Importance of Physical Fitness -The Top 5 Components of Physical Fitness

Physical fitness is the ability to function effectively throughout your workday, perform your usual other activities and still have enough energy left over to handle any extra stresses or emergencies which may arise.To be truly fit, we need to consider more than just what type of exercise we do. To determine your fitness level, you'll need to consider performance in each of these components.

The 5 components of physical fitness are:

• Cardiovascular Endurance
• Muscular Strength
• Muscular Endurance
• Flexibility
• Body Composition

Excellence is one or two of these areas are not enough. To obtain what is referred to as a total physical fitness; you will need to perform well in all of these areas.

1. Cardiovascular Endurance - More Active

This component assesses how well the combined activity of heart, lungs and vascular system provide the needed oxygen and blood to the body during sustained workloads. The lungs bring oxygen to the blood and the heart pumps the oxygen rich blood to the muscles and other systems of the body through the blood vessels.

Jogging, cycling and swimming and aerobics are all examples of exercises that increase cardiovascular endurance.

Why is Cardiovascular Endurance Important ?

Cardiovascular endurance is very important because the more cardiovascular fit you are, the healthier your lungs, heart and vascular system is. Less stress is put on your heart and lungs around the clock which enables you to avoid illness and live a long healthy life. Many argue that cardiovascular endurance is the most important of the 5 components to physical fitness.

2. Muscular Strength -More Strength

It is the greatest amount of force a muscle or muscle group can exert in a single effort. It is the ability of the muscles to lift weight. This component is the one that is most often considered when we think of being fit or in shape.

Weight training including the bench press, push up and bicep curl are all examples of exercises used to determine muscular strength.

Why is Muscular Strength Important ?

While muscular strength may be subjective, the primary reason why muscular strength is important is your efficiency at Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). ADLs is one of the most important reasons why being proficient at all 5 components of physical fitness are important. Even though each of the 5 components of fitness depends on one another, poor muscular strength can cause a negative impact on muscular endurance.

3. Muscular Endurance -Strong Body

this component will test the muscles' ability to perform repeated exercises without tiring, in other words, how long you can work a particular set of muscles.

Running, cycling, elliptical machines as well as repetitive exercise (calisthenics) are all examples of muscular endurance.

Importance of Muscular Endurance Component:

Muscular endurance is the bridge between muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance. In order show your cardiovascular fitness, you must demonstrate muscular endurance.

4. Flexibility -Free Movements

this component tests the ability to move the joints or any group of joints through an entire, normal range of motion.

Yoga, Pilates and Stretching exercise are examples of flexibility.

Importance of Flexibility component:

To some degree, your flexibility determines how efficient your muscles are. Increased flexibility has also been associated with decreased risk of acute and chronic (overuse) injuries.

Poor flexibility can directly affect cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength and muscular endurance.

5. Body Composition – Perfect Body Shape

It is the percentage of body fat a person has in comparison to his or her total body mass. It takes into account your "body type" that is, height, weight, frame size and the proportion of fat mass compared to lean muscle mass.

Underwater weighing is the most accurate way to test body fat.

Importance of body Composition Component:

You could say body composition depends on the other components of physical fitness. Having a poor body composition has negative physical and psychological effects like increased chances of chronic diseases, depression etc. Improper exercise habits and choices can not only lead to being overweight and obese, but also a decreased bone mass, leading to osteopenia and osteoporosis.

Improving the first three components of fitness will have a positive impact on body composition. Excessive body fat reduces performance, results in poor appearance and affects health negatively.

To effectively measure your fitness level, you need to take into account the 5 components of physical fitness. The best bet for optimal health and total physical fitness is to try to incorporate all 5 of these components into your workout.