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Elements of Physical Fitness
Dec. 4th, 2012 02:20 amWhen people think of physical fitness, they usually think of aerobic fitness, but of course there are many aspects of fitness. These are the ones I've always thought of:
* aerobic fitness - Supposedly exercising at 60 - 80% of your maximum heart rate helps with this. If maximum heart rate is 220 beats per minute minus your age, I've noticed that anaerobic exercise (above 80% of this maximum) is also needed to minimize my resting pulse, but maybe that estimate of maximum heart rate is not a good one for me. (Even back when I was only 25.)
* strength - It's good to be able to lift heavy things and open heavy doors. I also put running speed in this category.
* flexibility - Being able to reach, improved by stretching.
* balance - Not falling over all the time, improved with yoga and tai chi; good for not falling down the stairs and breaking a hip.
* coordination - Hand-eye coordination that lets you catch a ball and throw where you aim. Also the fine motor skills that let you thread a needle, color within the lines, and chop an onion instead of your fingers, but I'm much better at this than the gross motor skills.
**
A while ago I had some kind of rotator cuff (shoulder) issues that were fixed by physical therapy. Then recently I had the same issues with my other shoulder plus plantar fasciitis (heel) issues, also generally treated with physical therapy. In no case was there a single event that was the obvious cause of these troubles. That's disconcerting. How do I prevent it? I decided to read an introductory textbook on physical therapy. (I have Kisner's Therapeutic Exercise.)
The most interesting part of chapter 1 is the list of goals for physical therapy. It looks a lot like the above list:
* strength
* endurance and cardiovascular fitness - both muscular endurance and overall endurance
* mobility and flexibility - this is where my shoulder and heel issues come in--I think of them as pain issues, but specifically they're mobility issues
* stability - one I don't normally think of: "the synergistic coordination of the neuromuscular system to provide a stable base for superimposed functional movements or habits," sounds like core strength, so maybe it's part of my strength/speed category
* relaxation - another one I don't normally think of: being able to relieve muscular tension; tension headaches, sore neck muscles, and some of the pain of childbirth are due to prolonged muscular tension
* coordination, balance, and functional skills - they put all these together in one category; functional skills "refer to the varied motor skills necessary to function independently in all aspects of daily living," which sounds like coordination to me.
Hmm, this book may be a lot less esoteric than I thought it was going to be.
Cake of the Day
You get two in one: a mushroom garden and a ship:
* aerobic fitness - Supposedly exercising at 60 - 80% of your maximum heart rate helps with this. If maximum heart rate is 220 beats per minute minus your age, I've noticed that anaerobic exercise (above 80% of this maximum) is also needed to minimize my resting pulse, but maybe that estimate of maximum heart rate is not a good one for me. (Even back when I was only 25.)
* strength - It's good to be able to lift heavy things and open heavy doors. I also put running speed in this category.
* flexibility - Being able to reach, improved by stretching.
* balance - Not falling over all the time, improved with yoga and tai chi; good for not falling down the stairs and breaking a hip.
* coordination - Hand-eye coordination that lets you catch a ball and throw where you aim. Also the fine motor skills that let you thread a needle, color within the lines, and chop an onion instead of your fingers, but I'm much better at this than the gross motor skills.
**
A while ago I had some kind of rotator cuff (shoulder) issues that were fixed by physical therapy. Then recently I had the same issues with my other shoulder plus plantar fasciitis (heel) issues, also generally treated with physical therapy. In no case was there a single event that was the obvious cause of these troubles. That's disconcerting. How do I prevent it? I decided to read an introductory textbook on physical therapy. (I have Kisner's Therapeutic Exercise.)
The most interesting part of chapter 1 is the list of goals for physical therapy. It looks a lot like the above list:
* strength
* endurance and cardiovascular fitness - both muscular endurance and overall endurance
* mobility and flexibility - this is where my shoulder and heel issues come in--I think of them as pain issues, but specifically they're mobility issues
* stability - one I don't normally think of: "the synergistic coordination of the neuromuscular system to provide a stable base for superimposed functional movements or habits," sounds like core strength, so maybe it's part of my strength/speed category
* relaxation - another one I don't normally think of: being able to relieve muscular tension; tension headaches, sore neck muscles, and some of the pain of childbirth are due to prolonged muscular tension
* coordination, balance, and functional skills - they put all these together in one category; functional skills "refer to the varied motor skills necessary to function independently in all aspects of daily living," which sounds like coordination to me.
Hmm, this book may be a lot less esoteric than I thought it was going to be.
Cake of the Day
You get two in one: a mushroom garden and a ship:
