How to Stay Fit: Learn about the 5 Fitness Components

30-Second Summary

• Learn more about the 5 components of fitness: cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, body composition.
• Cardiovascular endurance can be achieved through cardio training: running, swimming, aerobics, and even walking.
• Muscular strength can only be developed gradually by combining the right set of exercises and food nutrients.
• Muscular endurance sports such as jogging or cycling are proven to lower body mass index, resting heart rate, and triglyceride levels.
• Do daily flexibility exercises. You get great results if you do two workouts a day.
• Weight loss supplements are diet-friendly adjuvants that stimulate fat burning, decrease appetite, and speed up metabolism.

Introduction

The fundamental objective of fitness is to create a good physical condition, a state of well-being for the human body. Well-being is determined by several factors: state of health, physical condition, quality of life, degree of adaptation to the physical and social environment.

We can only talk about fitness if we meet three essential conditions, which do not go without each other: rest + nutrition + training (which involves improving endurance, strength, and speed). 

To better understand the concept of fitness and the role of nutrition in a fitness plan, let’s take a closer look at the five components of fitness:

Cardiovascular Endurance

Cardiovascular endurance is defined as the ability to increase cardiac output and maximize cardiac output with a reduced resting pulse rate. 

One way to measure your progress in a cardio program is with your pulse rate. On average, your resting heart rate, which is how many times your heart beats when you are completely inactive, is 60-80 beats per minute. In fit people, this pulse is lower. 

For maximum cardiovascular benefits, your target heart rate should be between 60% to 90% of your maximum heart rate, depending on your fitness level. Target heart rate is the recommended level of intensity to ensure that your cardiovascular system is adequately stimulated for your age.

Studies show that distance running may have positive effects on coronary risk factors, which is why endurance exercise is associated with lower coronary death rates.

Types of cardio exercise:

• Running
• Using the elliptical or stationary bike
• Aerobics
• String jumping
• Swimming
• Stair climbing
• Walking
• Using the rowing machine

Muscular Strength

Muscle strength is the ability of the muscles to contract, moving body segments against a load (weight). 

Muscle strength development is acquired gradually by combining exercises and performing them correctly without cheating in movement. 

To develop muscle strength, we need several factors:

• Few repetitions (under 8)
• Long breaks between sets (3-5 minutes)
• Large breaks between workouts for the same muscle group
• Enough rest days between workouts
• A small number of sets per muscle group
• A small number of sets in total per workout

Muscular strength training programs should be customized based on age, personal goals, and objectives. According to specialists, each training session should include a 5- to 10-minute warm-up and a 5- to 10-minute cooldown.

In muscle growth, food and fitness play important roles. To get the maximum effect from muscle training, we need to pay as much attention to nutrition. No matter how hard we train, if we eat the wrong food at the wrong time, we can hinder our progress and experience fatigue, illness, or injury.

Muscular Endurance

If you plan to improve your muscular endurance, you’ll enjoy the better performance when it comes to your favorite sport or workout, and that’s because it will allow you to work out longer or maybe run non-stop for 90 minutes instead of 60. 

A study published in 2015 concludes that the effects of running on healthy, sedentary adults are beneficial by lowering body mass index, resting heart rate, and triglyceride levels while increasing oxygen intake and serum HDL-cholesterol levels.

Sports activities that aim to achieve endurance include:

• Jogging
• Cycling
• Swimming
• Skiing
• Skating

Flexibility

Flexibility is the ability of muscles to adapt to different degrees of movement by expanding. By improving flexibility, we increase the degree of movement of a joint. 

In a study called the Impact of 10-weeks of yoga practice on flexibility and balance of college athletes, it has been demonstrated that regular yoga may enhance overall athletic performances by increasing flexibility and balance. 

Recommendations:

• Muscles are more ready for exercise when relaxed. Relax physically and mentally for a few minutes before you start exercising.
• Hold each stretch for 10-20 seconds until you feel a slight soreness. Repeat each movement three or four times.
• Don’t extend muscles violently. Extend until you feel the tension, and then hold for as long as possible.

Activities to improve flexibility: 

• Dancing
• Yoga
• Stretching
• Martial arts
• Rollerblading or skating
• Swimming

Body Composition

In terms of the role of nutrition in a fitness plan, we need to highlight the concept of body composition. 

Our bodies are made up of fat mass and lean mass. Also, the body composition makes the difference between these two concepts: 

Fat mass is the sum of the fat in the body; that means the fat under the skin, the fat in the abdomen, and possibly the fat around the organs.

Lean mass is the rest of the body’s components: muscle, bone, water, minerals, brain, internal organs, etc.

When we want to lose weight, our goal is to decrease the percentage of fat and maintain or even increase muscle mass.

There are many techniques for measuring body composition, and one of the most well-known is Body Mass Index (BMI, calculated as weight/height). 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BMI is interpreted using standard weight status categories for both men and women. 

• Below 18.5: Underweight
• 18.5 – 24.9: Healthy Weight
• 25.0 – 29.9: Overweight
• 30.0 and Above: Obesity

Bonus: Weight Loss Supplements – How Do They Work?

In addition to exercising and establishing a balanced meal program, you can turn to nutritional weight loss supplements to boost your results. 

Weight loss supplements are products with lipotropic and energizing effects, which help increase thermogenesis and fat burning. These supplements usually contain natural extracts that decrease appetite and speed up metabolism.

If you are looking for a weight loss supplement you can trust, Modere Trim is a product that claims to help people burn fat faster by inhibiting fat storage in the body while improving muscle tone. The active ingredients – Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), Liquid Biocell, sunflower seed oil, and citric acid – work together to inhibit fat cell storage, help muscles recover after exercise, and make the skin feel and look better. 

Conclusion

Once you’re in the process, it’s equally important to measure your progress. This will help you know where you are in your plan, quickly correct where necessary, and continue the journey to your final destination. 

We all deserve a long and healthy life. Having the right approach to food and fitness will help you reach your goal!