What Does It Mean To Be Physically Healthy And Fit?

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, being physically healthy and fit is “The ability to perform physical activity achieved by doing a set of attributes that people have”. Physically healthy or fit isn’t just about being able to run fast, having abs, or just lifting heavyweights. It comprises of few main components of fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

So, you’ve finally decided to get serious about exercising. That’s great as it’s a decision only you can make for yourself.

But before you embark on a fitness routine, it would be good to take a minute or two to ask yourself this: what does it really mean to be physically healthy and fit?

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Benefits of being physically healthy and fit

You can reduce the chance of getting sick by some of the well-known diseases by maintaining a healthy lifestyle and physical fitness.
Without changing weight, your body composition can be changed with regular exercise.
Athletes from different sport’s show different heart conditions.
During hypertrophy and neural changes, the strength of our muscle increases.
Prevent your body from a number of medical complaints by increasing flexibility do stretching.

To begin with, the term health is closely interrelated with fitness. Physical health is a multifaceted term in a sense that it means considering a range of things from the absence of disease and sickness, and your level of fitness.

This can be affected by such factors as your lifestyle, what you eat, your level of physical activity, and general behavior. On the other hand, physical fitness deals with, as the adverb states, the physical state of your body, its health, and well-being. Fitness is achievable through nutrition, exercise, and rest.

5 Elements of fitness

Having gotten that out of the way, we can move on to the question of what are the 5 elements of fitness. First, there’s cardiovascular endurance, second and third, muscular strength and endurance; fourth is flexibility and fifth, body composition.

At its simplest, here’s how to keep your body healthy and strong: eat the right kinds of food; engage in some sort of activity regularly; avoid vices like drinking alcohol and smoking; accrue enough sleeping hours to rest and recover.

1. Having goals and being patient

Getting into fitness usually means being inspired by a target or a goal – losing weight, building bulk, fitting into a swimsuit, etc. Those are nice sources of motivation, no doubt. But we have all witnessed our fair share of “how to get in shape in 2 months;” “how to get in shape in 1 month;” or “how to look good in a week” click-bait posts and articles that promise quick results that seem too good to be true.

Beware of these false claims as some may work but backfire over the long-term. For example, some techniques resort to extreme water loss that can deceive you about your real weight loss; not only can you quickly gain the pounds lost, it can also be dangerous. Having mini goals to stay fit could be a better way to achieve health and fitness – each forms a more easily –achieved stepping stone you can build on.

On the other extreme, new exercisers sometimes end up sore and discouraged, wanting to admit defeat, and resort to asking “does working out get easier?” The good thing is that it does. Keep at it, keep it moderate, and you will get stronger and better.

2. No gym, no problem

The issue of physical activity can be a source of confusion especially to new exercisers. There is a lingering belief that you have to subscribe to a gym to get fit and for a lot of folks, this is a barrier to making an effort to get into shape.

Not everyone has the time nor the resources to become a gym member and workout there on a regular basis. The truth of the matter is, you can workout right where you live if you know how to stay fit and healthy at home.

3. Unstructured activities

First off, there are a host of unstructured activities or non-regimented exercises you can undertake. Is cleaning the house exercise? Yes, it is, along with simple activities that we often consider as tasks like walking the pet dog, gardening, climbing the stairs, walking from the parking lot to the office building. These don’t cost anything but can help build up your endurance.

Running is a popular way to get your aerobic fitness up to speed. Possibly you’re questioning yourself “how do I start running even when I am out of shape?” If you’ve been sedentary or have not exercised before embarking on the fitness path, it’s best to start slow. Take walks interspersed with slow running, say, 18 minutes of walking on a 20-minute workout.

Also, build up your endurance first before attempting something like a 1-2 hour run. Certainly no running with weights on your back.

How about plain walking? It’s a good way to accrue exercise minutes as well as exercise with a minimal amount of learning curve and cost required. But perhaps you’re asking, “how many steps a day to keep fit is needed?”

The average count is 3000-4000 a day for general health, slowly building up to 10,000 steps in increments of an added thousand steps every two weeks.

If the weather doesn’t allow for running or walking outdoors, you can try step-ups using exercise boxes step equipment. Or if you’d rather improvise, try searching for a box of the right hand, or the steps of your stairs.

4. Weight training at home

If you are oriented toward having some sort of routine to follow, you can undertake a structured fitness program like training with weights at home using simple dumbbells or even heavy food cans and containers.

As you advance in fitness level, you can add tools like an Ab Wheel and soft medicine ball for doing ab exercises; resistance bands for muscle toning; an Awesome jump rope for aerobic fitness.

Women can also benefit from butt lift exercise equipment while more advanced male exercisers may want to add a Total Upper Body workout bar for chinning and pull-ups to workout the back.

Are there workouts to get ripped at home without equipment? Body-weight exercises can be a very inexpensive way to build strength and endurance without having to shell out money for devices or equipment.

5. Daily activity

What happens if you exercise every day? Finding the time for physical activity daily is great at building up your gains – cardiovascular fitness if you’re doing stuff like running or biking, muscular strength if you weight train. Varying your exercises as well as exercise intensity is important if you decide to workout daily.

We can’t overstate the importance of exercise but of course, moderation should always be a guiding principle. Working out 5 days in a row or working out every day for a year without enough rest and always at a high intensity may be counterproductive in the medium- and long-term.

Your muscles may not be able to recover fast enough in between workouts, may make you prone to injuries, and your over-enthusiasm may quickly devolve to burnout, in the long run, resulting in no motivation to workout anymore.

Joining the gym

Not all people are candidates for home exercises. If you’re easily bored and need the stimulation of a different environment, the company of others or the inspiration of a teacher or instructor with a body shape or fitness level you find ideal, joining a gym could be a better option.

The presence of trainers who can guide you as you learn the basic exercises is also priceless.

So, what are the components of an effective weight training program? Primarily, you have to lift regularly to challenge your muscles; use exercises that target every muscle group; use a program that progresses or build up in weight and or repetition; lastly, you ought to exercise your abs and core.

You might be asking these questions “how many hours should I spend in the gym?” The general consensus for weight workout duration is at least 30 minutes but not over an hour, especially if you’re just starting out.

As for the minimum and maximum age for gym-goers, most gyms admit young adults while there’s really no set ceiling for seniors.

Importance of a healthy eating habit

Having a healthy diet is essential to maintain a healthy lifestyle. So, having a healthy eating habit is one of the key factors is you are serious about keeping your body and mind healthy and fit. Not going into details but there is no certain healthy eating habit, they can be different for person to person based on their weight and medical conditions if they have any.

But in short avoiding processed food, high sugar drinks, and fried foods might be a good choice to make, and keep organic foods and vegetables on the menu are a must for a healthy diet. Also, keep protein in your diet, it plays a vital role in your body muscle growth and gives you strength for training and exercises.

As it is a known fact to everyone nowadays that you should have a healthy diet plan and more people are following it every year. Here is a statistic of healthy diet habits people follows in different age and why.

Conclusion

Now that you’re ready to exercise and bring changes to your life, always remember that the key to improving fitness is to keep at it. Whether it’s modifying your diet, engaging in physical activity, or altering your lifestyle, being patient and consistent will ensure your success in the long-run.

Daniel Amankwah

Daniel Amankwah is a fitness expert for 4EvaFit Lifestyle, personal fitness coach, personal trainer, blogger, and a motivational speaker living in Acton, Massachusetts. His affection for a healthy lifestyle has penetrated through the noise in the health, fitness industry and empowers people to create sustainable prescriptions for lasting health, happiness, and confidence.

A background as a business researcher coupled with a personal passion for fitness help brings our readership a thoughtful curation fitness guide and fitness product review. His burning desire is to share his fitness experience and offer some encouragement to anyone that is working to better themselves physically through healthy eating habits and being active.

As a visionary, his vision is a world where daily acts of self-love and care are a regular part of life.