Physical fitness

Physical fitness is used in two close meanings - general fitness (a state of health and well-being) and specific fitness (a task-oriented definition based on the ability to perform specific aspects of sports or occupations).
General fitness
Physical fitness is the result of regular exercise, proper diet and nutrition, and proper rest for physical recovery within the parameters allowed by the genome.
Physical fitness is often divided into the following types (in alphabetical order):
Accuracy
Agility
Balance
Body composition
Cardiovascular endurance
Coordination
Flexibility and joint range of motion
Strength
Power
Speed
Stamina
Many sources also cite mental and emotional health as an important part of overall fitness. This is often presented in textbooks as a triangle made up of three sub-sections which represent physical, emotional, and mental fitness. Hence, one may be physically fit but may still suffer from a mental illness or have emotional problems. The "ideal triangle" is balanced in all areas. Physical fitness can also prevent or treat many chronic health conditions brought on by unhealthy lifestyle or aging.
Specific fitness
Specific or task-oriented fitness is a person's ability to perform in a specific activity with a reasonable efficiency, for example, sports or military service. Specific training prepares athletes to perform well in their sports.
Examples are:
100m sprint - in a sprint the athlete must be trained to work anaerobically throughout the race.
Marathon - in this case the athlete must be trained to work aerobically and their endurance must be built-up to a maximum.
Fire fighters and police officers must undergo regular Fitness testing to determine if they are capable of the physically demanding tasks required for the job before they are employed. Students in elementary and high school also undergo regular fitness testing. In the Scouting programs of some countries, students can earn fitness badges, such as the Physical Fitness Badge which is earned in the United States.

Does walking really work?

A team from the University of Alberta compared more traditional moderate intensity fitness regimes with the often recommended 10,000 step a day walking plan and found that the improvements in fitness achieved by the exercisers were markedly higher than those of the walkers.Dr Vicki Harber, who led the study, said that the results had shown that gentle exercise was not enough to get people fit, and voiced her concern that too much emphasis was being placed on encouraging people to do walk and take any form of gentle exercise, when in fact this in itself is of little real value; ‘Generally, low-intensity activity such as walking alone is not likely to give anybody marked health benefits compared to programmes that occasionally elevate the intensity’ she said.The researchers studied 128 sedentary people, dividing them into two groups of walkers and exercisers. The walkers undertook their 10,000 step regime for six months as did the group that was given the more intense exercise program. Both groups burned off the same amount of energy.The researchers measured blood pressure and lung capacity in both groups and found that the walking program increased oxygen intake by an average four per cent, while the exercise group achieved a ten per cent increase.Harber did not dismiss the benefits of walking out of hand though, saying that the 10,000 step program was a good introduction to exercise, and advocated gradually introducing more vigorous activity into those steps; ‘Across your day, while you are achieving those 10,000 steps, take 200 to 400 of them at a brisker pace’ she said.Professor Stuart Biddle, an expert in exercise science at the University of Loughborough, concurred with Harber that current guidelines for exercise may not go far enough. But he also warned that increasing the recommendations to include more vigorous activity could be something of a shot in the foot as it could well deter the more sedentary among the population from exercising altogether, whereas the walking guidelines at least seemed achievable; ‘you have got to strike a compromise between physiology and psychology. The harder you make it, the fewer people will actually do it’ he said.