Basic Terms you Need to Know to Kickstart your Fitness Journey!

Hey sister,

Are you ready to kick start your fitness journey, and don’t know where to start? Are you tired of being bombarded by countless health and fitness articles, influencers, and adds with tons of scattered “health” information? Do you still feel lost about basic fitness terminology and concepts? Well, lucky for you, you’re in the right place! Today I’m going to lay out some basic fitness terminology and concepts you’ll need to know to further your fitness journey, and give you a better understanding of what holistic fitness is, and what that truly means for you and your body.

Since, I’ve been in graduate school, I’ve been picking up part time hours at a gym to make some extra cash, and let’s just say I’ve learned a thing or two. Right now, I’m just going to share some straight-forward, helpful fitness information, without all the tricks, gimicks, and “fluff” attached to it.

Cardiorespiratory endurance

What is it?

Cardiorespiratory endurance refers on the proper functioning of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels to deliver oxygen to the tissues in order to sustain prolonged activity. In essence, this is what allows a person to exercise for a longer period of time without getting tired.

How is it increased?

Your cardiorespiratory endurance will increase if you do any form of aerobic exercises. Aerobic means “with oxygen”, meaning that your breathing and heart rate will increase when doing these exercises. To get the full benefits of these exercises your target heart rate should be between 130 – 150 + for people under the age of 40. If you’re trying to lose weight, these are the types of exercises you’d want to focus on. Aerobic exercises lead to the most fat burn.

Example exercises?

Brisk walking, running, cycling, swimming, jump rope, Zumba, and some forms of yoga, Pilates etc.

Muscular Strength

What is it?

Muscle strength refers to the maximum force that a muscle or muscle group can exert in on, all-out effort. Muscular strength is can be seen with how easily you can perform certain heavy lifting activities.

How is it increased?

Muscle strength is increased from anaerobic exercises, which is the opposite of aerobic exercises. Anaerobic means “without oxygen”. It involves quick bursts of immediate energy that comes from stored sources other than oxygen like: carbohydrates and glucose (sugar). Although these exercises do not require sustained heavy breathing and a higher heart rate, you may experience muscle fatigue, heavy breathing, and a higher heart rate upon completion.

Exercise examples?

Plyometrics (jumping exercises), sprinting, heavy weight lifting, HIIT (high interval training), etc. Basically, you want to do any exercise that require maximum effort for short periods of time. These are used when you are trying to increase your maximum strength in any area of your body. Building muscle strength is good for moving heavy items around your house, opening jars, and carrying in your groceries with ease. Muscle strength is also important for defending yourself in an emergency.

Muscle endurance

What is it?

Muscle endurance is the ability of a muscle or muscle group to perform repeated contractions using a lighter resistance. In other words, how long is that muscle or muscle group able to resist fatigue? Doing these exercises will make your muscles more lean and toned.

How is it increased?

Muscle endurance is increased by doing exercises for prolonged periods of time. Any exercise you do for muscle endurance becomes aerobic.

Exercise examples?

Long distance running, biking, swimming, planks, push-ups, sit ups, and increasing your number of reps while using a lighter weight, etc.

Flexibility

What is it?

Flexibility involves moving joints through their range of motion. Having good flexibility makes bodily movements easier and more fluid. It also has significant impact on your balance, coordination, and agility, and can reduce your likelihood of injury as well.

How is it increased?

Stretching. Stretching. Stretching! Stretching before and after workouts, is important for protecting your muscles, and aiding in muscle recovery to help prevent injuries. Stretching is also a good way to relieve stress before bed, and get your blood circulating when you wake up in the morning.

Exercise examples?

Yoga, static stretching (stretching and holding for several seconds), dynamic stretching (stretching while in continuous motion), etc.

Body composition

What is it?

Body composition refers to the ratio of fat mass to fat-free mass (or lean tissue). As people age, it is fairly common for fat mass to increase and fat-free mass to decrease, particularly in the absence of regular physical activity. This scenario is associated with adverse health outcomes.

How is it affected?

Doing any combination of the above exercise types consistently, along with healthy eating habits, will decrease your body fat composition. An inaccurate but, commonly used way to track your body fat composition is the Body Mass Index (BMI). Your BMI value is found using the mass and height of a person, which may inaccurately score you as being overweight or obese because it does not take muscle mass into consideration.

Better things to use to find your Body Composition

Skin fold Caliper (measures the thickness of the fat underneath the skin in specific areas), Body circumference measurements (measures the circumference of certain body parts), hydrostatic weighing (being weighed under water). All of these must be done by professionals, which is why many people choose to refer to use BMI due to its user friendliness. However, if you want the most accurate measurement of your body composition, please refer to a physician for direction. It is important to note that having a healthy body mass composition range, does not necessarily mean you will appear “skinny” it simply means you have a healthy muscle, fat, and bone ratio for your body to be it’s healthiest self.

Other simple workout terms you should know.

• Frequency: How often a person works out.
• Intensity: How hard a person works out during exercise.
• Time: How long a person works out during a session.
• Type: The kind of exercise a person chooses to do.
• Warm up: The overall goal of a warmup is to prepare the body for more vigorous activity, increase heart rate and blood flow to the working muscles, and minimize the risk of injury during the workout.
• Cool down: The overall goal of a cool down is to reduce heart and breathing rates and gradually lower core body temperature.

Happy exercising!

Xoxo,

Tori & Trey