Fitness is the state of well-being and physical fitness in particular, is a condition of good health and strength and, more specifically, ability to do various parts of physical activities. Physical fitness is normally attained through adequate rest, proper nutrition, and adequate physical activity. Proper nutrition refers to the intake of food that provides energy for doing physical activities, such as exercise. Proper physical activity means engaging in activities that improve your condition, such as movement, strength training, and stretching. These three things strengthen the muscles and tissues that support the body and help it move out and stay fit.
As with any type of physical fitness, there are various levels of it. Broadly, fitness starts from the aerobic level (the speed and force with which you can move about) and moves on to the anaerobic or aerobic level. At the aerobic or anaerobic level, your muscles are being stretched and exercised to improve their condition and capability to do more. At the other end of the spectrum, the level of fitness where you can not only move but also breathe deeply and fully, is known as endurance. At the extreme end of the spectrum is what is known as a super-exercise, where all the major muscle groups are worked out, resulting in a very high level of fatigue and most likely a sudden and unplanned stop in exercise.
The definition of fitness can be broken down into three areas: cardiovascular, muscular endurance and functional endurance. Cardiovascular fitness and ability to exercise under normal circumstances (such as driving or walking around the block) is the most important part of overall fitness. Muscular endurance is related to your ability to get and hold up your current fitness level. Functional endurance is, obviously, related to the way that your body moves and works. The third area of general fitness definition is called functional capacity.
Now that we have defined the three different areas of fitness, let us take a look at the types of physical exercise that define each area. When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, swimming, running and cycling are the most common activities performed. When it comes to muscular endurance, walking, hiking and mountain climbing are some of the more popular activities. Finally, when it comes to functional endurance activities, such as strength training, yoga and Pilates, are some of the best activities to improve your overall fitness level.
As you can see, fitness is not simply reaching a particular threshold of muscular strength or endurance. In fact, with the many different types of exercise that are performed in order to reach overall fitness, there is actually a good bit more to fitness than simply performing one type of activity repeatedly. For those who are looking to improve their fitness level, one of the best things you can do is to engage in some type of activity that combines your fitness goals with some type of high-intensity interval training.
Interval training is often described as any activity that uses muscle forces as the source of power during an exercise session. This type of physical exercise is very effective in increasing your metabolism rate, which will greatly assist in turning your body into a fat burning machine. In addition to increasing your metabolism rate, interval training is great in improving your endurance, building muscle strength and toning your body. This is because the high intensity and fast pace of the exercise actually engage the largest muscles in your body which in turn forces your body to use these muscles to its maximum capacity. If you perform a good amount of interval training each week, you will quickly see results in all of these areas of your physical conditioning. By combining a new physical activity with some high-intensity interval training, you will soon achieve the results you are looking for in a healthy lifestyle.