What are the 2 components of physical fitness and its examples

Physical fitness is one of the core conditions of health that ensures the effective working of the entire body system. Social, mental, physical, and emotional health are the vital components of fitness and help perform the daily work activities effectively.

Índice Show

What is Physical Fitness?
Types of Physical Fitness
Components of Physical Fitness
1. Cardiovascular Endurance
2. Flexibility
3. Muscular Strength
4. Body Composition
5. Muscular Endurance
2. Reaction Time
5. Accuracy
Which is Not a Physical Component of Physical Fitness?
Summing Up on Components of Physical Fitness

Learn the details of the components of physical fitness in this article.

What is Physical Fitness?

Physical fitness is the condition that helps us feel, look, and do our best. It pertains to the efficient working of the body system, allowing us to remain healthy and perform our daily chores perfectly. Efficient, here means performing the daily activities with the least effort.

Physical fitness involves the optimum performance of the lungs, heart, and muscles. What we do physically directly impacts our minds. In other words, fitness somewhat influences our mental alertness and emotional stability. We need to take measures like engaging in physical activities, improving our diet, and the daily dose of exercise to remain physically fit.

Types of Physical Fitness

Generally, physical fitness has 11 parts. Six out of them are health-related, while five are skill-based. Each type of physical fitness is vital for optimum performance in any activities, say sports. The health-based physical fitness includes flexibility, cardiorespiratory endurance, power, strength, body composition, and muscular endurance.

These aspects prepare the body to work daily energetically. Skill-related physical fitness helps one perform well in sports and physical activities involving motor skills. Here you can find out the best way to stay fit.

Components of Physical Fitness

Different schools, health clubs, and fitness centres consider these health-related components of physical fitness:

1. Cardiovascular Endurance

Cardiovascular endurance means the effective coordination of the lungs and heart to provide fuel and oxygen to the body during times of sustained workload. Effective execution of cardiovascular exercises improves the elasticity of the blood vessels, heart's contraction strength, and blood efficacy in carrying oxygen. Trainers use Step Test and Cooper Run to assess the cardiovascular endurance of the trainees.

2. Flexibility

Although often overlooked, flexibility is the most vital parameter of physical fitness. Insufficient flexibility makes the growth of the joints and muscles stiff, limiting one's movement. Flexibility training allows the body to move through its fullest motion range without facing stiffness or pain.

It plays a vital role in unhindered movement and affects one's agility, coordination, and balance. A perfect motion reduces the risk of injury and improves athletic performance, directly impacting one's fitness.

3. Muscular Strength

The maximum amount of force a muscle can produce is muscular strength. It is the power that helps you lift or carry heavy objects in a single go. Resistance training like bodyweight exercises, weightlifting, and resistance band exercises help improve muscle strength.

Climbing hills, cycling, and running are also better ways to enhance muscle strength. One-rep-max is the common way to test one's muscular strength. Improved muscle strength promotes physical fitness as it prompts the body to use more calories to burn fat.

4. Body Composition

Body composition is the most crucial component of physical fitness. It is the ratio of lean mass to the amount of fat in the body. Lean mass is the total body mass of bones, muscles, and organs. It is also known as the BMI or Body Mass Index, a ratio yardstick to analyse one's physical fitness. High composition of fat increases the risk of heart complications and heart disease.

5. Muscular Endurance

Muscular endurance is the ability of muscles to perform activities without feeling fatigued. This physical fitness involves multiple repetitions of any exercise, whether resistance training, weight training, or enhancing cardiovascular endurance. The better the muscle endurance, the less fatigued you will feel.

Skill-related components of physical fitness are the fitness modules relating to specific tasks, like sports. These components help the athletes to improve in different areas like balance in gymnastics, speed in football, etc.

1. Agility

Agility is the capacity to change direction effectively and quickly while maintaining body posture. If you struggle to move side-to-side and balance yourself, agility exercises will help you improve your performance.

It helps one acquire the skill of pivoting quickly, moving limbs, and turning. Agility training improves balance, mind-body coordination, flexibility, and one's recovery time as well.

2. Reaction Time

Reaction time is the time taken to respond to external stimuli. The lower the reaction time, the better the skill is. Running at full speed or running on a treadmill are some ways of improving reaction time.

3. Power

It is both a physical and skill-based component of physical fitness. Power is the maximum force a muscle group can apply in the shortest period. Power is the muscle's ability to exert optimum force in a short time, like swimming or running. Power contributes directly to cardiovascular endurance.

4. Speed

Speed is one of the skill-related components of physical fitness that directly links to agility. It refers to the movement of upper and lower limbs on the ground fast, like throwing, grabbing, or pulling objects. The speed training exercise is vital for athletes and those persons who handle heavy objects.

5. Accuracy

Accuracy is the body's ability to direct the body muscles and force towards a particular direction. Both accuracy and agility help enhance performances in throwing and jumping events like javelin throw, long jump, and high jump. Consistent practice, concentration, and meditation help improve accuracy.

Also Read: Exercise to Increase Height: 30 Exercises That Work!

Which is Not a Physical Component of Physical Fitness?

Physical fitness is all about one's ability to perform activities efficiently without feeling tired or stressed. Logic is not a physical component of physical fitness as it has nothing to do with physical, mental, and social health. Working on the health and skill components of physical fitness, consequently, helps them remain focused on their aim.

Summing Up on Components of Physical Fitness

Keeping these components of fitness in mind helps one reach fitness goals. One must incorporate these skills into their daily fitness routine to boost physical and mental health. Moreover, it helps one learn different skills effectively without feeling tired.

References

What is Physical Fitness? - https://medical.mit.edu/sites/default/files/Physical_Fitness_101.pdf

We all have an idea of what "fit" should look like. For some people, it means having a sleek Hollywood body, while others want to have massive muscles or a perfect hourglass figure.But fitness isn't defined by appearance! There are five components of physical fitness you need to consider:

1. Muscular Strength

This is the "power" that helps you to lift and carry heavy objects. Without muscular strength, your body would be weak and unable to keep up with the demands placed upon it.The way to increase strength is to train with heavy weights, working in the 4 - 6 or 12 - 15 rep ranges. The heavier the weight, the fewer reps you should perform!

2. Muscular Endurance

Endurance is the ability of your muscles to perform contractions for extended periods of time. Rather than just lifting or carrying something for a few seconds, the muscles are used for minutes.The way to increase strength is to train with light weights, working in the 20 - 25 rep range. Working with lighter weight will train the muscle fibers needed for muscular endurance, and the higher rep range leads to a longer period of exercise.

3. Cardiovascular Endurance

Cardiovascular endurance is your body's ability to keep up with exercise like running, jogging, swimming, cycling, and anything that forces your cardiovascular system (lungs, heart, blood vessels) to work for extended periods of time. Together, the heart and lungs fuel your body with the oxygen needed by your muscles, ensuring that they have the oxygen needed for the work they are doing.The Cooper Run (running as far as possible in 12 minutes) is a test commonly used to assess cardiovascular endurance, but many trainers use the Step Test (stepping onto a platform for 5 minutes). Both are accurate measures of a subject's cardiovascular endurance.

4. Flexibility

Flexibility is one of the most important, yet often overlooked, components of physical fitness. Without flexibility, the muscles and joints would grow stiff and movement would be limited. Flexibility training ensures that your body can move through its entire range of motion without pain or stiffness.To test your flexibility, lean forward and try to touch your toes. Those with good flexibility will usually be able to touch their toes, while those with limited flexibility will not. The sit and reach test (sitting on the floor and reaching toward your toes) is another good way to assess your flexibility. The more flexible you are, the closer you will come to touching your toes and beyond.

5. Body Fat Composition

Body fat composition refers to the amount of fat on your body. For example, a 100-pound person with a 25% body fat composition will have a lean body mass of 75 pounds.

To qualify as fit:

Men must have a body fat composition lower than 17 percent
Women must have a body fat composition lower than 24 percent

The average man tends to have about 18 to 24 percent body fat, while the average woman has 25 to 31 percent body fat.Any program that neglects one or more of these types of fitness is NOT going to benefit your body in the long run. An effective fitness program will attempt to improve all five components of fitness!

Three Benefits of Sweating

Some people get lucky and are born with fit, toned bodies. Andy Peloquin is not one of those people... Fitness has come hard for him, and he's had to work for it. His trials have led him to becoming a martial artist, an NFPT-certified fitness trainer, and a man passionate about exercise, diet and healthy living. He loves to exercise -- he does so six days a week -- and loves to share his passion for fitness and health with others.