Components of Personal Fitness
The components of personal fitness refer to the body's level of performance. While health refers to an absence of illness, fitness actually refers to a body's ability to function. Personal trainers and fitness instructors use the components of fitness to design balanced workouts and fitness regimens to meet their clients' needs (weight loss, performance enhancement, endurance). Fitness is measured by various components including flexibility, strength, endurance, nutrition and mental health.
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Flexibility
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Flexibility refers to the freedom of movement a limb has around a joint. Flexibility exercises include yoga, Pilates and stretching. Flexibility increases your range of motion and strengthens joints. Diseases such as arthritis and injury can reduce your range of motion and impede your activities. Dancers and gymnasts require a high level of flexibility, but the average person benefits from flexibility exercises. Flexibility exercise improves posture, reduces back pain and improves your muscle coordination.
Strength
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Strength is the most obvious building block of fitness. Strength is not just defined by the pure weight that can be lifted, but by the amount of force exerted by a contracting muscle. When a person thinks strength training, they typically think of bodybuilders, but strength training actually increases the metabolic rate (muscles burn more calories), increases bone density, contributes to increased flexibility and increases sustained endurance. Strength building includes any form of resistance training, from stair climbing to weightlifting to swimming.
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Endurance
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Endurance is among the least noticed, but most beneficial, components of personal fitness. Endurance allows a person to increase their workout times, go longer, lift more, climb higher and generally attain a greater amount over time. For example, the average, sedentary person can walk two miles per hour and can sustain this rate for an hour. A person who works out regularly increases their speed to three miles per hour and can sustain the rate for three or more hours. Endurance is why athletes train, so they can go harder, further and for longer.
Nutrition
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Nutrition is a vital component in personal fitness because it provides the vitamins and minerals for muscle building and fat burning. Proper nutrition combined with regular sleeping habits provide the body with the fuel it needs to perform actions from walking to digestion to thinking. Nutrition includes maintaining hydration by drinking plenty of water. Vitamin supplements can help support nutritional needs, but should never be chosen instead of a balanced meal. For example, a person that only eats foods saturated in fat is not doing his overall health or personal fitness a favor. In most cases of obesity, diabetes and other health-related ailments, diet and nutrition is one of the primary areas affected.
Mental Health
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The final component of personal fitness is mental health. Mental health in this case refers to a person's ability to cope with stress and life commitments. While no exercises are specifically designed to boost mental health, regular exercise reduces stress and the effects of stress on the body. Regular exercise also boosts the immune system, which improves mental health as illnesses are shorter and easier to overcome.
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