Fitness is such a broad term and a complex subject that can include health and skill-related fitness. Health-related fitness is often divided into several other components which form our overall health status and include cardiovascular or aerobic fitness, strength, and flexibility.
Cardiovascular Fitness (Aerobic Fitness)
This is also sometimes known as stamina and is the ability of your body to continuously provide enough energy to sustain submaximal levels of exercise. To do this the circulatory and respiratory systems must work together efficiently to provide the working muscles with enough Oxygen to enable aerobic metabolism.
This type of fitness has enormous benefits to our lifestyle as it allows us to be active throughout the day, for example walking to the shops, climbing stairs or running to catch a bus. It also allows us to get involved in sports and leisure pursuits.
If we have good cardiovascular fitness then our health is also good as it helps with:
- Fat metabolism
- Improved delivery of Oxygen
- Faster removal of waste products
- Decreased levels of stress
Strength
Strength is vitally important, not only in sports but in day-to-day life. We need to be strong to perform certain tasks, such as lifting heavy bags or using our legs to stand up from a chair. Strength is defined as the ability of a muscle to exert a force to overcome resistance.
Strength is important for our health as it enables us to :
- Avoid injuries
- Maintain good posture
- Remain independent (in older age)
Flexibility
Flexibility is the movement available at our joints, usually controlled by the length of our muscles. This is often thought to be less important than strength, or cardiovascular fitness. However, if we are not flexible our movement decreases and joints become stiff. Flexibility in sports allows us to perform certain skills more efficiently, for example, a gymnast, dancer or diver must be highly flexible, but it is also important in other sports to aid performance and decrease the risk of injury.
In daily activities, we must be flexible to reach for something in a cupboard, or off the floor. It also helps:
- Prevent injuries
- Improve posture
- Reduce low back pain
- Maintain healthy joints
- Improve balance during movement
Muscular Endurance
Muscular endurance, unlike strength, is the ability of a muscle to make repeated contractions over a period of time. This is used in day-to-day life in activities such as climbing stairs, digging the garden and cleaning. Muscular endurance is also important in sports, such as football (repeated running and kicking), tennis (repeated swinging of the arm to hit the ball) and swimming (repeating the stroke).
Body Composition
Body composition is the amount of muscle, fat, bone, cartilage etc that makes up our bodies. In terms of health, fat is the main point of interest and everything else is termed lean body tissue. The amount of fat we carry varies from person to person and healthy averages vary with gender and age.
A healthy amount of fat for a man is between 15&18% and for women is higher at 20-25%. It is important to maintain a healthy percentage of body fat because:
- Excess body fat can contribute to developing a number of health problems such as heart disease and diabetes
- Places strain on the joints, muscles, and bones, increasing the risk of injury
What’s Up Friends!
Today I wanted to go over the 5 Components of Health Related Fitness with you!
This is a common Physical Education Knowledge Standard in most states and PE programs.
I like to cover these components when I’m going over Fitness Testing with my students. We review the Health Related Fitness Components Poster that you can see in the video below and try to set goals for where we want to be by the end of the year and make plans to work towards those goals throughout the year.
Let’s take a look at the 5 Health Related Components of Fitness…
In case you don’t have time for the video, let’s break them down below…
Cardio Vascular Endurance
First up Cardiovascular Endurance…
Cardiovascular Endurance is your heart and lungs ability to get oxygen from the air, put it into your blood to keep your body moving. Your Cardiovascular System is what helps you to do activities such as run, swim, jog, jump rope, and lots of other activities.
The main test use to measure Cardiovascular Endurance in PE Classes is the Mile Run or the Pacer Test.
For tips on giving the PACER Test check out the video below:
Muscular Strength
Next up is Muscular Strength…
Muscular Strength is the ability of your muscles to perform ONE rep of an activity with the MAXIMUM force it can. For example, a vertical jump test would be a measure of muscular strength.
In a vertical jump test, we would measure how high you can jump one time. This will tell us how strong your lower body muscles are and how much strength they can perform at their maximum force exertion as you jump up into the air as high as you can.
Another example of a strength test would be performing a maximum lift on a squat or bench press for 1 repetition.
Muscular strength can sometimes be confused with Muscular Endurance, but they are different…
Muscular Endurance
Muscular Endurance is is your muscles ability to do an exercise over and over again repeatedly.
A common way to measure muscular endurance is through a pushup or curl-up (or sit-up) test.
When we practice the curl-up or push up test, we test those muscles ability to perform over and over again.
How I like to remember the difference between Strength and Endurance
Muscular Strength = How Much
vs.
Muscular Endurance = How Many
Are Muscular Strength and Muscular Endurance related?
Of course! If you have good Muscular Endurance, more than likely you will also have good Muscular Strength and vice versa since they are both measuring the capacity of your muscles in different ways.
Tips for the Curl Up Test
Tips for the Push Up Test
Flexibility
Flexibility is your body’s ability to bend, stretch, and move and the range of motions you have at your joints.
If you can stand up straight, then bend down and touch your toes, this will give you an idea of how flexible you are in your legs and lower back.
Flexibility is important because it helps to prevent injuries along with allowing you to move more proficiently and allows you to be more comfortable when performing any activities.
Daily stretching is a great way to maintain and increase flexibility. You can also participate in activities that will naturally help you to increase your flexibility, like Yoga, Dance or Gymnastics.
At my school, I measure flexibility using the Sit and Reach Test, which measures flexibility in your legs and lower back.
Body Composition
Last but not least is Body Composition.
Body Composition is referring to what your body is made up of. Particularly, the amount of fat, muscle, and lean tissue in your body.
The most common way we measure Body Composition is with height and weight, even though that’s not the most accurate way to measure.
Most schools don’t have fancy equipment so they commonly use height and weight as a measurement for Body Composition since all you need is a scale and measuring tape.
Your body composition can be control by many different factors, but the 3 main factors I always highlight for my students are getting good sleep, staying active and eating healthy foods like vegetables and fruits.
The type of food you eat, the amount of exercise and activity you get each day and how much sleep you get can have a very beneficial or negative impact on your body composition.
That’s it!
That is the basics of the 5 Components of Health Related Fitness.
If you’d like to see How I do Fitness Testing at my School Click Here.
You might also find our Fitness Resources on TPT helpful as well (also available in our membership)
Let us know if you have any questions and have a great day!
Have Fun and Teach On!