Assess for Success

Assess For Success – Understanding what makes up your fitness and how to improve it.
 
When trying to improve your overall health and fitness there are certain components we look closely at. If your goal is to improve your fitness it is really important to first identify the different components that make up our fitness and the different modes of exercise required to improve. A measure of current state of fitness is really important so you can track progress and measure success.
So just what are they and how do we improve them?
 

• Body Composition – refers to the makeup of your body, i.e. the amount of muscle compared to fat tissue in your body. You can improve this component with cardio and resistance exercises. The more lean muscle tissue in your body the better as you will burn energy much quicker.

• CardioVascular Fitness – refers to the functioning and efficiency of your heart and lungs. You can improve this with regular cardio activities, such as running, cycling, boxing or any activity that increases your heart rate, has you breathing harder and challenges you. The better your CV fitness the fitter you are. Everyday life activities become easier when you are cardio fit.

• Muscular Endurance – Refers to how long the muscle can sustain movement for. You can improve this with practice of various resistance based activities that challenge the muscle to keep working under stress or higher rep based programs. A good example is the push up. The more endurance your chest and shoulder muscles have the longer you can use them for, and the more push ups you can do.

• Muscular Strength – Refers to the specific strength of the muscle. Strength programs using weights and machines work at building strong muscles. By challenging the muscle with load the fibers will tear, then repair and grow stronger. The stronger the muscle the less likelihood of injury to the joints as the muscles protect and support these joints.

• Flexibility – refers to the range of motion about a particular joint. To improve this regular stretching is required to allow the muscle to lengthen and release. If the body is able to be mobile and flexible, posture is improved and it provides a great preventative to injury.

 
All components are equally important in sustaining a great level of overall fitness and finding a great sense of freedom in the body. A fitness assessment should show you where your strengths and weaknesses exist and can help you to set performance goals for your training.
Using the results of your fitness assessment and the key elements of programming we create clear direction towards achieving these goals. When setting up a program the important factors to consider are frequency of training, intensity of training, duration and type of activity. At Savvy we provide very purposeful training programs with very clear objectives. This helps our members piece together a consistent training pattern towards their goals. Our personal trainers have an exceptional understanding of the fitness components, assessment and programming and will set you up for success in  achieving peak fitness. We started the Outdoor Fitness Challenge this week and this program sets a great example of, Assessment – Goal Setting – Programming – Training – Re Assessment. Good luck to all of our challengers – we look forward to some outstanding outcomes!
Written by
Angela Saville