Health-Related Physical Fitness

The Journal of American Medicinereports that more than one-third (approximately 79 million) U.S. adults are obese. Obesity has been shown to be a significant risk factor for “heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.” The kicker is that these obesity-related conditions are the leading causes of preventable death. Yes, preventable death. Fortunately, these issues can be resolved by becoming and/or staying physically fit.
While people usually subscribe to the notion that physical fitness is for athletes and models, this article will present physical fitness as a preventive healthcare measure for everyone.

What is “Health-Related Physical Fitness?”

Getting active and ‘in-shape’ as a means to maintain one’s good health is termed “health-related physical fitness,” and the American College of Sports Medicine’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription defines it as:

• “A state characterized by (a) an ability to perform daily activities with vigor, and (b) a demonstration of traits and capacities that are associated with low risk of premature development of hypokinetic diseases (i.e., those associated with physical inactivity.” (pg. 57)

The “traits and capacities” mentioned are the components that determine health-related physical fitness. These include body composition, cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility.

The Components of Health-Related Physical Fitness

To better understand the importance of increasing your physical fitness, you must first understand the physical fitness components listed above.

Body composition: One’s body is naturally designed in a certain way. Some people are tall and others short, some people are bulky and others svelte. For this reason, body composition — the ratio of bodyweight made up of fat to that made up of fat-free tissue — is the preferred way to distinguish whether one is in a good place in regard to weight. Having a high ratio of fat to non-fat is detrimental to your health.

Cardiorespiratory endurance: This component is the one that most individuals associate with physical fitness as it involves many muscles in the body, is typically moderate-to-high intensity, and includes dynamic movements — all while being performed for extended periods of time. The standard method of determining cardiorespiratory endurance is measuring one’s maximal oxygen uptake (or rate of oxygen consumption) during exercise (typically cardiovascular exercise).

The Guidelines for Exercise and Testing Prescription states that:

• “… (a) low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness have been associated with markedly increased risk of premature death from all causes and specifically from cardiovascular disease, (b) increases in cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with a reduction in death from all causes, and (c) high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with higher levels of habitual physical activity, which are, in turn, associated with many health benefits.” (pg. 68)

Muscular strength and endurance: When it comes to the muscles in your body, strength and endurance are the categories that will determine your physical fitness. ‘Muscular strength’ involves the amount of force that a muscle can generate in a given time, and ‘muscular endurance’ refers to the number of times a muscle can be used (contracted) without exhausting.
As with cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance has numerous health benefits including: increasing your metabolism, reducing the ratio of fat to fat-free tissue in the body, and increasing bone mass.

Flexibility: One of the more overlooked components of physical fitness, flexibility determines your range of motion. Being able to move without unnecessary encumbrance is key to physical fitness as it will determine your fitness ceiling. Inflexible people are unable to recruit their joints and muscles efficiently, and are thus limited in the exercises that they can perform. Put another way, inflexibility in a situation that might require greater range of motion (such as exercise) can cause tissue damage as the joints and muscles are pushed pass their limits.

Tips and Exercises to Increase Health-Related Physical Fitness

Now that we understand the importance of being physically fit along with the components of fitness, it is time to act on this knowledge. But first, here are some important guidelines to remember from EHE International Health Coach Gayle Salomon:

• Focus on you; don’t make comparisons with others unless it is used for motivation.
• Physical fitness is about movement and activity. Try an exercise and see if you can do it; worry about performance later.
• When just starting, remember to take it slow—progression is the aim.
• Once you’ve become comfortable doing certain exercises/running certain distances, look to gradually increase the workload.
• Age is a big factor in progression: the older you are, the more time it will take and the more care you should give to your fitness regimen.
• When you start getting comfortable, you can switch up your routine by adding or targeting different muscle groups; just try something totally new so that you can keep improving.
• Observe what you are doing so that progression may take place. Monitor your heart rate, count your steps, and time your runs. Take your exercise routine seriously by tracking your progress.

By adhering to these simple guidelines, you will have a safe and healthy mentality when looking to increase your physical fitness.

Exercises

Body composition: Becoming physically fit will naturally help your body composition, so there aren’t specific exercises for body composition.

Cardiorespiratory endurance: Some effective exercises are: walking, jogging, running, sprinting, interval training, bicycling, and swimming. Remember to start out slow; look to increase your workload as you feel more comfortable.

Muscular strength and endurance: Effective exercises include push-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, and calf-raises. For muscular strength, you should look to perform these movements with added weight; for muscular endurance, you should look to practice timed tests in which you perform as many repetitions as you can, without sacrificing form. Beginners should first get used to the movements and then look to improve. More advanced individuals should look to increase resistance for strength and increase time, repetitions, or both for endurance.

Flexibility training: These exercises should be performed every day, ideally twice a day — 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes before going to bed. Flexibility training is similar to muscular training in that it is specific to target location (i.e., if you stretch your legs, your shoulders won’t necessarily increase in flexibility). Some effective exercises are: hamstring and quadriceps stretching (standing, sitting, or lying down), spinal twists, knees-to-chest, back extensions, forward and side lunges, shoulder stretches, and neck stretches. Beginners and advanced individuals should go as far as they can until they feel slightly uncomfortable — but not to the point of pain — and look to stretch, lunge, etc. a little further each time.

The Takeaway

Becoming physically fit is a mindset as much as it is a performance. By understanding the benefits of being physically fit and the types of exercise that will help you achieve your goals, you can embark on a journey toward a healthier life.

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MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: The information is not intended to constitute medical advice and is not a substitute for consultation with a physician or other health care provider. Individuals with specific complaints should seek immediate consultation from their personal physicians.

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