5 Dimensions of Fitness
Muscular Strength
What is Muscular Strength:
Muscular strength is the measure of the force your muscles can exert. Muscular strength covers a large range of things from your ability to lift objects to the simple task of sitting upright and controlling your body. Without muscular strength you would struggle to perform simple tasks such as lifting and moving objects that you would not normally consider to be heavy as well as making it through the day.
How to improve Muscular Strength:
Muscular strength is improved by strength training. Strength training works your muscles by applying resistance to the muscle while exerting force. If you wish to achieve optimum results you should aim for 20 minutes of strength training 2 to 3 times a week. It is very important to have a rest day between each session to avoid injury and to give your muscles a chance to recover and grow.
Exercises to increase muscular strength include squats, pushups, bicep curls, planks and kick backs. Each of these exercises target different muscles of your body and increase your strength throughout your whole body when done in conjunction with each other.
For a more detailed list of muscular strength exercises you might like to visit these websites for more information:
http://www.realsimple.com/health/fitness-exercise/workouts/exercises-muscle-maintenance
http://www.livestrong.com/article/497002-5-activities-for-muscular-strength/
Benefits of improved muscular strength:
Increasing muscular strength can have many benefits including increased bone strength, better body composition and the reduced chance of injuries. Muscular strength is often associated with muscle mass and as we get stronger, our muscle mass increases, therefore increasing muscle size and our ability to lift heavier objects and move around with ease.
Muscular Endurance
What is Muscular Endurance:
Muscular endurance is closely linked to cardiovascular endurance. Muscular endurance is the measure of how long your muscles can withstand continuous activity. If your muscles are required to contract in a repeated pattern more than once, you are using muscular endurance. Muscular endurance is the action of repeated muscular motion unlike muscular strength which is measured by the ability to exert force with resistance.
How to improve Muscular Endurance:
Performing repetitions of a certain exercise is a form of muscular endurance. Swimming and running are all forms of muscular endurance and also fall under cardiovascular endurance category as well. There are many specific exercises that help to build muscular endurance as well as general exeercies that can give you similar results. As mentioned above, swimming and running are both good muscular endurance activities that have more than one benefit on your body.
If you would like to find out which muscular endurance exercises are right for you, you might benefit from visiting one of these website for more information:
http://getfit.jillianmichaels.com/examples-exercises-muscular-endurance-1023.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/25831-list-muscular-endurance-exercises/
http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/muscular-endurance-activities-7296.html
Benefits of improved muscular Endurance:
Without muscular endurance, your muscles become tired easily and often don’t have the energy they need to make it through the day. By improving your muscular endurance it is likely that you will feel less tried after a long day of physical activity and your body will be able to exercise for longer periods of time without becoming fatigued.
Flexibility
What is flexibility:
Flexibility is the range of motion in your joints and the ability for your joints and muscles to move freely.
How to improve flexibility:
Your flexibility in certain joints can be improved by exercises specific to the area you wish to improve. Stretching is the main exercise that will help you to achieve optimum results when trying to improve your flexibility. Stretching during and after exercise is extremely beneficial for your body and does not take up much time at all. Simply stretch the muscles you will be using before you exercise and repeat once you have finished.
Although stretching is beneficial before and after exercise, if you wish to improve your overall flexibility, extra stretching is required even on days without high intensity exercise. For the best results you should warm your body up before stretching to avoid injury, stretch your entire body and hold the stretch for a minimum for 15 seconds.
To find way to improve your flexibility, visit these websites for a detailed list of stretches:
http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/yoga/poses/stretching-tight-muscles/
Befits of improved flexibility:
Flexibility increases the range of motion in your joints and muscles giving you the ability to move freely. When you are flexible you are less likely to injure yourself whist taking part in physical activity because your body is familiar with an increased range of motion. Flexibly also helps to make your body less sore after exercise because your muscles become naturally looser and relaxed.
Cardiovascular Endurance
What is cardiovascular endurance:
Cardiovascular endurance is basically how strong your heart is and is the ability of your heart to work effectively while under the stress of exercise.
How to improve cardiovascular endurance:
Because the heart is a muscle, cardiovascular endurance can be improved in the same way that muscular endurance can. Just like muscular endurance, the more you work the heart, the easier it will adapt to an increased workload. Cardiovascular endurance can be improved very easily, especially for beginners. When you begin to improve your endurance, exercising for just 15 minutes per session can be beneficial. To see improvement with your endurance you need to work on it gradually. Once 15 minutes of low impact exercise becomes easy, increase the time of your session by 5 minutes every week until you have developed an exercise routine that lasts for 30 to 45 minutes.
Walking, jogging, running, swimming, bike riding, dancing and aerobics are just some of the different types of cardiovascular endurance exercises that can assist with building cardiovascular endurance.
Benefits of improved cardiovascular endurance:
Although all aspects of fitness are usually considered to be equally as important, good cardiovascular endurance leads to a healthy heart which can potentially add years to your life. The reason cardiovascular endurance is also important is because your heart controls the amount of oxygen that is given to your muscles, assisting your muscle strength as well as your endurance. The benefits of good cardiovascular endurance can also be noticed when exercising as it allows your body to take part in physical activity for longer periods of time.
Body Composition
What is Body Composition:
Body composition is generally described a fat percentage in the body, but it is also the percentage of bone, tissue, muscle and water as well. Body composition is divided into 2 main groups; fat mass and fat free mass. Fat mass is simple to remember, it’s just all of the fat you contain in your body. Fat free mass is just as simple, it’s everything else in your body that isn’t fat. This group is made up of blood, bones, organs, water and the entire makeup of your body, minus the fat of course.
Someone with good body composition has a healthy ratio between their fat mass and heir fat free mass.
How to improve Body Composition:
Body composition can be hard to improve because of the fact that it is hard to measure. Without numerous and possibly expensive tests, you will never know the true ratio between your fat mass and your fat free mass. It’s obvious that you can’t change some of the elements that make up fat free mass which include your blood and bones, but you can change the ratio of fat to muscle in your body by exercising to lose weight, tone and build your muscles, and maintaining a balanced diet.
Benefits of improved Body Composition:
People who have an ideal body composition are more likely to move easier, feel and look better, have a lower likelihood of getting diseases and be healthier overall.
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