Fitness Series: What is Fitness? (Part 1)

I think only few of us  know what Fitness is. Because almost everyone is too busy now and don’t want to know about health science. But we are taking wrong food or diet and maintaining too much unhealthy life. As a result, we are suffering from various kinds of diseases and malnutrition. For this, we must know what is Fitness and  try to maintain healthy and fit body.

What is Fitness?

According to Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2004: Fitness means–
“the ability of the human body to function with vigor and alertness, without undue fatigue, and with ample energy to engage in leisure activities, and to meet physical stresses.”

Fitness implies being able to perform regular physical activities properly. It also means having proper energy and strength to perform specific tasks.  This is one kind of attribute or virtue that people possess or achieve.  A fit person can perform vigorous works easily and accurately than an unfit person.  S/he also feel good in physically and mentally all the time. Different people may have different level of fitness. Like: normal people who do not do regular workout, those who do regular workout properly and the athletes—all of them have three level of fitness.

Fitness means not being lean and thin, it means maintaining healthy weight with strong body. A slim person  may be fit, or not. Fitness means not to be  skinny , make zero size figure,make six-pack abs etc.

Fitness can be measured using five main components:

  • Cardio respiratory endurance—this means whether a person can perform a cardio program (walking, running, cycling, swimming, playing etc) for a certain amount of time.
  • Muscular strength—this is the ability of the muscle to apply force during an activity.
  • Muscular endurance—refers to the level of power of muscle to perform certain tasks without boredom or fatigue.
  • Body composition—concerns to the amount of muscle, fat, bone, BMI and other vital parts of the body according to a person’s age, gender, height, weight etc.
  • Flexibility– this is the range of movement around a joint or a series of joints. Good flexibility in the joints is helpful to prevent injuries.

Fitness is also related with mind. A person can be called fit, if s/he is not only fit by his health but also by his mental health. A Fit body can influence  mind and vice versa. A  person with healthy weight may not be  fit, because of lack of exercise.  S/He may not be strong enough to perform regular vigorous activities properly.

An unfit person feel fatigue and lethargic to perform specific or all tasks.

My upcoming posts in this series are:

  • Benefits of Fitness
  • How to Achieve Fitness

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