At the assessment I did recently, during the discussion period at the start, we were looking at the difference between health and fitness. We discussed what we thought made up health v fitness and how its more than possible to be fit without necessarily being healthy. I mean, you could probably talk any number of pro athletes, who are undoubtedly fit, but due to their lifestyles of late nights, less than ideal nutritional habits, lack of good sleep, clubs, drink etc are not the temples of health we assume!
We broke down health and fitness into what contributes to each as follows:
Health
Immunity: The ability to fight illness and infection. This is can be linked to a number of factors, such as:
Proper nutrition: Nutrition is key to giving the body what it needs for energy and recovery. To little and you wear yourself down, too much and you get large in all the wrong places. Imbalanced and you get a combo of both of the above.
Hydration: The body can go for a month without food, it won't be particularly pleasant but you could do it. You die in a couple of days without water. 2% drop in the body's fluid levels means a noticeable drop off in performance and mental function, 5% is extremely dangerous. Yet people continually don't drink anywhere near enough fluids.
Stress: This can be anabolic or catabolic. Catabolic stress is negative, it consumes energy rather than storing energy.
Sleep: Lack of sleep, too much sleep, getting to sleep too late, all have negative effects on the body. Hormone responses are linked to sleep (as well as many other factors).
Body mass index: Weight(in kgs)/height(in metres)squared. The result is an indication of how much weight you are carrying. Now, this is a bit deceptive as it does not take into account your body fat or where you are carrying your fat. For example, you get 2 guys, both 1.8m tall and 90kg. The BMI for these 2 is 28 (rounded up). This is above the upper healthy limit of 25. So both are unhealty, right? Not necessarily, if I said 1 of these guys has a chubby 25% body fat and the other is a ripped 8%. Two completely different physiques, 2 different health profiles.
Blood Pressure: Persistent high BP is one of the risk factors for strokes, heart attacks, heart failure, and is the leading cause of chronic renal failure. Even moderate elevation of arterial pressure leads to shortened life expectancy.
Low pressure can cause confusion. Hypo-tension is a medical concern only if it causes signs or symptoms, such as dizziness, fainting, or in extreme cases.
Body fat%: As mentioned above, body fat % is indicative of health. Essential body fat is around 2 - 5% for men and 10 - 13% for women. Less than that is too low for the body to function. Too high and the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes etc increase.
There other factors that influence the health of an individual, but these are probably the main factors that can affect your health.
Fitness
Factors that relate to physical fitness are:
Muscular strength - the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to exert a maximal force in 1 contraction. ie. 1 rep max.
Muscular endurance - the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to contract continually for a period of time without fatigue. the cross over from strength to endurance is around 10 reps.
Cardiovascular fitness - the ability of the heart and lungs to provide oxygen in the production of energy. ie. being able to drag yourself around (running, walking, cycling rowing etc) without feeling like you are going to pass out from gasping for air.
Motor skills - this is a cover-all term for co-ordination, balance, agility, reaction time etc.
As you can see, the factors that make up health and fitness are varied and not limited to what I've written here. The ability to be fit is possible for many people, however to be truly fit, you have to be far more disciplined outside of the gym environment when it comes to all the listed factors above. So eat well, drink lots, sleep well, chill out, get a check up from the doc and do the necessary to get healthy and fit!
No comments:
Post a Comment