CHOOSING A FITNESS PROGRAMME 4: MOTOR SKILLS

Motor skills include the coordination, speed, power or agility required to complete an activity. There are six components of motor skills related to fitness. These are agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time and speed. A motor skill is associated with muscle activity. You carry out motor skills when your brain, nervous system and muscles work in harmony to move parts of your body in large or small movements. Motor skills improve with practice. These six components of motor skills define your athletic abilities. A well-rounded athlete seeks to constantly improve all six components equally.

Agility: is the ability to perform movements, quickly and in varied directions. Agility exercises are designed to enhance your speed and power. For example, changing directions to hit a tennis ball.

CHOOSING A FITNESS PROGRAMME 3: FLEXIBILITY TRAINING

My all time show-off flexibility posture

Flexibility has been defined as the range of motion about a joint and its surrounding muscles during movement. Flexibility training is probably the most undervalued component of fitness. The ability to move a joint through an adequate range of movement is important for daily activities in general as well as sports performance. Activities such as gymnastics, ballet, diving, karate, and yoga require improved flexibility. Although flexibility is variable between individuals (gender, age, and genetics) flexibility in some joints can be increased to a certain degree by exercise, with stretching.

CHOOSING A FITNESS PROGRAMME 2: RESISTANCE TRAINING

Resistance training, also referred to as strength training is simply any fitness activity aimed at strengthening the muscles. It is any exercise that causes the muscles to contract against an external resistance with the expectation of increases in strength, tone, mass, and/or endurance. The external resistance can be equipment, e.g. dumbbells or your body weight. A complete body workout ideally should include some resistance training to improve bone, joint function, bone density, muscle, tendon and ligament strength, as well as cardio exercise, to improve your heart and lung fitness. Some examples of resistance exercises include:

CHOOSING A FITNESS PROGRAMME 1: CARDIOVASCULAR TRAINING

You’ve decided to lose weight, or maybe you are slim but you have decided you need some physical activity. You head to a gym to register but then you are confused about what fitness programme is right for you.  In this article and the next three, I would briefly highlight four components of fitness training to help you make an informed decision. These are: Cardiovascular training, Resistance training, Flexibility, and Motor skills.

Cardiovascular training: the term “cardiovascular” relates to the circulatory system, which comprises the heart and blood vessels. The cardiovascular system is responsible for circulating blood throughout the body. A cardiovascular fitness programme would therefore aim at building the circulatory system. Cardiovascular fitness not only improves your ability to carry out activities more efficiently, but, also reduces the risk of diseases such as coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, among others. Some benefits of cardiovascular fitness include:

HITTING THE GYM?

I’ve discovered that most people arrive at the gym with no goals. Ask 80% of gym users why they are there and you’ll probably hear “I just want to lose weight.”  When you arrive the gym with no goals, you’ll most likely end up over-working areas of your body which need less workout and ignoring those areas which need the workout.