Exercise & Fitness

A Healthier You with the Five Components of Fitness
from the desk of Laura Moore, ACE certified fitness instructor, Community Health Club Many of us are interested in investing in our current and future well-being by leading a healthier lifestyle. There are five components of fitness to consider. These are: • Cardiorespiratory Fitness • Muscular Endurance • Muscular Strength • Flexibility • Body Composition For relatively healthy individuals, it’s important to develop all of these. Cardiorespiratory fitness can be achieved by getting a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate activity 6 days a week. For the prevention of weight gain, or to lose weight, it should be increased to 60-90 minutes per day. Muscular endurance and strength should be worked on 2-3 times per week, with a day of rest in between. Simply adding resistance to exercise in the form of resistance bands, weights, or even body weight will suffice. Flexibility training is often overlooked or skipped in an effort to spend more time burning calories or improving muscle tone. This is a mistake since stretching can help prevent injury. Stretches should be done when the muscles are warm and should be held steady (no bouncing) for a minimum of 15 seconds. Body composition is indicated by BMI. This is a number to know and can be found by accessing an online calculator at http://www.gethealthysanangelo.com/calculators.php. As you embark on your quest to live healthy, remember to consider all five components to ensure your long term success.