular Endurance:
Cardiovascular endurance trains the body’s large muscles to move at moderate to high intensity for an extended time.
Cardiovascular fitness fuels the body with enough oxygen. It improves the efficiency of the cardiovascular system (heart, lungs, and blood vessels). If you get a clean bill of health, it means your heart fabulously pumps blood to your body, and you’re capable of all aerobic exercises.
· It includes running, jumping, swimming, jogging, and cycling.
· Cooper Run is a cardiovascular fitness test that measures how much distance you cover within 12 minutes.
· Harvard Step Test is another cardio fitness analyzer to estimate aerobic fitness. It involves step up and step down exercise onto a platform for about 3 minutes.
4. Flexibility:
Flexibility is one of the most crucial components of fitness that people usually overlook. Flexibility refers to the entire motion of your joints with no injury — the lack of flexibility results in stiff and painful joints.
· The sit and reach test is often used to gauge flexibility. Sit on the floor and go towards your toes. People with good flexibility would easily touch their toes, but those with less flexibility won’t be able to do so.
5. Body Composition:
Body composition tells the distribution of total body fat, lean body mass, water content, and bone mass throughout the body. Men contain an average body fat of 12% to 20%, while women have 20% to 30%. If the body fat exceeds 25% in men and 30% in women, then the person is obese. Various methods to measure body fat content include electrical impedance, the Skin-fold method, Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry, and Hydrostatics weighing.
· Skinfold method: This procedure measures the subcutaneous fat. We take the skin from the back of the elbow, behind the shoulder blade, or from lower body parts. A caliper then calculates the fat thickness.
· Body Mass Index: BMI measures the mass index based on height and weight. We get the BMI by dividing the weight in kilograms with the height in the meter square. The average BMI ranges from 18.5 to 24.9. An underweight person possesses a BMI of less than 18.5, and an overweight person has over 24.9. People with BMI above 30 are obese.
· Waist Circumference:
Waist circumference is another essential factor in estimating body composition. Stand upright and place the tape in the middle just near the belly button. Keep the tape horizontal. Don’t hold your breath and measure the waist just after you exhale. The standard waist measurements are given in the below table:
Do You Know Skill-Related Components of Physical Fitness?
Skill-related components are most accurate for athletic performance in a variety of ways. These components include power, speed, reaction time, agility, coordination, and balance.
1. Power:
Power produces muscular motion with maximum force at a faster rate. It is a mixture of both pace and strength that allows the human body to move swiftly. For example, energy runners do well in sprints. Power enhances by following fast-paced strenuous exercises such as:
- Plyometric box jumps
- Kettlebell swings
- Olympic weightlifting
- Pressing a weighted sled while sprinting
2. Speed:
Speed allows your visceral and upper body parts to move instantly. Running and timing sprints are one of the most common skill-related fitness for speed. Speed rate may differ depending upon the choice of your sport.
- High-intensity Interval training is outstanding to develop speed. It repeatedly tests your aerobic and anaerobic frameworks, thus allow muscles and lungs to work efficiently.
- Marathon Training is a long-distance race of 42 km where the runner goes all-out for the entire mile before resting. This circuit training first time took place near the town of Marathon, Greek. Marathon exercise boosts serotonin and dopamine level (happy hormones).
- Sprint training focuses on shorter runs that can be intense from 40- to 400-meters, such as jogging on a walking track. Sprinting burns calories increases the basal metabolic rate and lean mass.
3. Reaction Time:
Reaction time refers to the instant duration of how fast you respond to certain stimuli. Think about a tennis match for a brief minute. The best rivals react readily whenever the ball comes off their opponent’s racquet, sprinting toward the location where they expect the ball to jump.
An expert tennis player interprets the ball’s movement and responds accurately because of his knowledge of that area. However, a newcomer tennis player often sees the ball coming off the opponent’s racquet but cannot interpret whatever they’re seeing that quickly, causing their response time to slow.
Reaction-time training is sport-specific, but these activities will help:
- Fielding, a baseball or softball
- Playing table tennis or sack that is hacky
- Soccer, Hockey, and Lacrosse
- Lopsided reaction balls
4. Agility:
Agility is the capability to alter the way quickly and effectively by keeping the correct posture. It will help one discover the skill of turning, moving limbs, and pivoting quickly. Baseball players are highly agile as they respond instantly to the ball’s movement and other players. Then trainers teach them to react and change course during the fall of the hat.
Agility drills commonly include workouts that develop foot direction and rate change, such as
- Jumping rope
- Battle ropes
- Quick feet up the stairs
- Tossing a tennis ball against a wall surface and catching it
5. Coordination & Balance:
Balance refers to the capacity to control or stabilize the body while staying upright or moving. Balance improves core strength. It prevents falls and fractures during various activities like gymnastics, figure skating, ice hockey, and dancing.
Coordination refers to our body’s motion in response to any stimuli. It uses all the senses to perform engine tasks smoothly and accurately. Athletes with excellent coordination perform well in the following sports:
- Jumping rope
- Juggling
- Walk-and-talk catch
- Playing Catch
- Dribbling basketballs
Bottom Line:
If you want to determine your fitness, make sure you concentrate on these crucial components. Physical fitness tests monitor the underlying health issues and cure them accordingly. A fitness program won’t benefit you long term if it overlooks these components of physical fitness. Enhancing these abilities will help you excel in your chosen sport and make your life fit as a fiddle in the future.
