This document defines physical fitness and its components. Physical fitness is the ability to perform daily tasks vigorously without fatigue. It has two main categories of components: health-related components including cardio-respiratory endurance, muscular strength, endurance and power, flexibility, and body composition. The second category is motor skill-related components such as agility, coordination, balance, reaction time and speed. Each component is defined and its importance explained for different physical activities and sports.

1. DEFINITION OF
PHYSICAL FITNESS
“ The ability to carry out daily tasks (work and
play) with vigour and alertness, without undue
fatigue and with ample energy to enjoy
leisure-time pursuits and to meet unforeseen
emergencies” (Clarke 1976)

3. COMPONENTS OF FITNESS
• Fitness needs to be expressed in terms
that are much more specific and clearly
understood. These terms are called the
components of fitness.
• This is the collective expression for
various aspects of fitness.

4. THE COMPONENTS OF FITNESS
The ‘health-related’ components are:
• cardio-respiratory endurance
• muscular strength
• (local) muscular endurance
• anaerobic power (associated with speed)
• flexibility
• body composition

5. THE COMPONENTS OF FITNESS
Motor-skill related components:
• muscular power
• speed
• agility
• co-ordination
• balance
• reaction time

6. LINKING FITNESS COMPONENTS
WITH ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENERGY SYSTEM
ANAEROBIC AEROBIC
ATP-PC Lactic acid Oxygen
Anaerobic power and speed Cardio-respiratory endurance
Local muscular endurance
Muscular strength
Muscular power
Agility
Balance
Reaction time

7. CARDIO-RESPIRATORY ENDURANCE
• Ability of the heart, lungs and blood
vessels to deliver oxygen to the muscles
and remove wastes
• Is most evident at rest; sustained activity
involving the whole body, such as running,
swimming and cycling long distances; and
during recovery

9. MUSCULAR STRENGTH
• The force/tension that a muscle or muscle
group can exert against a resistance in
one maximal effort
• It is important in sports in which we try to
gain or maintain position against an
opponent, or in which we aim to move an
object, our body or some body part,
forcefully

11. (LOCAL) MUSCULAR ENDURANCE
• The ability of a muscle or muscle group to
sustain an activity for a prolonged period
of time in the face of considerable local
fatigue
• Important in activities such as the arms in
a 200m swim; legs in a 1km cycling time-
trial; abdominals in a 1 min. sit-up test

13. ANAEROBIC POWER
• The ability to produce energy without
using oxygen
• The efficiency of the ATP-PC and lactic
acid systems are central factors to
anaerobic power
• Maximal efforts up to 10 seconds and
near-maximal efforts to about 1 minute

15. FLEXIBILITY
• The range of possible movement about a joint or
sequence of joints
• It is essential to all sports and recreational
activities
• It can be either static or dynamic
• Static flexibility is the ability to move a joint to its
maximum range of motion
• Dynamic flexibility is how easily a limb can be
moved through its range of motion when
executing a skill

17. BODY COMPOSITION
• Refers to the proportions of bone, muscle
and fat within the body
• We contrast the mass of bones, muscle
and organs – our lean body mass – with
body fat
• An athlete’s relative leanness or fatness
will have an impact on athletic
performance
• Fat is a non-energy-producing tissue

18. • Body Type
• There are three extremes of body types.
•
• Endomorph (711)
• A pear shaped body
• A rounded head
• Wide hips and shoulders
• Wider front to back rather than side to side.
• A lot of fat on the body, upper arms and thighs
•
• Mesomorph (171)
• A wedge shaped body
• A cubical head
• Wide broad shoulders
• Muscled arms and legs
• Narrow hips
• Narrow from front to back rather than side to side.
• A minimum amount of fat
•
• Ectomorph (117)
• A high forehead
• Receding chin
• Narrow shoulders and hips
• A narrow chest and abdomen
• Thin arms and legs
• Little muscle and fat.

20. MUSCULAR POWER
• The ability to exert a ‘maximal’ contraction in one
explosive act
• It is dependent on the interaction of speed and
strength
• ‘Maximum’ muscular power is generated when
the speed of contraction is around 35% of its
maximum and the force of contraction is about
35 % of the maximum strength attainable
• Exemplified by explosive activities eg. athletic
field events

22. AGILITY
• The ability to change direction accurately
and quickly while moving rapidly
• A combination of power, speed, flexibility,
balance and co-ordination
• Characterised by activities such as
dodging, baulking and weaving

24. CO-ORDINATION
• The smooth flow of movement in the
execution of a physical task
• The common denominator of all the skill-
related components of fitness
• It involves the nervous system and the
skeletal-muscular system working together
• Important in all physical activities

26. BALANCE
• The ability to maintain the equilibrium of
the body
• It can be either static or dynamic
• Static involves maintaining the equilibrium
in one fixed position
• Dynamic involves maintaining the
equilibrium while moving
• Balance is an essential element of most
sports

28. REACTION TIME
• The ability to process information via the
nervous system and to initiate a response
• It is the time taken from the brain receiving
the stimuli to the muscles contracting
• Average reaction time is about 0.2 sec.
• It is important in any sport that actions are
influenced by external stimuli