Basic Components of Personal Fitness

Physical fitness is considered a measure of the body's ability to function efficiently and effectively in work and leisure activities, to be healthy, to resist hypokinetic diseases, and to meet emergency situations.

Some people think that being physically fit means to function effectively throughout your workday, perform your usual other activities and still have enough energy left over to handle any extra stresses or emergencies which may arise.

Trying to decide what the main components of personal fitness are usually depends on your own individual needs or goals.
But I am guessing, as with many of us, your goal is to lose weight and improve your fitness and/or appearance..but we could just describe the main components of personal fitness as:

1. Cardiorespiratory endurance
the efficiency with which the body delivers oxygen and nutrients needed for muscular activity and transports waste products from the cells. To measure this Fitness Component, you can step on and off a 10- to 12-inch-high step and then take your heart rate after three to five minutes. You can also do long Runs and Swims to assess your cardiorespiratory endurance.

2. Muscular endurance
This is the ability of a muscle, or a group of muscles, to sustain repeated contractions or to continue applying force against a fixed object. For a fitness assessment of your muscular endurance, you can do push-ups on your fitness mats. The more push-ups you can do, the fitter you are.

3. Muscular strength - Is the amount of force a muscle or muscle group can exert against a heavy resistance. You can measure physical fitness components, like this, by lifting weights.

4. Flexibility - is the degree to which an individual muscle will lengthen. This should be performed before and after each workout. By performing a simple motion and observing how far you can go, you can assess the flexibility of each part of your body.

5. Body composition - - the percentage of body fat a person has in comparison to his or her total body mass.Body composition can be measured through the Body Mass Index or BMI. If you are using body composition to measure your fitness goals, it is important that you use the same body fat measurement technique.