Physical fitness is one of the core preconditions of health. We cannot imagine a person to be healthy without being physically fit. Physical fitness, therefore needs to be appreciated in full measure. The common perception of physical fitness is the absence of ailment. If individual is not suffering from any perceptible disease, then he is considered physically fit. Is it true? Another significant issue is whether there is a universal condition of physical fitness which is uniformly applicable to all. It is not so. Physical fitness of young people is different from that of the aged. The physical fitness of a sports person is different from that of the persons working in army factory or a layman. In fact, physical fitness means different things to different people. In this lesson, let us discuss various aspects of physical fitness.
Physcal Fitness and its Imortance
In earlier classes, physical fitness has been defined as the capacity of a person to carry out the daily activities without undue fatigue. Physical fitness is considered as a measure of the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively during work and leisure activities. In order to remain physically fit and healthy, we need to engage ourselves in physical activities and take measures for physically fit.
Physical fitness is an important area of discussion as the number of childrens becoming obese. The normal physical activities, which were done in earlier times both at home and outside as part of day-to-day routine have reduced due to development of science and technology. The work that was done manually is now being carried out by machines. The use of automated equipment such as automatic machines, remotes, mobiles and changes in lifestyles affect health and physical fitness. It has become a matter of deep thinking for all of us.
Now a days we find increased marketing of packaged food and diet for physical fitness. Many such health products now are advertised on TV and radio, and in newspapers, booklets and magazine. It is important for all of us to understand that physical fitness cannot be achieved without doing physical exercise regularly. We should not resort to any shortcut that is frequently advertised in the media these days to achieve fitness or maintain balance in life style. Moreover, these products may have side effects in our daily life.
Need of Physcal Fitness and Well - Being
As discussed in the first chapter on Health and Diseases, the benefits of being physically fit for the individual are manifold. The quality of life of an individual improves when he/she consciously adopts healthy lifestyle which promotes physical fitness as follows:
Physical fitness
3.1 Physical fitness • improves the functioning of heart and lungs by increasing the availability of oxygen to all tissues and organs in the body system;
• improves muscle tone;
• promotes the development of good posture, proportionate figure, and thereby positive body image and physical appearance;
• ensures quick recovery after injury and illness;
• decreases the risk of cardio-vascular disease; (like Heart attact, Asthma etc.)
• reduces and controls undesirable body fat. When the individual does excercise, takes proper diet that also fulfils nutritional requirement, it helps maintain ideal body weight;
• increases energy level of a person;
• improves the mood by reducing depression and anxiety;
• postpones fatigue and reduces recovery time after vigorous activity; and
• helps people to meet challenges of life, makes them selfconfident and delays the ageing process.
Being physically fit is important for all the age groups. To live better life to the fullest and enjoy all the opportunities, one try to be physically fit.
Physical fitness is essential for each and every individual at all stages of life. To achieve fitness, various modes and methods are available. Before adopting such methods, warming up before activities and cooling down after activities are essential to minimise any risk of injuries of an every individual.
Components of Physical Fitness
Physical fitness can be classified into health realted fitness and skill-related fitness. The health-related components are:
(i) Cardiovascular Fitness, (ii) Muscular Strength, (iii) Muscular Endurance, (iv) Body Composition and (v) Flexibility. The skillRelated Fitness Components are: (i) Agility, (ii) Balance, (iii) Neuro Muscular Adaptations and Coordinative abilities, (iv) Speed, (v) Strength, and (vi) Reaction Time.
Cardio-respiratory Endurance: ardio-respiratory endurance reflects the ability of the body’s circulatory and respiratory systems to supply fuel during sustained physical activity. To improve your cardio-respiratory endurance, try activities that keep your heart rate elevated at a safe level for a sustained length of time such as walking, running, jogging, swimming, bicycling etc. The activity you choose need not be strenuous enough to improve your cardio-respiratory endurance. Start slowly with an activity you enjoy, and gradually work up increase to a more intense pace
Muscular Strength is the amount of force applied on muscle or muscle groups, is able to exert for one maximal effort (contraction).The key to making your muscles stronger is working them against resistance, whether that be from weights or gravity. If you want to gain muscle strength, try excercises such as lifting weights (under proper supervision).
Muscular Endurance is the ability of a muscle or muscle group to exert force against a submaximal load for a given length of time (or number of repetition) before fatiguing to the point of failure.
Body Composition refers to the proportion of team body mass to body fat, it includes amount of muscle, fat, bone, and other vital parts of the body. Body composition is important to be considered for health and managing the body fat.
Flexibility is the range of motion around a joint. Good flexibility in the joints can help prevent injuries through all stages of life. If you want to improve your flexibility, try yoga, gymnastics and basic stretching exercise programme.
Components of Skill-related Fitness
Balance is the ability to control or stabilise the body when a person is standing still or moving. For example, handstand in gymnastics.
Coordination is the ability to use the senses together with body parts during movement. For example, dribbling a basketball. Using hands and eyes together is called hand-eye coordination.
Find out your BMI
Take your body weight in kgs and height in metres. Divide your weight by the square of height to obtain your BMI. Using the following norms, ascertain where you stand. weight in kgs/ Height in metres2 Below 18.5 kg/m2 - Underweight Between 18.6 kg/m2 and 23 kg./m2 - Normal Between 23.1 kg/m2 and 30 kg./m2 - Overweight 30 kg/m2 - obese Also select randomly five students of your class and calculate their BMI.
Speed is the ability to move your body or parts of your body swiftly. Many sports rely on speed to gain advantage over opponents. For example, a Basketball player making a fast break to perform a lay-up, a tennis player moving forward to get to a drop shot, a football player running the defense to receive a pass.
Power is the ability to move the body parts swiftly while applying the maximum force of the muscles. Power is a combination of both speed and muscular strength. For example, volleyball players lifting up to the net and lifting their bodies high into the air.
Reaction Time is the ability to reach or respond quickly to what you hear, see or feel. For example, an athlete quickly coming off the blocks early in a swimming or track event, or stealing a base in baseball.
Activities for Developing Physical Fitness
The type of activities that may be useful to different aspects of fitness are aerobic and anaerobic. These are as follow:
(a) Aerobic Activity
Aerobic Exercise: any physical activity that requires increased oxygen is an Aerobic exercise. Aerobic activity or exercise is therefore the same as cardiovascular exercise as it
• increases cardiac capacity
• strengthens the heart and lungs
Aerobic fitness is the capacity of an individual to sustain exercise for a prolonged period of time, for example jogging for more than 15 minutes, cycling and calisthenics etc. Aerobic activities develop the cardio-respiratory endurance of an individual. The different types of aerobic activities are aerobic dance, skipping, walking, long distance running, swimming, etc
(b) Anaerobic Activity
The term Anaerobic means “without oxygen”. Anaerobic exercise is a high intensity activity for a short period of time. It relies on energy sources that are stored in the muscles of individuals.
Anaerobic exercise develops stronger muscles. With vigorous workouts, there is temporary shortage of oxygen being delivered to the working muscles, for example sprinting or body building.
However the early stage of all exercise is anaerobic. This kind of activity is responsible for developing speed. This form of activity benefits the bones, i.e. their thickness increases. The different types of anaerobic activities are weight lifting, sprint races, jumping, mountain climbing, rafting etc.
(c) All Team Games and Individual Sports
All major games and individual sports require a certain level of fitness components like strength, speed, agility, flexibility and endurance for successful participation.
Warming Up and Cooling Down
Warming up is usually performed before participating in any games and sports and physical activities. It is important to keep oneself free from injury, pain and how to avoid fatigue. While warming up prepares your body for intense exercise, whereas cooling down helps bring it back to near normal after rigorous activity.
Warming Up: Muscle stiffness is thought to be directly related to muscle injury and therefore, the warming up should be aimed at reducing muscle stiffness.
Warming up should consist of a gradual increase in physical activity for individuals for increasing joint mobility, stretching and various ways of sports related activities.
• One should warm-up aproximate 8-12 minutes or per specific requirements which include running, stretching of wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, trunk, hip, knees, ankles joints.
Cooling Down: Once you are through with the workout and you reach the end of the game, it is equally important to ensure that the body cools down.
Cooling down should ideally consist of
• five to ten minute walk or light jog as it cools down the body temperature and relaxes the muscles.
• about ten minutes of static stretching exercises that include chest stretch, biceps stretch, hamstring stretch, calf stretch, hip and thigh stretch, front of trunk stretch and quadriceps stretch. Each stretch should not take more than 10 to 30 seconds.
Add Your Comments
Your Rating