Health Guide » 
What is Fitness?
Fitness can be performance-related or health-related. Most of us are familiar with performance-related fitness, which measures such things as agility, balance, power, and speed. This topic focuses on health-related fitness: having a healthy heart and lungs (cardiorespiratory), good flexibility, muscular strength and endurance, and body composition (how much muscle and fat you have).
Health-related fitness helps you feel, look, and do your best. It means you have energy throughout the day for work or school, and energy left over to enjoy your leisure time. It does not mean being an athlete or being able to run so fast or jump so high. Being fit means being able to do the things you want to do in life with ease.
To achieve fitness, most experts recommend either of the following:
- Moderate activity for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week or more. Moderate activity is activity equal to a brisk walk.
- Vigorous exercise for 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week or more. Vigorous activity is activity that provides 70% or more of your maximum heart rate .
The recommendation for young people is to be active 1 hour a day.
What are the benefits of being fit?
Fitness reduces your risk of dying early and of developing diseases such as high blood pressure , coronary artery disease , and Diabetes . Fitness also leads to an improved sense of well-being, improved appearance, enhanced social life, and increased stamina and strength.
What types of activities improve fitness?
Most experts agree that there are three components of fitness:
- Flexibility is the ability to move joints and use muscles through their full range of motion. Stretching is a flexibility exercise.
- Aerobic fitness conditions your heart and lungs. It increases the amount of oxygen that is delivered to your muscles, which allows them to work longer. Walking is a type of aerobic exercise.
- Muscle strengthening includes building more powerful muscles and increasing how long you can use them (endurance). Weight lifting builds stronger muscles and strengthens bones, while push-ups build endurance.
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).
How do I get started?
To become fit, you must be physically active. This can involve participating in sports, structured exercise with others, or exercising on your own. However, physical activity can also come through everyday activities, such as washing your car yourself instead of going to a car wash, or participating in hobbies that increase activity, such as joining a gardening club or dancing. However, these activities have to be done on a regular basis to gain fitness.
