The Athlete

Physical Fitness

Physical fitness is made up of five different components. Physical fitness includes cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility and body composition in fitness routines. Cardiovascular endurance is the ability to do an activity over a period of time. Muscular endurance is the ability to hold a particular position for a period of time. Muscular strength is the ability to exert maximum force such as lifting weights. Flexibility is the ability to move a joint though it’s full range of motion without any pain. Body composition is the portion of fat in your body compared to your bones and muscles. These all make up the definition of physical fitness and can all be acquired by developing a fitness routine that is right for you. You can also get your family as well as your friends involved in physical fitness. There are only benefits when it comes to fitness and your health.

The benefits of physical fitness are reduced risk of developing or dying from heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, developing colon cancer or breast cancer, depression, anxiety, improve psychological well-being, build and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints and to help maintain a healthy weight. The list goes on and on of the benefits of physical fitness.

Physical fitness is necessary for every person young or old. You don’t have to join an expensive gym to get involved in a rigorous fitness routine. Simply jogging around your neighborhood is enough to get your heart rate and breathing up. Physical fitness will increase your strength as well. If you choose to jog around the neighborhood, your legs will begin to grow stronger.

Physical fitness is very important throughout your entire lifetime. Everyday fitness can include gardening, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking to work instead of driving, walking to the corner store, and mowing the lawn with a push mower. All of these can get your heart moving and in turn make it stronger.

Physical fitness promotes stress relief, relaxation, motivation, energy and a better night’s sleep. For children almost any activity is a good fitness routine as long as they are being active and not sitting in front of a television, computer or video gaming system all day. Physical fitness activities like running, biking, jumping rope, and dancing are all great way for your child to experience physical fitness and have fun doing it. It is a good idea to try to get your child involved in physical fitness activities in their school like football, basketball or baseball and inform them of how much healthier they will be down the road.

Also, not only do they need to know how fitness will affect their lives but also how nutrition affects them. Teach them about the food pyramid and about all of the different food groups. Everyday when you make a meal, invite them to help with preparing it. Children love to help and this could be an easy way to teach them about how nutrition and fitness go hand in hand.