EXERCISES TO ACHIEVE PHYSICAL FITNESS

The best exercises for improving cardiovascular fitness are activities that elevate your heart rate and keep it elevated for a sustained period of time. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, these activities include fast-paced walking, running, cycling, swimming, cross-country skiing, jumping rope and in-line skating. Included also are dancing, kickboxing, step aerobics, By elevating your heart rate with exercise, you strengthen your heart, improve blood flow, burn fat and improve your body’s ability to deliver oxygen and energy to working muscles. These are the hallmarks of cardiovascular endurance

Muscular strength refers to the overall energy a muscle can exert in a single effort. The challenge to your muscles is to lift progressively more weight over a period of time to build your strength. This can be accomplished through various methods of training. Exercising with free weights, machines, barbells and dumbbells is a good and effective place to start increasing your muscular strength.

Muscular endurance refers to the number of times a muscle can perform a repeated motion without reaching fatigue. The key component for building muscular endurance is to lift no more than 60 percent of your maximum comfortable weight, do four to eight repetitions and take short rest breaks, up to 90 seconds, between sets. Common exercises used for endurance include biceps curls, barbell dead lifts and hamstring curls. Dumbbells, kettle weights, barbells, exercise ball and resistance bands are equipment that can be used to achieve muscular endurance.

Flexibility exercises are activities that improve the ability of a joint to maintain the movement necessary for carrying out daily tasks and physical activity.  Examples of flexibility activities include: stretching, yoga, tai chi, and Pilate.  Health professionals believe that improving your flexibility can improve your posture, reduce aches and pains and lower your risk of injury. Good flexibility can also help you to continue carrying out everyday tasks.  health professionals believe that improving your flexibility can improve your posture, reduce aches and pains and lower your risk of injury. Good flexibility can also help you to continue carrying out everyday tasks.  

Motor fitness refers to factors such as agility, balance, reaction time, co-ordination, power and speed. Some of these aspects are obviously inter-related but all have an important contribution to make towards physical fitness. Improvement of these factors will tend to allow movements to be performed more skillfully and thus you may achieve the same results with less expenditure in effort.

• Balance is the ability to maintain a specific body position in either a stationary or dynamic (moving) situation.

• Coordination is the ability to use all body parts together to produce smooth and fluid motion.

• Agility is the ability to change direction quickly.

• Reaction time is the time required to respond to a specific stimulus.

• Speed is the ability to move rapidly. Speed is also known as velocity (rate of motion).

• Power is the product of strength and speed. Power is also known as explosive strength.

• Mental capability is the ability to concentrate during exercise to improve training effects as well as the ability to relax and enjoy the psychological benefits of activity (endorphins). 

The various exercises embarked on from the other components will help to achieve motor skills needed for everyday life.