By: Bryan Anton Hines

Physical fitness is considered a measure of the body’s ability to function efficiently, effectively and without injury in work and leisure activities. And to pursue recreational activities and to cope with emergency situations. 

Skill-related fitness includes components such as agility, balance, coordination, reaction time, power and speed.

Performance in most sports is determined by the athlete’s technical, tactical, physiological, psychological and social characteristics. In the present article, the physical aspect will be evaluated with a focus on what limits performance, and how training can be conducted to improve performance.

There are five performance related components: Body composition, Cardiovascular endurance, Flexibility, Muscular endurance, and Muscular strength.

Body composition is used to describe the percentages of fat, bone and muscle in the human body. The body fat percentage is the most interest because it can be very helpful in assessing health. The four component model, which divides body weight into fat, water, mineral, and protein can overcome these limitations. Many factors influence your body fat percentage, including sex, age, fitness level, and lifestyle. On the flip side, a body fat percentage that’s too high is a risk factor for chronic illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Cardiovascular endurance is a measure of how well you can do exercises that involve your whole body at moderate to high intensity for an extended time. Your cardiovascular fitness, is also called your cardiorespiratory fitness; says a lot about your health and the potential for health outcomes. Simply put, measures how well your body takes in oxygen and delivers it to your muscles and organs during prolonged periods of exercise. Cardiorespiratory endurance is measured by maximum oxygen uptake and how it’s used during intense exercise. A movement or position designed to stretch specific muscles, with the goal of increasing flexibility and range of motion in that specific area.

A flexibility exercise can be any kind of stretches, as long as it increases your range of motion and lengthens your muscles and joints.

Muscular endurance is how many times you can move that weight without getting exhausted. There are different types of muscular endurance; such as sustained walking, running, cycling, and resistance training.

Last and surely not the least muscular strength is the ability to exert maximal force in one single contraction, such as lifting a weight that you could lift only once before needing a short break. Muscular power refers to a great force production over a short period of time, such as in fast leg kicks and explosive jumping.

There are phases in fitness performance are from the OPT Model:

  • Phase 1: Stabilization Endurance.
  • Phase 2: Strength Endurance.
  • Phase 3: Muscular Development and Hypertrophy.
  • Phase 4: Maximal Strength.
  • Phase 5: Power.

Stabilization endurance training uses high repetitions and proprioceptively enriched activities that challenge an exerciser’s balance. These proprioceptive type activities are progressively introduced from stable to unstable. strength endurance training means training with a high number of repetitions at low weights.

Strength endurance training therefore does not train with maximum strength, but only with an intensity of about 50 percent of maximum performance. Muscular hypertrophy involves increasing muscle size, typically through strength training.

Putting strain on the muscles through working out causes the body to repair them, resulting in an increase in muscle fibers. Having more muscle fibers will lead to greater strength and muscle size.

Maximum strength is the maximum force a muscle can exert in a single maximal voluntary contraction.  The Watts definition for power is the ability to exert force in the shortest period of time.

The physical formula of power is Power = Force multiplied by velocity or Power = Work and time. Nutrition can help enhance athletic performance. An active lifestyle and exercise routine, along with eating well, is the best way to stay healthy.

Eating a good diet can help provide the energy you need to finish a race, or just enjoy a casual sport or activity. Good nutrition can enhance sporting performance. A well planned, nutritious diet should meet most of an athlete’s vitamin and mineral needs, and provide enough protein to promote muscle growth and repair.

Foods rich in unrefined carbohydrates, like wholegrain breads and cereals, should form the basis of the diet. One of the most important and obvious connections between fitness and nutrition is that following a good nutrition routine can give one more energy, and help to encourage a regular fitness program.

So, remember in order to maintain good physical performance, you have to have a well planned out nutritious balance.

Philippians 4:13

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.