The Five Components of Fitness

The Differences between health and fitness

There is a difference between health and fitness, although the two certainly go hand in hand. Health is measured by the relative symmetry to an individual’s homeostasis – thus, freedom from disease or injury. Fitness on the other hand is measured by the functional improvements one has over their homeostasis. Thus, more muscle to lift heavier weights or better endurance to run further.

It is therefore possible to be reasonably healthy but not very fit (for example, an individual who eats well, doesn’t smoke or drink, gets plenty of sleep, isn’t stressed, is reasonably active and has good genes). It is also possible to be very fit and temporarily unhealthy (for example, an athlete who is ill or injured). However as a general rule, health and fitness work together.

Being fit certainly plays a major part in strengthening the immune system and can therefore keep many diseases at bay. Similarly, being fit means the body is often less prone to injuries (and sometimes offers the flexibility and coordination to avoid certain injuries altogether). Recovery from both injury and illness is also often expedited for the fit individual.

In the same way, being healthy has a major effect on someone’s fitness. Gains are made quicker, motivation is stronger, energy is higher, recovery is better after strenuous workouts and fitness can be maintained further into life.

Components of Health

There are two major catagories that contribute to our health. The first are components that we can effect. The second are those components that we cannot affect (or have limited control over).

Components that we can affect include air quality, water quality, food quality (or nutrition), metabolism, how active our lifestyles are, the quality of our rest and sleep, our exposure to mental stimulation, and the list goes on. Components that we cannot affect includes genetics, contraction of diseases, irreversable cellular damage (or trauma that may result from an accident) and age.

All of these components will affect how our bodies will respond to exercise and form a foundation from which the components of fitness rely upon.

Components of Fitness

There are a number of ways to define, classify and catagorise different elements of fitness. Emanate Fitness endeavours to take a holistic approach to fitness and incorporate all relevant fitness components into programs. Consequently, we have defined five overarching components of fitness – Health, Endurance, Strength, Flexibility and Agility. So how does Emanate Fitness incorporate all of these components into each program?

Health

Emanate Health aims to take a holistic approach to fitness and health based on a recognition that the achievement of fitness goals and overall wellbeing ultimately depend upon other factors that complement exercise and fitness. Emanate Health focuses on a number of other components that either directly or indirectly relate to fitness, including body composition, nutrition, posture, and general health.

Body composition is the “amount of water, muscle, fat, tissue and bone in the body” [1]. Whilst fat is necessary and fulfils certain functions such as protection of organs, excess fat in the body is associated with certain chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Obesity is a chronic problem in Australia and health problems associated with being overweight and obese have extensive direct and indirect costs to the Australian population [2].

Nutrition is highly important not only to properly fuel the body to exercise effectively and maintain energy for day to day activities, but also to maintain good body composition. Calories are gained by eating and are burned as energy during exercise and daily activities, as well as when you are just sitting doing nothing or sleeping (the speed at which this occurs is based upon your metabolic rate). Therefore, to lose body weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume in order to create a calorie deficit. In order to gain weight, you need to consume more calories than you burn. Consequently, weight gain and loss (and a good body composition) is dependent upon nutrition as well as exercise.

Endurance

Emanate Endurance focuses on increasing cardiorespiratory endurance or the ability of the heart, blood vessels, lungs and airways to function effectively and absorb, deliver and use oxygen. The cardiorespiratory system is made up of the cardiovascular (or circulatory) and respiratory systems. Cardiovascular fitness can be measured by the greatest amount of oxygen the body can consume in one minute (VO2 max).

Emanate Endurance involves a range of activities including running, skipping, boxing, circuits, plyometric and agility training, and resistance training that will utilise both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems.

Strength

We increase our overall strength by achieving improvements in muscular strength, muscular endurance, power and hypertrophy.