My own Fitness Past and Future
- The exercise I participated in during my high school years was playing sport such as rugby and cricket at school level as well as action cricket and action netball on club and Provincial level. Being active with different sports gave me different exercise routines to develop strength, flexibility and endurance. I did a lot of running for fitness, core strength and muscle strengthening.
- This has benefited me while at school as my fitness levels was good which in return helped me to live a healthier lifestyle and taught me mental toughness. Being involved with sport also helped me to handle stress situations like academics as my sport was my outlet to reduce stress and this helped me to obtain better academics marks.
- The only limitations I experienced with respect to being able to follow a fitness program or sport was the time management aspect of it as there wasn’t always time to execute the fitness program due to academic pressure of assignments. Injuries also played a huge role as I had some minor to major injuries which prohibited me to follow a fitness program or even forced to take a brake from sport while busy with rehabilitation.
- I do believe that I will continue with a fitness regime after school due to my involvement with action cricket and action netball on a club and Provincial level. I do also coach and as a coach I need to be fit myself to be able to give my players the best advice and fitness program. Keeping your body healthy also gives you the mental capability to handle stress situations.
- After finishing school, I plan to still be involved with sport on a club and provincial level which will keep me fit and healthy.
- The limitations I think I might encounter will be time management and injuries. Time management will be important due to varsity life and academic requirements, however making sure my body stays fit, healthy and strong will help with the stress levels, coping with life in general and will help to limit any injuries.
- I would like to continue to keep active after school as it helps with stress levels, health and mind. By keeping active with sport, I will give myself a break from my ordinary stressed life and will bring balance.
Important Component of any Fitness Program
When planning a fitness program, you need to understand the most important components of physical fitness such as cardiorespiratory strength, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and body composition as this is vital to good health.
Muscular strength and endurance go hand in hand as both focus on training your neuromuscular system, but in different ways. Strength refers to the maximum amount of force a muscle can produce at one time mentioned as a one repetition maximum and endurance is the capability of a muscle to resist exhaustion while using a submaximal amount of force. It is a measure of how long a muscle can endure a lengthy contraction or many repetitive contractions.
Strength is a physical exercise is the use of resistance to encourage muscular contraction which builds strength of your muscles. It is an important component to include in a fitness program as this can provide important functional benefits and improvement in total health and well-being, including increased bone, muscle, tendon and ligament strength and toughness. It advances the joint function, reduce possible injury, increase bone density, increase metabolism, increase fitness and improve cardiac function.
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CSCS- certified trainer Audra Wilson said “I would recommend strength-training exercises that use major muscle groups as you will build muscle on your entire body, and your metabolism will increase in the long run,” added ACE- certified trainer Rachel MacPherson said “As you get stronger, you’re able to lift more and the effort required to do this will increase your heart rate and metabolism and burn fat.”
Strength training offers functional benefits. Stronger muscles improve posture, offer better support for joints and reduce the risk of injury from everyday activities. Through strength training you can stimulate your cardiovascular system due to maximum oxygen uptake. A 2007 meta-analysis found that strength training is effective for heart failure patients and for many people in rehabilitation or with a disability like a stroke or orthopedic surgery, strength training for weak muscles is a key factor to improve recovery.
Some examples of strength exercise one can do in a fitness program are:
- Lunges – to strengthen your hamstrings.
- Squats – to strengthen your quadriceps Standing calf raises – to strengthen your calf muscles
- Wall push-ups – to strengthen your chest, arm, shoulder and upper back muscles
- Biceps curl – to strengthen your biceps muscle at the front of your upper arm
- Triceps extension – to strengthen your triceps muscle at the back of your upper arm
- Abdominal crunches – to strengthen your rectus abdominal muscles at the front of your abdomen
- Quad knee and arm extension – to strengthen your upper, middle and lower back muscles
- Other strength exercises include also lifting weights, using resistance bands, using your body weight for resistance by doing push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, leg squats or push-ups against the wall.
I feel that the strength component is important to any fitness program for many reasons such as stronger muscles to improve performance in a variety of sports. It can also help to improve mood and counter feelings of depression or stress.
