Fitness is a general indication of the performance of an individual’s health but not always of their skill, and this can be observed by looking at the health-related components of an individual as well as their skills. Health-related components of fitness are all components which assist a person’s health and general lifestyle and can be an indication of the health of an individual. These include cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and body composition, and all these components can be assessed with fitness testings.
Cardiorespiratory endurance is a measure of an individual’s cardiorespiratory system works during movement. It looks at the how the heart, lungs, blood, and muscles all work together to absorb, deliver, and utilize oxygen in the production of energy. The better cardiorespiratory endurance results in being able to be active for longer without fatigue. A fitness test that assesses this is the Beep test, it measures how well and how long your cardio-vascular system can work without fatiguing.
Muscular strength refers to the amount of force a muscle can produce with a single maximal effort. Muscle strength is measured during muscular contraction. Good muscular strength will help carry out tasks more efficiently and prevents injuries to the body. A simple test for this is the dynamometer test- this test measures the maximum strength of the hand and forearm muscles.
Whereas Muscular endurance refers to how many times a muscle can contract without fatiguing. The better muscular endurance the longer you can carry out a task without fatigue. The push-up test can be used to measures how many push-ups you can do in a minute without your muscles become fatigued. Flexibility Is the range of motion around a joint and can help you prevent injuries, back pain, and balance problems. To test flexibility, the sit and reach test can be used.
Body composition is used to describe the percentages of fat, bone, water, and muscle in human bodies. The safer (in range) body composition allows an individual to function more effectively, as they are not caring excess weight. A test that can measure this is the skin fold test. All these components are important in not only spot but in daily life. Therefore, these components can be a general indication of the performance of an individual’s overall health.
Skill related fitness is not so much got to do with your everyday tasks but more to do with sports and how well you are able to perform them. Skills can be an indication of the ability of an individual. These include power, speed, agility, coordination, balance and reaction time. If an individual is lacking in one of the areas there are ways for improvement.
Power is a combination of strength and speed; good power helps to complete tasks that involve strength quickly. Power is used in sports that involve quick and powerful movements, some example is basketball, boxing, and weightlifting. To improve the power an individual would focus on developing better strength and speed. Speed is how fast an individual can move.
Speed is necessary for a lot of sports and can help an individual move faster and achieve better performance as they are able to carry out a greater distance quicker. Sports that are reliant on speed are sprints, swimming races, and football. To help improve speed and individual would try to work on technique and power.
Agility is the ability to change direction quickly. Good agility can help’s performance in activities that require you to change direction quickly whilst keeping balance, strength, speed and body control. Agility is needed in many sports, some of them are basketball, tennis and figure skating. To develop agility in an individual; timing, coordination, balance, direction changes and suppleness all need to be looked at.
Coordination is the ability to use different parts of the body together smoothly and efficiently. Good coordination helps an individual complete task faster, more smoothly and are less prone to injuries. Sports that need good coordination are baseball, fencing, and martial arts. To improve coordination, timing and controlled to be assessed.
Balance is the ability to maintain a stable body position through even distribution of weight., good balance aids an individual to complete activities while preventing injuries. It is important in everyday life such as walking and jogging and in sports such as gymnastics, skating and surfing. To improve balance and individual should do strength and special balance training activities.
Reaction time is the ability to respond quickly to a stimulus. Good reaction time helps to complete actions faster and more efficiently. Reaction time is important in day to day life in doing activities such as driving and responding to emergency situations and in sports such as cricket, soccer and the start of a race. It can be improved through practice.
So, these components help as an indication of the performance ability of an individual. Thus, by looking at the health-related fitness components and skill related components of an individual you can get a general indication of the performance of an individual’s health and fitness.
