BENGALURU: Usually, when fitness is discussed, most people think of only a couple of the components — cardio and strength. But it’s more than that. And understanding this can help you create a better workout routine for yourself. There are two broad categories to the components of fitness: Health-based fitnes components and skill-based fitness components.
The health-based components are
The skill-based components are:
Let’s understand the health-based components in more detail:
Cardiovascular endurance
This focuses primarily on improving lung functionality, which is needed to do every activity, and also for a healthier heart. This basically helps the body do any aerobic exercise for a long period of time. Benefits of cardiovascular endurance training:
Muscular endurance
This component measures how long a muscle is able to tolerate a high amount of work. For example, if you are able to do 25 squats in one minute, and your partner is able to do 15 squats in one minute, clearly your muscular endurance is better than your partner’s. So basically, muscular endurance training helps improve the functioning of the skeletal muscles. Don’t confuse it with strength training. This is simply training the muscles to handle more fatigue.
Benefits of muscular endurance training:
Strength
This measures how much force your muscle is able to exert. For example, if you are able to lift 25 kg and your partner is able to lift 35 kg, clearly your partner has more muscular strength than you. Bottom line: Muscular strength is how much can you lift and muscular endurance is how long your muscles can work without fatigue.
Benefits of strength training:
Flexibility
Flexibility is a measure of the length of your muscle. Muscle has some elasticity, which is what helps you move without any pain. Lack of flexibility training can deteriorate the original length of the muscle. Benefits of flexibility training:
Mobility
Think of this as the range of motion of each joint. It is the ability of the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, etc. to move as they are designed to function. Ideally, you should be able to easily and completely rotate these joints, without stiffness and pain.
Benefits of mobility training:
Body composition
This refers to the amount of fat mass you’re storing in comparison to fat-free mass, which is made up of organs, muscles, bone, etc. A lower body-fat-mass-to- muscle-mass ratio is better for your health and will ultimately make your body appear leaner and healthier.
Benefits of a body composition analysis:
Gives you a clear idea of what your body is made up off
Makes you aware of the amount of fat vis-a- vis muscle
Enables one to set clear fitness goals that help:
a) Weight loss
b) Prevention of heart disease
c) Regulation of blood pressure
d) Prevention of diabetes
The skill-based fitness components will be discussed in the next column.
(The author is a fitness expert with Cure.Fit)