Physical Wellness: For anyone who has to write a gym term paper on personal fitn ess Uploaded by masone4718

on Dec 05, 2006 Physical fitness can most aptly be defined as the body's ability to complete dai ly activities without becoming too sore, without becoming too fatigued, and with out getting out of breath. The concept of physical fitness involves three disti nct factors, which are: cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, and nutrition . It is imperative for one to allot an ample amount of time to each of these fa ctors, as well as following a program specially suited to his or her needs. A major component of physical wellness is cardiovascular fitness. Cardiovascula r fitness is the ability of the circulatory system to provide oxygen-rich blood for energy to the bodys organs. A persons pulse is the throbbing of arteries prod uced by the contractions of the heart. One may read his or her pulse at either the wrist or the neck. A persons resting heart rate is his or her heart rate at rest. To calculate this, one may simply count the beats of the heart per minute . A persons maximum heart rate is the maximum number of times his or her heart c an beat in one minute. To calculate this, one may simply subtract his or her ag e from 220. The target heart rate is the number of times ones heart should beat per minute when exercising. This is between 60- and 90-percent of ones maximum h eart rate. To increase cardiovascular fitness, one should develop a program tha t follows the principles of FIT training. For frequency, one should do an exercis e between 3 and 5 times per week. For intensity, one should base how hard he or she exercises on the target heart rate. For time, one should start slowly, but gradually increase to approximately 45 to 60 minutes per day. Before engaging in this type of program, one should stretch and loosen up his or her muscles, an d he or she should allow the muscles to cool down after an exercise, mostly by w alking until he or she is near the resting heart rate. An example of a good car diovascular fitness program that I would follow is: Day 1 at track: Warm-up (5 minutes) Slow jog (20 minutes) Walk (5 minutes) Slow jog (20 minutes) Cool-down (5 minutes) Total time spent: 55 minutes Day 2 at pool: Warm-up (5 minutes) Slow swim (15 minutes) Rest (5 minutes) Intense swim (15 minutes) Cool-down (10 minutes) Total time spent: 50 minutes Day 3 at track: Warm-up (5 minutes) 2-lap warm-up jog (5 minutes) Walk (5 minutes) 2 mile run (Start at 14 minutes, would seek to reduce time on each occasion) Cool-down (10 minutes) Total time spent: 40 minutes

Another major component of physical wellness is muscular strength. Musc ular strength is the ability of your body to lift a certain amount of weight at a given time. When working on muscular strength, one should know what sets and rep etitions are. A set is a number of repetitions for which one performs a certain exercise. A repetition is the act of lifting and lowering a weight once. A max imum lift is the most amount of weight one can lift for one repetition. When be

ginning a weight training program, one should always start slowly, to get the bo dy used to performing strenuous exercises. Moreover, a spotter should always be used when performing exercises. Lastly, before lifting, one should stretch the muscles he or she is about to work. An example of a strength training program that I would follow is: Upper Body Workout: Chest Bench Press 4 sets: 1 warm-up set of low weight, 3 sets of 6-8 reps at high weight Back Lat Pulldowns 4 sets: 1 warm-up set of low weight, 3 sets of 6-8 reps at high weight Lower Body Workout: Quads Leg Extension 4 sets: 1 warm-up set o f low weight, 3 sets of 6-8 reps at high weight Calves Calf Raise 4 sets: 1 warm-up set of low weight, 3 sets of 6-8 reps at high weight A final major component of physical wellness is nutrition. A simple way of eating properly is to follow the food pyramid. The six areas of the pyramid are: grains, vegetables, fruits, fats and oils, milk and dairy products, and me at/beans/fish/nuts. For someone following the routines mentioned above, he shou ld have 10 ounces of grains, 3.5 cups of vegetables, 2.5 cups of fruits, 3 cups of milk, 7 ounces of meats and beans, and 8 teaspoons of oils daily. Not eating properly could lead to several eating disorders. Obesity is an eating disorder where one becomes excessively fat. This disorder could lead to carious disease s, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and sleep apnea. Another eating disorder is anorexia, which is excessive starvation. A final eating disorder is bulimia, which is when one engages in binge eating, followed by vomiting, abusi ng laxatives, or excessive exercising. All of these diseases more than often l ead to death. To avoid nutritional diseases, one should have a balanced diet. A final part of nutrition is body fat. For young males, it is considered healthy to have betwe en 10 and 25 percent body fat. For young females, it is considered health to ha ve between 20 and 35 percent body fat. Physical wellness can be described as the ability to perform daily activ ities without soreness, fatigue, or loss of breath. To ensure of this, one shou ld tailor a physical wellness program to his needs. This program should include the three areas of cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, and nutrition. Submitted by : masone4718 Date Submitted : 12/05/2006 Category : Miscellaneous Views : 1122