To know how fit you are, you need to understand the 12 essential components of physical fitness. Without understanding the nature of these components and their impact on your physical fitness, you cannot succeed in living a healthy life. You also need to know the exercises that can help you in your journey.
This article will familiarise you with the 12 components of physical fitness and how to achieve them.
Flexibility
Flexibility allows your muscles to perform a series of movements without pain. The flexibility of the body is vital to performing daily activities. Without it, you will have a discomforting life.
Gymnasts train their bodies to increase flexibility. It improves their performance in front of the audience. Some activities can help you gain flexibility. Like:
- Static stretches: By holding a position for a short time, you train your muscles to be more flexible.
- Yoga can also help you improve flexibility. It also strengthens your core muscles.
- Get a massage from a therapist. It will relieve muscle tension and remove stiffness.
Cardiovascular endurance
Cardiovascular endurance is one of the 12 components of physical fitness. It enables you to perform whole-body exercises at a high intensity. You enjoy better stamina and more productivity in daily life.
Good cardiovascular health also reduces the risk of life-threatening diseases like stroke. It strengthens your immune system. You get protection against viral illnesses.
To improve your cardiovascular endurance, you should perform aerobic exercises. These exercises involve the continuous use of large muscles. Your heart and lungs also work harder during aerobic exercises, which improves their health.
You can pick your favorite aerobic exercise like walking, running, jogging, swimming etc. Don’t go hard on yourself in the beginning. Take a slow start and increase the pace gradually. Towards the end, stretch your muscles to improve flexibility.
Muscle endurance
It is essential to improving overall health and fitness. Muscle endurance is the ability of a body to contract a muscle against resistance. You can perform more repetitions of demanding exercises like push-ups by improving muscle endurance.
You can measure your muscle endurance by determining the number of push-ups or squats you can perform. Some of the benefits you get by improving muscle endurance include:
- It gives you a healthy pasture which boosts your confidence.
- It also strengthens muscles’ aerobic capacity, which aids you in performing intense exercises.
- Your body also becomes more athletic.
Muscle strength
Your muscle strength measures the force you can exercise or the amount of weight you can lift. The gym is the best place to improve muscle strength, or you can do home exercises. Push-ups and sit-ups can prove quite helpful.
Strong muscles improve your functioning in daily life. They also make you look more attractive and instil confidence in you. You enjoy a healthy life free from injuries and ailments.
Body composition
It measures the percentage of fat, bone, and muscle in your body. Doctors use this method to determine the amount of fat in your body. Having a higher fat percentage is an indicator of poor physical fitness. It exposes you to health conditions like diabetes, heart problems, cancer, etc.
Two persons of the same weight and height can have different body compositions. A person with a higher muscle percentage is likely to enjoy better health.
You can improve your body composition by taking care of your diet and exercising. You can lessen the fat percentage by reducing calorie intake and exercising daily.
Speed
Speed is an essential component of physical fitness. Your speed indicates your ability to move all body parts quickly. Those who do exercises to improve their speed enjoy many health-related benefits, including:
- They have more muscle mass in their body.
- They can burn fat at a faster rate. It ensures good overall health.
- Runners have stronger bones and muscular structures.
- They also enjoy more leisurely strides, which boosts their confidence.
- They are also more active and productive in their daily life.
Power
Power is one of the 12 components of physical fitness. Many factors combine to make you physically powerful. It requires a more holistic approach to physical fitness.
Essentially power is a combination of speed and strength. Running can improve your speed, and weight lifting can increase muscle mass. More muscle mass is imperative to a robust body.
Reaction time
This component of physical fitness may not be the focus of ordinary individuals. It is more important to athletes who participate in professional games. They need to have a quick reaction time to grab an opportunity or beat the rival.
Your reaction time depends on the connection between your mind and body. A high reaction time means that your mind quickly intercepts a signal, and your body generates a response in reciprocation. To produce such a reaction, you need to have an in-depth knowledge of the situation.
Without experience and knowledge, you cannot produce the correct response.
Agility
Agility is a skill-related component of physical fitness. It is crucial to athletes as they need acrobatic bodies to produce the best performance. An agile person can quickly change his position with great accuracy.
An agile body is also beneficial for persons other than athletes. It improves their speed and helps them gain physical power. They enjoy better balance and need lesser time to recover from an injury.
Static balance
It indicates the ability of your body to hold still in a specific position. It requires a strong core and perfect coordination. During yoga poses, people display ideal examples of static balance.
Below are the exercises that can help you achieve static balance:
- Stand upright while holding your feet together. Perform this activity for 30-60 seconds.
- Stand upright by touching the toe of one foot with the arch of the other. Hold this posture for 30-60 seconds, and then repeat it the other way.
- Put one foot behind the other and stand with a tall posture for 30-60 seconds. When exhausted, repeat it by alternating the positions of your feet.
- Stand on one leg for 10 seconds with an upright posture. Then do the same with the other leg. Over time, try to stretch this period up to 60 seconds.
Dynamic balance
Dynamic balance is your ability to maintain balance while you are strolling around. It is an essential component of an attractive personality. It also boosts your confidence.
You can perform various exercises to achieve dynamic balance, including:
- Front/back weight shifting
- Hip abduction
- Hip extension
- Leg curls
- Squat
Coordination
Coordination is also a skill-based component of physical fitness. A batsman needs to have perfect hand and eye coordination to execute the perfect shot. This element is more vital to athletes than ordinary individuals.
Coordination helps athletes respond in a befitting way to an external stimulus. After assessing the direction of an incoming object, he throws his hands in a calculated way. If he lacks coordination, his move will not bear fruit.
Below are the exercises that can help athletes achieve coordination:
- Playing catch
- Jumping rope
- Hitting a specific target, repeatedly
- Juggling
