To stay healthy and well one should do exercises to be fit. Physical fitness is defined as a set of characteristics that are either health-related or skill related. It refers to your capability to perform physical tasks efficiently as it relates to a particular sport or your daily activities. Physical fitness helps you to improve your mental, emotional and social health. Physical fitness mainly associated with disease prevention and functional health. Keep yourself in regular health related fitness helps you to control your weight, prevents diseases and illness, improves your mood swings and boost your energy level and help you to sleep well.
Components of fitness are made up of five sections. Following are the six components of fitness:
- Cardiovascular Endurance:
It is the ability to exercise the entire body for long period of time which requires a strong and healthy heart and lungs, cleared body vessels to supply the body with oxygen. Activities to improve fitness in this area include running, swimming and aerobics. An activity a person will do should be continuous for a minimum of 20 minutes within their target hart rate zone. Cardiovascular activity should be done with minimum of 3 days per week. Every other day is preferable.
- Muscular Strength:
It is the amount of force you can put forth with your muscles. It is regularly measured by how much weight you can lift. People with strength have fewer problems with backaches and can easily carry out their daily tasks efficiently. The examples of muscular strength include push-ups, weight lifting heavy weight with few repetitions, and pull-ups. By doing push-ups fitness test will be measured.
- Muscular Endurance:
It is for to find the ability of the muscles, which are attached to the bones, many times without getting tired. People with good muscular endurance have better body posture, have fewer back problems, and have better energy to resist fatigue than people who lack muscular endurance. You can enhance muscular endurance by lifting weights with many repetitions or doing sit-ups. Fitness testing will be measured by sit-ups you can do correctly.
- Flexibility:
It is the ability to use your joints fully. You are flexible when the muscles are long enough and joints are free enough to allow you do movements. People with good ability of flexibility have fewer sore and injured muscles. Stretching before and after activities will help you to improve your flexibility. The sit-and-reach and the trunk lift are two tests used to measure flexibility.
- Body Composition:
It is the percentage of body weight that is fat compared to other body tissue, such as bone and muscle. People who have a high percentage of fat are more likely to be ill and have higher death rate than lean people. Exercise and eating the healthy foods in proper amounts can lead you a healthy life and improve your good body composition. Body composition can be measured by using an instrument called calipers, a specialized scale.
- Agility and Balance:
It is the ability to change direction and position of the body and also stabilize the body posture
