Complete Fitness: How Well-Rounded is Your Exercise Program?

Most exercisers have their favorite activities, and they tend to only stick to them. An example of this is bicyclist. They tend to only ride their bikes. How fit does this make them? In order to be fit, I feel that as many as possible of the 16 components of fitness should be developed.  

How many of this list do you work on?

The following article does a great job of explaining this concept.

Complete Fitness: What’s Healthy Exercise?

Frederick C. Hatfield II, MS, MFS, CSCS

The International Sports Sciences Association has identified 16 components of fitness. These are:

1. Limit strength

2. Starting strength

3. Explosive strength

 

4. Agility

 

5. Flexibility

 

6. Static Balance &  7. Dynamic Balance

 

8. Local Muscular Endurance

9. Speed Endurance

10. Cardiovascular Endurance

11. Muscle Mass

12. Percent Body Fat

13. Freedom from stress

14. Freedom from disease

15. Preventive lifestyle (includes proper nutritional habits and reducing risk factors)

16. Mind/Body/Spirit Connection – Being “at peace” with yourself

Even for the average “Mr. And Mrs. Jones”, all components of fitness have an effect on preventing cardiovascular disease. With this in mind, the following table charts how the components of fitness help prevent cardio vascular disease. The effects of “light exercise” has on each of the components (based on the studies documented in recent studies) is also noted. An example of Light Exercise might be walking. Light Exercise doesn't raise the heart rate enough to leave you catching your breath. What is Light Exercise for one individual might be very intense for another. It depends on your current level of conditioning.

How The Components of Fitness Help Prevent Cardiovascular Disease

Component	How	Benefits of Light Exercise?
Cardiovascular Endurance	Promotes heart, respiratory, vascular fitness.	Low or Non-existent
Freedom From Stress	Lowers the daily demands placed on the heart.	Possible
Freedom From Disease	Obvious benefits.	Low or Non-existent
Preventive Lifestyle	Improves vascular functioning as well as direct benefits to the heart and respiratory system	Low or Non-existent
Body Composition (Reasonably Increased Muscle Mass and Decreased Body Fat)	Lowers the demands on the heart by increasing vascular functioning.	Low or Non-existent
Limit Strength, Starting Strength, Explosive Strength	Factors involved in improving Body Composition	None
Local Muscular Endurance	Improves cardiovascular and Cardiorespiratory functioning	Low or Non-existent
Mind/Body/Spirit Connection	Lowers Stress Level	Possible

Agility, balance and speed endurance may play an indirect effect by providing

components needed for enjoyable activities.