The True Definition of Fitness

Posted on February 26, 2024  •  3 minutes  • 482 words

The word fitness means different things to different people, and since this website is about fitness, we want to clarify our vision.

Being fit to us means having a functional body that allows you to navigate real-life situations, not just the gym.

Therefore, fitness should encompass anything that helps you achieve this.

A Functional Body vs Specialized Body

A functional body is one with diverse abilities. A specialized body is lacking when taken out of its area of specialization.

Generally, when someone is said to have a great fitness level, we tend to think of long-distance runners, people who can complete a marathon or a triathlon.

Undoubtedly, these athletes are fitter than the average person, but their bodies are too specialized.

They have only developed part of their functionality, mainly cardiovascular endurance, but they have serious deficiencies in terms of strength, power, and other key elements that we will see below and that make up a functional body.

If you watch an athletics competition, you’ll see big differences in the bodies of long-distance runners and short-distance runners.

Generally, long-distance runners have less muscular bodies, while sprinters have strong, muscular bodies.

Which type of body do you prefer to have?

If your goal when you start your fitness journey is to lose weight and start looking better in the mirror, either of these approaches will help you to achieve that.

But the main benefit of having a functional body goes beyond looks and when you train for it, every area of your life gets affected by it.

It’s not a matter of how well you look, but a matter of how well your body can adapt to your day-to-day life and improve it by the attributes one trains for this type of body.

The attributes required for a functional (fitness) body

1. Muscular endurance: the ability to process, store, and utilize energy by your muscles through multiple contractions.

2. Muscular power: the ability of a muscle or muscle group to apply force in a short amount of time.

3. Muscular strength: the ability of a muscle or muscle group to apply force.

4. Cardiovascular and respiratory endurance: the ability to continuously obtain, process, and deliver oxygen.

5. Flexibility: the ability to maximize the range of motion of joints.

6. Speed: the ability to minimize the time required to perform a repeated movement.

7. Coordination: the ability to combine different singular movements into a more complex movement pattern.

8. Agility: the ability to minimize the transition time between one type of movement and another.

9. Balance: the ability to maintain the line of gravity of the body within the base of support.

10. Precision: the ability to control movement in a specific direction or intensity.

These elements must be taken in mind to have a complete fitness training, focused on developing all the functions of our body.

By doing this, not only your body appearance will improve, but also your overall fitness and well-being.