Naples Fitness

Fitness is a concept that is vastly misunderstood and each individual has his/her own way of defining it. ™

What most people do not know is that there are 10 components/elements/facets that make up the state of "Fitness". All these 10 components need to be improved in an individual for him/her to be deemed as physically it.

Now, it doesn't matter if you are young or old, man or woman; or whether you belong to a certain category of people (bodybuilder, athlete, corporate executive, couch potato, housewife etc). Your fitness program must aim to improve all 10 aspects of fitness.

All human beings are built the same way physiologically. Therefore, we all need each of the components of fitness to enhance the quality of our physical fitness and thereby enhance life.

So....What exactly are the 10 components of fitness?

The 10 Components of Fitness:

1 ) Cardiovascular Endurance: The ability of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems to transport oxygenated blood to the working skeletal muscles for an extended period of time without fatigue.

2 ) Muscular Endurance: The ability of skeletal muscles to continuously contract for an extended length of time without experiencing fatigue.

3 ) Musculoskeletal Strength: The combined strength of muscles,bones,ligaments and tendons.

4 ) Flexibility: The ability of the body to sustain full and complete range of motion around the joints.

5 ) Ideal Body Composition: Maintaining an ideal ratio of adipose tissue(body fat) to lean body mass.A male is said to have an ideal body composition when no more that 15% of his bodyweight is made up of body fat. A female is said to have an ideal body composition if no more than 20% of her bodyweight is made up of body fat.

6 ) Power: It is the ability of the skeletal muscles to maximize the force exerted by them in a minimum amount of time.

7 ) Speed: The ability to minimize the time taken to complete a particular movement or task

8 ) Coordination: Coordination is the combination of body movements created with the kinematic and kinetic parameters that result in intended actions.This involves combining several movements into a single distinct movement.

9 ) Agility: The ability to change the direction of the body in an efficient and effective manner.

10 ) Balance: Ability to maintain the center of gravity of a body within the base of support with minimal postural sway.

For one to be deemed as physically fit, they need to develop all of these aspects of fitness.

The importance and interdependence of the 10 components of fitness in overall performance:

Each of the aforementioned components play a crucial role in our lives. Whether it is for someone who is a competitive sportsman or just a regular human being, each of these components drastically impact overall performance. It must also be noted that each of these components are interdependent on the other and therefore a compromise in one will definitely lead to short-changing another.

Now that you know what the various facets to fitness are, lets take a look on how to develop them.

Developing the components of fitness:

So there you have it

"The 10 components of fitness"

Make sure you strive to develop each and every one of them to maximize the utility of the others and thereby become in the true sense of the word......"Physically Fit"

One of the best ways of determining someone's over-all health and fitness is through a physical fitness test. This does not involve just one exercise but a series of test workouts that are performed so that a person's endurance, strength, agility and flexibility are measured. This has become a standard part of institutions that put a premium on physical abilities. These include the branches of the military and the police. Recruitment for athletics also employs physical fitness tests in order to gauge the recruits' potentials.

Endurance is usually tested through cardiovascular exercises such as jogging for several distances or running stationary on the treadmill for a given period. Lifting weights or by simply doing push-ups and pull-ups that deal with body weight alone is the usual tests for measuring strength. Agility and flexibility are often displayed through personal trainer Naples short sprints and runs through an obstacle course. The ideal physical fitness test would have all four factors included in order to find out in which area would one need to develop.

Through a physical fitness test, one is able to point out his strengths and weaknesses. Because there are different routines to be done depending on the four factors, one can see which area he must develop. Of course, one can start a fitness program even without it. However, he may just be putting emphasis on the areas he already is good in while neglecting those that needs to be developed.

After a conclusion is reached regarding one's fitness in the different factors, a fitness program can be designed or developed to suit one's condition. If the test shows that one has to work more on his endurance, then his fitness program would naturally put emphasis on cardiovascular training. If his strength, on the other hand, needs to be enhanced then weight training would be given importance. This does not, however, mean that other routines will no longer be necessary.

Physical fitness tests are also conducted for medical purposes. As a form of diagnostic testing, doctors sometimes prescribe a patient to perform some routines in order to find out how vital organs such as the lungs and the heart react to exertion. They would let a patient run on the treadmill for a certain time while they monitor the heartbeat rate and blood pressure. There are also cases when a patient recovering from bone or muscle injury will be asked to lift weights in order to find out the degree of healing.

Schools have been carrying out these tests to help them design fitness programs that would suit the particular conditions of students. They need it to check also the limitations of students with ailments and avoid including them in exercises that could worsen their situation. The practice has become more important nowadays since the incidence of obesity has been rising among pre-teens and teens. Fitness programs are necessary to combat this among the youth and to introduce them to a fit and healthy lifestyle early on.