Physical fitness.

Physical fitness is a set of attributes a person has in regards to a person’s ability to perform physical activities that require aerobic fitness, endurance, strength, or flexibility and is determined by a combination of regular activity and genetically inherited ability. Physical fitness is a great way to keep your self toned, in shape, and feeling great about yourself. Physical fitness is required not only by athletes for better performance, but also by non-athletes for maintenance of a healthy body and healthy mind.

Fitness can be described as a condition that helps us look, feel, and do our best. Fitness is generally considered to have five components: aerobic capacity, muscle strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. In order to assess your level of fitness, look at all five components together. It involves repetitive bodily movement done to improve or maintain one or more of the components of physical fitness—cardio respiratory endurance (aerobic fitness), muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.

Exercise is physical activity that is planned or structured. Exercise is not just important for our physical appearance, but for our complete health, both physically and mentally. Exercise can release stress and tension in our lives. Exercise that doesn’t raise your heart rate to a certain level and keep it there for 20 minutes won’t contribute significantly to cardiovascular fitness. Exercise affects not only the external appearance of a person’s body, but the quality of their insides and the strength of some of the vital organs.

Physical exercise is important to your over all physical fitness which includes strong and healthy muscles and joints, strengthening of the overall frame, reducing risks for accidents that might lead to surgery. Regular exercising strengthens the heart and helps prevent heart disease. It is best that you start your physical fitness program with aerobic exercises before getting into strength or weight training. Some exercises are specially designed to strengthen one of the most important muscles in your body. As the heart strengthens it has the ability to push more blood throughout your body in a beat, permitting your heart to not beat as often and consequently your heart rate decrease.

A person’s total body weight (what you see on the bathroom scale) may not change over time. Body composition is important to consider for health and managing your weight. “In weight loss, the balance of the right amount of calories and nutrients with an effective workout routine will get you to your goal. With improvements to the weight room, gymnasium floor, locker room and more activities on the way, there is no reason why everyone can’t enjoy a better level of fitness. When you know that you are either overweight or underweight, you can take the necessary action to correct it. Going on a crash diet might help you lose weight temporarily only because there is a possibility that you may gain that back.

Physical fitness is important throughout life to develop and maintain functional capability to meet the demands of living, and promote optimal health. Physical fitness is about patience, persistence, and maintaining good habits. Physical fitness is a way of life. Physical fitness is about your daily routine.

By Beretus Paulus