The Athlete

Fitness Fundamentals

The fitness fundamentals are the basics of fitness. Starting a fitness routine can greatly improve your athleticism, improve posture, fat loss, overall health, better your self image – and is just a lot of fun.

The five basic fitness fundamentals are: aerobic endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. Aerobic endurance in fitness is the body’s ability to exercise whole muscle groups for long periods of time with moderate intensity and aerobic energy. Aerobic fitness uses oxygen to break down the carbohydrates and converts them into usable energy. Fats and proteins are also broken down, making aerobic fitness a great fat loss program. Aerobic fitness increases the heart rate and strengthens the heart. A stronger heart means a stronger flow of blood to other places in the body, which makes your body more prepared to endure more exercise.

Muscular strength fitness is the ability of your body’s muscles to generate extreme amounts of force in a short period of time using anaerobic energy. Anaerobic energy produces short-term bursts of energy and doesn’t require oxygen. Anaerobic energy comes from the burning of carbohydrates and can be sustained for a few minutes, which requires a short rest to replenish your system. Muscular strength fitness helps to increase the muscle size, makes tissues less prone to accidents and will allow you to burn more calories than fat, even while resting.

Muscular endurance fitness is the measure of how well muscles can repeatedly generate force and the amount of time it takes. Muscular endurance fitness is also known as using raw strength weight lifting. Repeating the repetitions is crucial for maintaining the strength of each one. When lifting weights, repetitions of three sets of ten to twelve are an excellent way to build endurance.

Flexibility fitness is another of the fitness fundamentals. Flexibility is the ability to stretch your muscles, tendons and ligaments that connect to you bones. Increased flexibility will decrease your risk of injury while you are involved in a fitness plan. You should always stretch before any fitness routine. Muscles that are warmed up are more limber and will have a less chance of ripping or being pulled during your fitness routine.

Last but not least in the list of fitness fundamentals is body composition. This is the percentage of fat, bone, and muscle in your body. Knowing these percentages helps to know the overall view of your health and fitness in relation to your weight, health, and age. The weight and fat percentages are often used together. Being overweight does not imply that you are obese. Studies have shown that many physically fit people are overweight, although it isn’t from fat, it is from muscle gain. Muscle weighs more than fat. Overweight people have a threat of health risks ranging from heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Finding a great fitness plan is the ideal thing for everyone to do. Along with a healthy diet filled with fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy and whole grains you should be well on your way to being healthy overall.