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What

Fitness – A definition
  • To be optimally able to perform all required daily living activities and all required work and chosen leisure activities.

  • Core to overall fitness is to be cardiorespiratory fit – The focus of most information on this site
    • Cardiorespiratory fitness is also known as; Cardiovascular or Aerobic fitness and often just referred to as Cardio.
    • A good level of cardiorespiratory fitness is, in simple terms, when your heart, lungs and the rest of your bodies circulatory system all work together very efficiently. This goes right down to a cellular level with your body basically having better functioning / stronger cells. Exercise adapts your neuromuscular and cardiorespiratory systems to improve the delivery of oxygen from the air to the mitochondria within your cells and enable better regulation of muscle metabolism.
      • Good heart health supported by good heart muscle fitness helps prevent heart attacks which can lead to heart muscle damage. Unlike other muscles in the human body heart muscles once damaged cannot be repaired.
      • "Skeletal  muscle  changes  after  exercise  training include  more  and  larger  mitochondria  and  increased  oxidative enzyme activity, which allow for a greater sustained level of aerobic capacity with lower blood lactate levels. In addition,  trained  muscle  exhibits  increased  utilization  of  fatty acids during submaximal exercise, which extends endurance. Muscle  fiber  type  and  size  adaptations  reflect  changes  that enhance aerobic potential. Each of these adaptations contributes to greater capacity to use oxygen and improve endurance. Endurance training enhances the ability to perform exercise at both submaximal and maximal intensities but is specific to those  muscle  groups  that  have  undergone  training  (training specificity). This is reflected either by the ability to exercise longer at a similar workload or by an increase in the workload attained at a given HR. Furthermore, the results of these adaptations increase the anaerobic threshold (the point at which blood lactate begins to accumulate). Adaptation to submaximal exercise is also associated with a lower HR–systolic blood pressure product for a given exercise task, reflecting reduced myocardial oxygen demand for that level of work." - Source = Exercise Standards for Testing and Training - A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Gerald F. Fletcher, et al:
      • For a video about human physiology and the impacts of exercise see the following link:
      • For an anatomy video about cardiorespiratory changes to the human body following exercise training (showing relevant preserved body parts) see the following link:







  • Mechanisms via which physical activity has beneficial effects on health








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