Physical fitness

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Physical fitness is an attribute required for service in virtually all military forces.

Physical fitness is used in the context of two meanings: general fitness (a state of health and well-being) and specific fitness (a task-oriented definition based on the ability to perform specific sports or occupational skills). Fitness can be further subdivided into five categories: aerobic fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. The criteria for physical fitness has also expanded to include the capacity to meet physical demands in an emergency situation.

Physical fitness is the capacity of the heart, blood vessels, lungs, and muscles to function at optimum efficiency. In previous years, fitness was defined as the capacity to carry out the day’s activities without undue fatigue. However, with increased leisure time, and changes in lifestyles wrought by the industrial revolution, which took a large proportion of the population away from farm life and into more urban areas, this definition was no longer comprehensive enough.

The definition for physical fitness is now defined as the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively in work and leisure activities, and not just at one fixed point in time, but at various ages and stages within a person's life cycle. The key is in finding optimum health within the context and limits of lifestyle in order to be able to resist hypokinetic diseases. (Those conditions that occur as a result of a sedentary lifestyle. Examples would include obesity and complications arising from obesity such as diabetes.)

Many health professionals today; including doctors, nurses,occupational therapists and physical therapists would agree that a wholistic approach that allows for a person to make decisions and be proactive in regard to his or her own health works best.

General fitness

Physical fitness is often divided into the following categories in order for people to be able examine its components or parts. Particularly, physical fitness is judged by:

1. Cardiovascular endurance: This is the ability of the body to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues and to remove wastes over sustained periods of time.

2. Muscular strength & endurance: Strength deals with the ability of the muscle to exert force for a brief time period, while endurance is the ability of a muscle, or group of muscles, to sustain repeated contractions or to continue to apply force against an inert object.

3. Flexibility: This denotes the ability to move joints and use muscles through their full range of motion.

4. Body composition: Considered as one of the components of fitness, composition refers to the body in terms of lean mass (muscle, bone, vital tissue, and organs) and fat mass. Actually, the optimal ratio of fat to lean mass is an indication of fitness. Performing the right set of exercises can help people get rid off body fat and increase or maintain muscle mass.

General physical fitness includes - but is not limited to - all of the following:

(in alphabetical order)

• Accuracy
• Agility
• Balance
• Body composition
• Cardiovascular endurance
• Coordination
• Flexibility and joint range of motion
• Power
• Speed
• Stamina
• Strength

Many sources also cite mental and emotional health as an important part of overall fitness. This is often presented in textbooks as a triangle made up of three sub-sections, which represent physical, emotional, and mental fitness. The "ideal triangle" is balanced in all three areas. Like the nutrition pyramid designed for healthy eating, the "triangle" is in alignment with practicioners today that wish to address a more wholistic approach as well as a preventive one. Physical fitness can also concern itself with chronic health conditions brought on by an unhealthy lifestyle or through the effects of aging.

Specific fitness

Specific or task-oriented fitness is a person's ability to perform in a specific activity with a reasonable efficiency, for example, sports or military service. Specific training prepares athletes to perform well in their sports.

Examples are:

• 400m sprint - in a sprint the athlete must be trained to work anaerobically throughout the race.
• Marathon - in this case the athlete must be trained to work aerobically and their endurance must be built-up to a maximum.

Fire fighters and police officers must undergo regular Fitness testing to determine if they are capable of the physically demanding tasks required for the job before they are employed. In the Scouting programs of some countries, students can earn fitness badges, such as the Physical Fitness Badge which is earned in the United States.

See also

• Physical exercise
• Exergaming
• Neutral spine
• Health club (fitness center)

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• What's Really Making America's Children Fat? in TIME Magazine (Special Health issue) June 23, 2008.
• Kolata, Gina Bari. 2003. Ultimate fitness: the quest for truth about exercise and health. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0374204772
• Bogert, L. Jean, George M. Briggs, and Doris Howes Calloway. 1973. Nutrition and physical fitness. Philadelphia: Saunders. ISBN 0721618170
• Sharkey, Brian J. 2002. Fitness and health. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. ISBN 0736039716
• Greenberg, Jerrold S., and David Pargman. 1986. Physical fitness: a wellness approach. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall ISBN 013668856X
• Halper, Marilyn Snyder, and Ira Neiger. 1981. Physical Fitness. A Preventive medicine Institute/Strang Clinic health action plan. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. ISBN 0030482917
• Ettinger, Walter H., Brenda S. Wright, and Steven N. Blair. 2006. Fitness after 50. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. ISBN 0736044132

External links

• HealthierUS.gov Official website. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
• President's Council on Physical Fitness. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
• What is Physical Fitness?
• AHA Exercise and Fitness Guidelines
• The Importance of Physical Fitness
• Fitness at Any Age
• Physical Fitness Articles
• Fitness after 50
• Girls and Physical Fitness
• Physical Fitness Guide for Kids

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