Physical Fitness Components & Activity Types

Your body has nine key fitness areas that work together to make you stronger and more athletic. Agility helps you change directions quickly (think basketball players dodging defenders), while balance keeps you steady. Coordination makes your movements smooth, and endurance lets you keep going without getting tired.

Physical activities fall into four main categories that you probably do every day without realizing it. Occupational activities include work tasks, domestic covers household chores, transportation means walking or biking places, and leisure time is your fun stuff like sports or hiking.

There are three types of exercises that target different parts of your fitness. Aerobic activities like jogging boost your heart health, muscle-strengthening exercises like weightlifting build power, and bone-strengthening activities like jumping make your skeleton stronger.

Quick Tip: Don't let common barriers like "no time" or "bad weather" stop you - even 15 minutes of movement counts!

Your eating habits shape how your body performs and recovers. These habits come from personal preferences, cultural traditions, social groups, religious beliefs, your budget, local food availability, and even government policies. The good news? You can change unhealthy eating patterns by reflecting on your current habits, replacing bad ones with better choices, and reinforcing positive changes until they stick.

Understanding Your Body Composition

Your body composition tells you how much of your weight is fat versus muscle, bone, and other tissues. The easiest way to check this is through Body Mass Index (BMI), which uses a simple formula: your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared.

Here's how BMI breaks down: below 18.5 means underweight, 18.5-24.9 is normal, 25.0-29.9 is overweight, and 30.0 and above indicates obesity. For example, if you weigh 60kg and are 1.7m tall, your BMI would be 20.8 (normal range).

When measuring your weight and height for accurate results, wear light clothing and stand barefoot on a properly calibrated scale. For height, stand straight against a wall with your heels, buttocks, and shoulders touching the wall.

Reality Check: BMI isn't perfect - it doesn't account for muscle mass, so very athletic people might show as "overweight" even when they're super healthy.

The key to improving eating habits isn't making drastic changes like only eating cabbage soup. Instead, use a three-step approach: reflect on your current patterns, replace unhealthy choices with better ones, and reinforce these new habits until they become automatic. Remember, habits formed in childhood can definitely be changed with awareness and effort.

Testing Your Flexibility and Heart Health

Flexibility determines how well your joints and muscles can move through their full range of motion. The Zipper Test checks your shoulder flexibility by seeing if you can touch your fingers behind your back - one arm reaching over your shoulder, the other reaching up from below.

Scoring is straightforward: if your fingers overlap by 6cm or more, you're excellent. Overlapping by 4-5.9cm is very good, 2-3.9cm is good, barely overlapping is fair, just touching means you need improvement, and any gap shows poor flexibility.

Cardiovascular endurance measures how well your heart, lungs, and blood vessels deliver oxygen during exercise. The 3-Minute Step Test involves stepping up and down on a 12-inch platform for three minutes at 96 beats per minute, then immediately checking your heart rate.

Pro Tip: Find your pulse quickly by placing two fingers on your wrist below your thumb - count for 10 seconds and multiply by 6 for your heart rate per minute.

After the step test, your recovery heart rate tells you about your fitness level. Lower heart rates indicate better cardiovascular health, while higher rates suggest you need more cardio training. This test is practical because it mimics everyday activities like climbing stairs.

Speed and Power Testing

Speed is your ability to move in one direction as fast as possible. The 40-Meter Sprint test measures this by timing how quickly you can run from start to finish line. Boys aged 17+ should aim for under 4 seconds (excellent), while girls the same age should target under 6 seconds.

Your starting position matters - begin in a crouch behind the line, get into position at "Get Set," then explode forward at "GO." The timer starts when you move and stops when you cross the finish line. Practice your starts because good technique can shave precious seconds off your time.

Power combines strength and speed to create explosive movement. The Standing Long Jump tests your leg power by measuring how far you can jump from a standing position. Jump over 201cm for an excellent score, while 55-100cm means you need improvement.

Training Insight: Power isn't just about being strong - it's about being strong AND fast, which is why explosive exercises like jumping are so effective.

For the long jump, start with feet parallel behind the line, bend your knees, swing your arms back then forward, and jump as far as possible while landing on both feet. You get two tries, and your score is measured from the take-off line to where your back heel lands.

Agility, Reaction Time, and Coordination

Agility is your ability to move quickly in different directions while maintaining balance and control. The Hexagon Agility Test uses a six-sided figure where you jump clockwise over each side, then back inside, continuing around the entire hexagon before reversing direction.

Each side of the hexagon is 18 inches long with 120-degree angles. Your score is the average time of both clockwise and counterclockwise rounds - under 5 seconds is excellent, while over 25 seconds is poor. This test mimics sports movements where you need to change direction rapidly.

Reaction time measures how quickly you respond to unexpected events. The Stick Drop Test involves catching a 12-inch ruler dropped without warning between your thumb and index finger. Your score depends on where you catch it - grabbing it between 0-2.4cm is excellent.

Game Connection: These skills directly transfer to sports and video games - better reaction time means faster responses whether you're catching a ball or hitting a button combo.

Coordination combines your senses with body movements for smooth, accurate actions. The Juggling Test using a sipa (or rubber bands) measures eye-hand coordination by counting alternating hits with right and left palms. Scoring 41+ hits is excellent, while 1-10 hits needs improvement.

Balance and Training Principles

Balance is maintaining equilibrium whether you're standing still or moving. The Stork Balance Stand Test measures this by timing how long you can balance on one foot with the other foot placed against your knee and hands on your hips.

Your score depends on your age - older teens should balance longer than younger ones. Stop the timer if your hands come off your hips, your supporting foot moves, the raised foot loses contact with your knee, or your heel touches the ground. Take three trials and average your best times.

The Overload Principle is fundamental to getting fitter - you must do "more than normal" for improvement to happen. This means gradually increasing your workload beyond what your body is used to, following the FITT principles: Frequency (how often), Intensity (how hard), Time (how long), and Type (what kind).

Key Insight: Your body adapts to whatever you consistently do, so if you want to get stronger or faster, you need to gradually challenge it more than before.

Other important principles include Progression (systematically increasing workload over time), Specificity (training should match your goals), and Reversibility (fitness gains disappear if you stop training). These principles work together to create effective workout programs.

Creating Your Personal Fitness Program

The FITT Principle helps you design workouts that actually work. For frequency, aim for moderate cardio 5+ days per week or intense cardio 3 days per week. Strength training works best 2-3 non-consecutive days per week to allow muscle recovery.

Intensity varies by exercise type. For cardio, use your heart rate as a guide - beginners might work at moderate intensity while advanced athletes incorporate high-intensity intervals. For strength training, beginners should use lighter weights with more repetitions $2-3 sets of 12-20 reps$, while strength building requires heavier weights with fewer reps (5 sets of 3 reps).

Time depends on your fitness level and goals. Beginners might start with 15-20 minutes of cardio, progressing to 30-60 minutes. Strength training sessions can range from 30 minutes for split routines to an hour for full-body workouts.

Smart Strategy: Lower resting heart rate means better fitness - your heart doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood when you're in good shape.

Type refers to choosing specific activities that match your goals. For cardio, options include dancing, running, walking, jogging, and cycling. For strength training, you can use dumbbells, barbells, machines, or just your body weight - variety prevents boredom and keeps your body challenged.

Putting It All Together

Using the FITT Principle effectively means making gradual adjustments when your current routine becomes too easy. For example, if you're walking three times per week for 30 minutes, your body will eventually adapt and you'll stop seeing improvements.

When this happens, you can increase frequency by adding another workout day, boost intensity by walking faster or adding running intervals, extend time by making sessions longer, or change type by trying cycling or dancing instead.

The beauty of FITT is that changing just one element can dramatically improve your results. Your muscles develop when challenged beyond their previous limits - this is why the Overload Principle works so well with systematic progression.

Success Formula: Consistency beats perfection - doing something regularly is better than doing everything perfectly but inconsistently.

Remember that intensity is measured by how hard an exercise feels and your body's response (heart rate). Maintaining the right heart rate range ensures your workouts are effective without being dangerous. Your resting pulse rate should naturally decrease as you get fitter, indicating your heart is becoming more efficient.

Regular variation using FITT principles keeps both your body and mind engaged, preventing plateaus and boredom while ensuring continuous improvement toward your fitness goals.