Fitness can be performance-related or health-related. Performance-related fitness is a measure of an athlete's agility, balance, power, and speed. This topic focuses on health-related fitness, which you can achieve through regular physical activity. The benefits of both types of fitness are a healthy heart and lungs (cardiorespiratory fitness), increased flexibility, and muscular strength and endurance.
Health-related fitness helps you feel your best and reduces the risk of depression, fibromyalgia, heart attack, colon cancer,diabetes, chronic fatigue and high blood pressure. Being fit helps you to have more energy throughout the day for work or school and energy left over to enjoy your leisure time.
Experts recommend either of the following:
Children and teens should be active at least 1 hour a day. Activity should be of at least moderate intensity. Walking briskly is an example of a moderate activity.
Most experts agree that there are three kinds of fitness:
Keep in mind that you may be fairly fit in one area (perhaps aerobic fitness) but just getting started with another (such as flexibility or muscle strengthening).
Try to make physical activity a regular and essential part of your day, just like brushing your teeth or going to work. Start slowly and be sure to talk to your doctor first, especially if you aren't active at all or have health problems. Make an appointment with yourself when you are most likely to keep it. For example, consider scheduling your activity in the morning if you tend to talk yourself out of it later in the day.
Activity throughout the day burns calories and helps maintain your weight. Small activities such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking far away and walking to your office or the grocery store can add up quickly to increase your activity and use extra calories. Make a plan to ride your bike to work once a week. Instead of e-mailing or calling a coworker, get up and walk to his or her desk. If you don't have time to take one 30-minute walk, break it up into three 10-minute walks. Shorter bouts (5 to 10 minutes) can quickly add to up to the minutes. Be sure activity is of at moderate intensity.
Walking is an activity that most people can do safely and routinely with family members, friends, coworkers, or pets. Keep track of your steps with a step counter or pedometer, which you can buy at a sporting goods store. If you have a desk job, you may see how little you actually move in a typical day. Wearing the step counter will motivate you to accumulate more steps during the day.
If you want a more structured way to get exercise, consider joining a health club or community center that offers fitness activities. Find an activity that you enjoy and feel you can stick with, and then vary it with other activities so you don't get bored. For example, 3 days a week, take a brisk, 30-minute walk with a friend and then lift some weights together. On other days, take a water aerobics class, ride a bike, or take the dog for a hike. Join a softball, volleyball, or basketball league. The more you can find activities you like, the greater your chances for success