Most of us are completely aware of the importance of physical exercise in our lives and the connections between staying physically fit and staying healthy. However, not all of us choose a lifestyle which promotes physical activity. Rather, a vast majority of people lead sedentary lives which result in numerous health problems.
In order to truly understand the importance of physical fitness, you need to learn more about the factors which stand behind it. The following lines are, therefore, dedicated to explaining the mechanisms of physical fitness and its connections with a person’s health and overall well-being.
Physical Fitness Importance
In order to fully grasp the notion of physical fitness, we need to divide it into its constituents. First of all, cardiovascular fitness is one part of general physical fitness, presenting a person’s stamina and his/her capability to produce physical activity with enough energy to support it. Cardiovascular fitness is, therefore, related to exercising without crossing the limits of your physical capabilities. Nevertheless, strong respiratory and circulatory systems are necessary for carrying cardiovascular physical activities out. This form of fitness makes it possible for us to go to the shop, climb the stairs, catch a bus on time and perform all other lifestyle activities which require our physical fitness and readiness.
Strength is another constituent of fitness, being used both during exercising sessions and in everyday situations. For example, strength is crucial when we carry heavy things or when we use our legs to support our whole body weight during the process of standing up. This form of fitness encompasses the ability of our muscles to contract and relax interchangeably, overcoming the resistance they get exposed to at each of the two extremes.
When we possess physical fitness in terms of strength, we are capable of avoiding injuries, maintaining a proper posture and managing to take a good care of ourselves once we reach old age. On the other hand, cardiovascular fitness removes stress from our lives, expels toxins from our body, improves our delivering of oxygen to the organism and burns extra calories we provide through our diet.
The final constituents of fitness are flexibility and muscle endurance. Flexibility makes our joints, bones and muscles capable of withstanding pressure and straining without getting hurt, reducing pain in existing injured areas and improving balance during movements.
The endurance of our muscles stands for their capability of getting exposed to stress and repetitive contractions without getting injured. Many repetitive actions we perform during our every day boost this fitness of ours.
Bear in mind that, ideally, men should possess about 15 to 18% of fat in their overall body mass, while women should have these values higher, from 20 to 25%. Too much body fat can lead to serious health problems, adding extra stress onto our joints, muscles and bones, making us more susceptible to injuries and health complications of other types.
Kids Need to be Healthy and Fit
Standing in the way of physical fitness is the modern lifestyle that many children lead nowadays, being preoccupied with playing videogames, working on the computer, watching TV and exploring their high-tech smartphones. As you have read, exercise is nowhere to be found in the lives of these youngsters and many people are doing their best to change this negative status quo.
Taking into consideration than 1 on every 5 children in the US are obese, the lack of physical fitness and activity presents a serious problem, especially due to the fact that about 80% of obese children remain overweight or obese during their adulthood.
Fortunately, there are many different and innovative sport activities which can help young people escape the clutches of their sedentary lives. Frisbee golf is one of them, involving a pair of colored cones placed on a grass field. In this setting, the children are supposed to throw Frisbees as close to the cones as possible, trying to put the Frisbee over the cone in order to score. After each throw, however, children are supposed to jog to the “hole” and take their Frisbee, jogging back to the initial position before their next turn.
Bottle cap basketball is yet another fun activity, involving children bouncing a basketball off the field, trying to hit a bottle cap which is initially placed in the middle of the field and move it closer to their opponent.
This is just the beginning and the rest is up to you to explore or even invent. Yet, one thing is for sore – the more physical activity your child gets exposed to, the better. Physical fitness is the gateway to health and overall well-being and every single exercise we do on a daily basis serves to promote this. The lifestyle modifications we can make for these purposes can be as small as a simple choice of using the stairs instead of the elevator. Nevertheless, participating in sport events and creating some interesting physical activities for your children are all priceless choices which will increase the quality of our lives significantly.
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