Chapter 10: Exercise for Health and Fitness

Components of Fitness

The components of a full fitness regime include muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, cardiorespiratory endurance and body composition. To design an appropriate fitness program you must consider frequency, time and intensity of effort as well as a warm-up and cool-down period.

Muscular Strength and Endurance

Muscular strength is the amount of force a muscle can produce with a single maximum effort. Muscular strength can be developed with resistive exercises. This resistance can be provided by weights or exercise machines or even with your own body weight. Strength will be developed in a program where these exercises are practiced at least three days per week. Activities such as sit-ups and push-ups are a good way to begin a muscular strength-training program. An isometric exercise (the application of force without movement) that will develop strength and tone in the abdomen would be to hold your stomach in for up to thirty seconds several times a day. To develop muscular endurance, you must stress the muscles by increasing the load they are exposed to. A complete weight training program will include all the major muscles. The components of the program will include the number of repetitions, number of sets and amount of weight to produce fatigue. Generally, the higher the weight, the lower the number of repetitions in each set. Most people work with three set programs. At the end of the last repetition, you should have achieved muscle fatigue. If you have not, you would increase the weight. Begin with an easy weight, and work 3 sets of 8-10 repetitions. When you can comfortably do 12 repetitions, increase the weight and again begin with the lower number of repetitions. Always start your workout session with easy weights to warm-up the muscles and end with an appropriate return to this for cool-down.

Flexibility

Flexibility or stretching is important for maintaining the maximum range of motion in given joint. Many people make the mistake of stretching as a "warm-up" activity. This can actually damage the muscles. Warm-up first with some easy jogging or brisk walking and then begin your stretching routine. You should stretch the muscle until it feels tight and hold it steady in this position for up to thirty seconds. Repeat each exercise about 5 times. As your flexibility improves, you will be able to increase the intensity of the stretch. Ballistic (bouncing stretching) is dangerous because it can tear the muscle.

Cardiorespiratory Endurance Activities

Cardiorespiratory endurance activities, or aerobic activities, are those exercises that condition the heart and lungs. In choosing an appropriate aerobic activity, pick one that works the bigger muscles in your body the most. These include, but are not limited to, running, jogging, speed walking, cycling and swimming. If enough intensity is involved other activities can provide a good aerobic workout. Aerobic activities should be performed a minimum of three times a week for at least twenty continuous minutes each time. The intensity of effort should result in your heart rate increasing a large amount, increase in breathing rate and sweating. This can be determined by your perceived exertion rate--that is, your awareness of your increasing breathing, heart rate and sweat production. Or you can work with heart rate. The purpose of endurance activities is to increase the maximal oxygen consumption. This represents the ability of the cells to use oxygen. To develop MOC, you must work out at 50-85% of MOC, or 60-90% of maximum heart rate. Maximum heart rate is determined by subtracting your age from 220 and then multiplying the factor by 60% and by 90% to determine your target heart rate zone.