Exercise
What Aspects Comprise Overall Fitness?
Your fitness level is much more than your three-days-a-week regime at the gym! Fitness refers to your overall physical health, and to be healthy you need to be doing much more than just exercising a few times a week.(It certainly helps though, so no dropping that routine!).
The major components which combine to describe your physical fitness level at any given time include aerobic and anaerobic fitness, flexibility, diet and mental fitness. If you are not feeling one hundred percent at any given time, one or more of these components is more than likely suffering in some way.
How Do I Go About Improving My Fitness?
In order to be functioning on all turbines and come up with the goods every day as you leap out of bed, you need to pay attention to all five components of fitness, those being anaerobic, aerobic, flexibility, diet and mental fitness.
Anaerobic fitness is your muscular strength and endurance. This can be improved by lifting weights repetitively, picking up a muscle building sport like rock-climbing or performing lifting duties. If you are anaerobically fit then your bones have a good support system and you’re more likely to keep good posture. Also, your metabolism cranks up when your muscles are lean and fit, and you’ll burn whatever you eat if you are fit enough.
Aerobic fitness is your cardiac fitness, which can be improved by performing activities that raise your heart-rate to between 65-80% of the maximum capacity of heartbeats per minute that your heart is capable of. This figure depends on your age and weight, and if you are extremely unfit to begin with it’s a good idea to work with a physical to determine how much cardiovascular strain you can handle when you begin. Bike-riding, jogging, swimming and dancing are all great cardiovascular activities, and 30 minutes a few times a week will improve your aerobic fitness.
Flexibility is a component of fitness that is often overlooked when it comes to physical fitness. This is a shame, because in the absence of good flexibility, we often injure ourselves whilst performing physical activities, which greatly hinders other components of our fitness. Basically a flexible body maintains better posture, is less likely to be injured in the event of muscular strain, and is less likely to be subject to painful tension knots. Yoga, Pilates and stretching all improve flexibility.
Diet is a major component of fitness. If you are feeding yourself substandard nutrients then you can’t expect such a great output from your body. Increase your intake of fresh fruit and veggies, choose lean meats if you must eat any at all and limit your intake to three times a week, and eat small portions of sugary and fatty foods.
Mental fitness is also overlooked in most physical fitness regimes. This refers to your outlook on life, and how capable you think you are of achieving your goals. To improve your mental fitness (and thus your ability to reach your goals in life) take meditation classes, focus on your positive attributes and work on the areas that you think could improve. If you feel good about yourself you’re more likely to follow through with activities that reinforce this good feeling.
When Can I Expect Results From This Kind of Regime?
It’s pretty instant really. Exercise gives you a natural high so there’s that to look forward to immediately. Good food hits your system pretty quick too, and most toxins from poor diet will be eliminated in the first few weeks. Physical strength, flexibility and cardio fitness, expect to see visible results at the four week mark.
There’s no excuse now. You know what to do.
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