What are the different types of fitness?

Question

Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

What are the different types of fitness?

43

Thanks

Matt Tinski

Exercise Physiologist, Personal Trainer

Matt offers professional advice for introducing and / or fine tuning exercise for weight loss and has assisted many clients with various chronic illnesses to … View Profile

Each sport / activity requires some / all of the following to be successful:

Speed, Agility, Power, Anaerobic Capacity, Aerobic Endurance, Flexibility, Anthropometrics

Reply to this post

·

Report

Sports Medicine Australia · Answer 2

48

Thanks

Sports Medicine Australia

Sports Medicine Australia is Australia’s peak national umbrella body for sports medicine and sports science, and is widely acknowledged overseas as the world’s leading multi-disciplinary … View Profile

There are four main types of fitness

Aerobic endurance
Your aerobic endurance is your ability to exercise your whole body for a long period of time, at a moderate intensity like jogging. When you are first starting to train and you are not very active start off slowly.

Anaerobic threshold
When you reach the anaerobic zone your body can’t supply enough oxygen for your muscles. The muscles have to use stored reserves of fuel and waste products start to accumulate, the main one being lactic acid. The waste products that are accumulated can make your body stiff so it is important to stretch and drink plenty of water to get rid of the lactic acid.

Muscular strength
Muscular strength is the capacity of your body’s muscle to generate large amounts of force in a short period of time. To increase your muscle strength you have to concentrate on the muscle you want to make stronger. You can use small weights or resistance bands to improve your strength. Always start off slowly and plan a rest day in between your weight training days.

Muscular endurance
Muscular endurance is how long and well your muscles can keep generating force. Having good muscle endurance is crucial for every fitness activity. Like aerobic endurance you have to overload your muscles to increase their endurance.

Reply to this post

·

Report

John · Answer 3

16

Thanks

John

HealthShare Member

There is ONLY one fitness - the ability to do safely and effectively the activities you desire to do in your daily life.

To achieve fitness - you need purpose.

If your purpose is merely to

sit in your car and drive to work,
have the strength to lift a BigMac to your mouth and
spend your evenings and weekends sitting on the lounge and watching TV

then it's pretty easy to be FIT - but you still need some muscular strength to get on your feet to get to the fridge and the bathroom occasionally.

So, John's Law - start with a purpose and then target a mix of aerobic endurance and muscular strength and endurance training to ensure that you are FIT enough to enjoy the activities in life that give you purpose!!

Reply to this post

·

Report

Brad McGregor · Answer 4

15

Thanks

Brad McGregor

Exercise Physiologist

Brad is an exercise physiologist specialising in musculoskeletal rehabilitation. Clients include Workcover Qld, Commonwealth Rehabilitation Services and other private insurers. He has worked with athletes … View Profile

In my opinion fitness is term that is purely dependant upon task. A high-level professional is able to analyse & disect a particular sport &/or activity & identify the specific requirements in the terms of:

posture
energy system utilisation
velocity
movement patterns.

The Australian Strength & Conditioning Association define 4 broad physical capacities:

strength
speed
endurance
flexibility.

Therein the following subqualtiers are also identified:

strength (strength endurance, hypertrophy, speed strength, max strength, control & stability)
speed (reaction, acceleration, agility, max speed, speed endurance)
endurance (aerobic, lactic & alactic)
flexibility (static, passive, dynamic, PNF, ballistic).

Reply to this post

·

Report

score 10 · Answer 5

10