What Makes You Physically Fit?

When we talk about fitness, all of them have a certain image in their mind – a slim profile, six pack abs. However, fitness isn’t really about the way we look. It’s more about how healthy and active you are from the inside. It’s about how far you could run without exhausting yourself. It’s about how much you can trek without falling behind.

Components of Physical Fitness


Fitness is measured by different factors –.
  • Muscular Strength: It is a measure of our efficiency in performing daily activities. It can be improved by functional exercises like weight training.
  • Muscular Endurance: It is a measure of our ability to perform activities, involving muscle contractions over extended periods of time. It can be enhanced by resistance training workouts and lifting heavy weights.
  • Cardiovascular Endurance: It is an index of the body’s (primarily that of the cardiovascular system) ability to keep up with extended periods of activities that involve exertion. It is assessed by the Cooper Run and the Step Test.
  • Flexibility: Our body needs to be able to go through an entire range of motion without experiencing pain or stiffness of the muscles and joints, which is called flexibility. The sit and reach test is a good way to assess and enhance flexibility.
  • Body Fat Composition: It is the amount of fat in the body, which should be capped at 17% for men and 24% for women. A poor fat composition may result in negative physical and psychological effects and is the underlying cause of several chronic diseases. To maintain fat at the right level we need a healthy active lifestyle, and daily exercise.
  • Agility: It is the body’s ability to perform a series of high power movements continuously in opposing directions. It is enhanced by exercises involving zig-zag running and cutting movements.
  • Balance: It is the ability to control the position of the body in a stationary mode or during motion. It is enhanced by improving the overall core strength and exercises like those in gymnastics.
  • Power: During explosive burst movements, our body should be able to maximum muscular contraction instantly which defines our power. Plyometric training including jumps and squat boxes can help us build more power.
  • Reaction Time: It is a skill related component of fitness which measures the time we take to react to a stimulus. Sports like Tennis and football are a fair measure and require players with a good reaction time.
  • Speed: It is a simple measure of the distance we can cover in a certain amount of time and can be enhanced by sprint runs.
  • Coordination: The ability to integrate all these movements and perform actions effectively is called coordination. It is improved by exercises that involve muscles of the upper and lower body to be in action simultaneously.
All these components are interdependent upon each other and are all equally important. To stay fit you need varied activities that focus on all of these elements.