What does “fit” mean to you? How you look? How you feel? How far you can run? What you can lift?
There are in fact 3 categories of fitness that we all need to do for total fitness - how many of these can you tick off each week? If you can incorporate a cardiovascular, a muscle fitness and a flexibility workout into your exercise plans for the week, you’re creating a blueprint for a healthy, well-rounded routine.
1. Cardiovascular exercise
This is the one that gets your heart, lungs and blood vessels working well to transport the oxygen around your body. These exercises train the cardiovascular system through repetitive, dynamic movements using the major muscle groups for a more prolonged time.
2. Muscular fitness
This component of your exercise works on your muscle strength and endurance. It involves getting the muscles to be stronger by lifting weights for a few repetitions. Muscle endurance and strength are vital for maintaining the ability to walk longer distances, take the stairs or carry shopping bags – really important for the basic tasks as we get older.
3. Flexibility
This helps to prevent muscle imbalance and allows us to move more freely through a range of movements. It’s often overlooked, but without stretching, our muscles and joints become stiff and our movement more limited. A simple roll-down stretch to touch your toes is a great way to start every day. Our Stretch and Pilates classes really help with flexibility which in turn makes the other classes easier and more effective.
We all have a different view of what ‘fit’ looks like, but fitness is about so much more than appearance - it’s about combining the cardiovascular, muscle strength and flexibility to be able to live our lives to the full without being hindered by a lack of movement or strength. For example, a marathon runner cannot just run and run without getting injured pretty quickly. He or she should incorporate strength & flexibility training to complement the cardiovascular training.
Here at Gemma Pearce Fitness we think the ‘looking good’ part of getting fit is just a happy by-product of feeling fitter and healthier on the inside.
We offer a range of classes that you can interchange to get the best level of cardio, muscle strength, endurance and flexibility for you. Visit www.gemmapearcefitness.co.uk for all the details.