The 5 Components of Fitness

It’s hard to know how to prioritize when it comes to fitness: should the focus be on your core and balance? Your agility and speed? How about your coordination and reaction time?

The truth is, all of these factors are important if you want to achieve total fitness; aka the measurement of how well our body performs in different areas.

What are the 5 Components of Fitness?

This is where we can turn to the idea of the 5 components of fitness. Although there are various ways to identify the main focuses of a routine, you can expect the main categories to involve cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. Remember, this isn’t the be-all-end-all to understanding the human body and fitness, but it is a relatively good place to start.

Cardiovascular endurance

This component ensures that your lungs, heart, and blood vessels are in good shape for helping you last through your workout – after all, these body parts are responsible for supplying oxygen to your bloodstream. You would quickly lose your ability to [keep going] if this isn’t a strong suit for you. Increasing your cardiovascular endurance can lead to more efficient heart performance, therefore lessening your chances for susceptibility to heart disease.

Muscular Strength

Strength is pretty straightforward – and also pretty important. You want the ability to lift heavy objects without putting excessive strain on other parts of your body. Strengthening underactive muscle tissue is going to help you be a lot less prone to injuries going forward.

Muscular Endurance

Similar to cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance will help you exert force against an object for a long period of time. There’s almost no point in being strong enough to do damage if you can’t keep it coming. Training your muscles to last in the same way you train your heart and lungs only reinforces the work you’re putting into your body.

Flexibility

Flexibility is key to increasing mobility and overall physical performance. You want to be just as quick on your feet as you are strong. Plus, this will help you with overall stiffness, posture, coordination, and reduce potential injuries. (Working out without warming up is never a good idea.)

Body Composition

Lastly, we have body composition. This is simply the amount of bone, water, fat, and muscle that you have in your body. There are three main composition types that you should be aware of; ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph. Ectomorphs are known to be slim and lean, mesomorphs are known to build muscle, and endomorphs tend to hold onto body fat.

Each of these components plays a major part in how you should approach a workout routine; which is why consulting a professional is a good idea. Don’t be afraid to talk to our team about a well-rounded solution that effectively works the entire body.