Topic – Build Up That Body

Build Up That Body

We all know that being physically fit is a good thing. Being fit helps you keep your body at a healthy weight, helps prevent some diseases, makes you feel better mentally, gives you more energy, and helps you sleep better. Physical fitness has different parts or components. Four of these are muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness.

Muscle Strength

Muscle strength is the amount of force a muscle can produce or exert. Some types of exercise can make your muscles stronger. When your muscles are stronger, you can do everyday things more easily. And when you strengthen your muscles, you are strengthening your bones as well. When your muscles push and pull against your bones, this makes your bones stronger. Some activities and exercises that will build stronger muscles and bones are doing push-ups, playing tug-of-war, climbing stairs, running, yoga, and bike riding.

Muscle Endurance

Muscle endurance is different from muscle strength. Muscle endurance is how many times or for how long a muscle can exert a force. Muscle endurance is very important if you play a sport or game that lasts for a long time. Sports such as football, hockey, tennis, and cross-country running will help improve muscle endurance. Upper body exercises such as push-ups and chin-ups will help improve endurance and strength too.

Flexibility

Flexibility is how far your muscles can stretch. When you are flexible, you can move your arms and legs freely without feeling tightness or pain. You can bend and stretch easily. Exercise and activities you can do for good flexibility include gymnastics, ballet, and martial arts. Or you can do simple stretches such as touching your toes and bending your body from side to side.

Cardiovascular Fitness

Your heart pumps blood around your body through blood vessels. Your blood carries oxygen to all parts of your body.  Cardiovascular fitness is a measure of how well your heart pumps blood to deliver oxygen. When you do activities or an exercise that makes your heart pump faster, it gets better at doing its job. Anything that makes your heart beat faster and gets you breathing faster will help your heart improve. So go ahead and swim, play basketball, run, inline skate, jump rope, or cross-country ski. Your heart will thank you.

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