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I write about weight loss, but I also like to keep in mind that there is more to good health than losing weight.
It’s important to make sure you are physically fit.

The 5 Components of physical fitness are:

• Body Composition is the amount of muscle, fat, water and bone percentages.
• Muscle Endurance is the amount muscles can perform before fatiguing.
• Muscle Strength is the amount of force our muscles can produce.
• Flexibility is the range of motion of your joints or the ability of your joints to move freely and the mobility of your muscles to move without restrictions.
• Cardiovascular endurance is how efficiently your heart, blood vessels, and lungs to supply oxygen-rich blood to working muscles during physical activity.

Ask yourself the following questions when assessing your physical health:

What is your body composition?

When determining body composition, use a BIA Scale to measure fat percentages vs. Muscle percentages within the body. Every morning I weigh myself on an Eat Smart Digital Body Fat Scale. When weighing yourself, you want to pay attention to fat vs. muscle percentages. Doing research I’ve discovered that there is a consensus that an acceptable body fat composition for women is 25-31% and 18-24% for men. More specific charts can be found on Healthline.com.

How long can your muscles endure before failure?

Understanding muscle endurance is a bit more complex than muscle strength. It’s the ability for muscles to work over a period of time before fatigue sets in. A few ways to build up muscle endurance is to use light weights for a higher number of reps or cardio training.

Another way to test your endurance is to perform High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT.

The sit-up test is most often used to test muscular endurance. Find out how to properly perform this test.

How strong are your muscles?

Picking up the heaviest amount of weight you can in the fewest amount of reps shows muscle strength. Increasing your muscle strength can help fight against bone loss, osteoporosis and can prevent injury. It also helps you burn more calories because the muscles burn more.

The push-up test is most often used to test muscular strength. Find out how to properly perform this test.

Can you touch your toes?

Test your flexibility

Why is Flexibility important? Good flexibility prevents injuries and helps us move properly. Flexibility and mobility go hand in hand. It can act as a measurement of your range of motion for your joints. Poor flexibility can be a result of tight muscles that need to be rolled out either by a massage ball or a roller. Another flexibility exercise for improving flexibility is to practice yoga. Finally, you can find assisted stretching facilities in your area to help you.

If you would like to measure your flexibility, the sit and reach test is the most often used flexibility exercise. Find out how to properly perform this test.

How fit is your heart?

Maintaining Cardiovascular health is vital to combatting heart disease. One of the most popular cardiovascular exercises is running. If you are like me and don’t like running here are other options:

• Cycling – Riding your bike can be a fun way to get your cardiovascular system working. Not to be confuse with spin class which is grueling and may cause stress on body that can cause unwanted results.
• Swimming – Another great cardiovascular exercise that is easy on the joints.
• Hiking – Gives you more of a workout than walking, but won’t stress out your body like running.
• Rowing – A rowing machine can be just was good of a workout as rowing for real.

Even though running is my least favorite exercise, the Cooper Run is one of the best ways to test cardiovascular endurance. To find out more about how to properly perform this test, read more here.

When you test your body in the 5 Components of physical fitness, you are getting a picture of your overall health. You can see the areas that you need to work on while continuing to work towards certain goals.

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