What does physical fitness mean to you?

Onedaywriter
Onedaywriter Posts: 326 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
The word “fitness” appears in the title of 3 of the forums here, but I suspect it has different meanings to each of us.

Does it have to do with body measurements eg weight, body fat %, height to waist ratios? Visible abs?
Does it mean endurance capacity? Ability to move weighted objects? Ability to move your body a certain distance or speed? Health markers eg cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, blood pressure etc? Other stuff?

For me, it means that I will be at a good body fat percentage (<15% for men and <20% for women), will be in a state where I’m exercising nearly everyday, and not smoking.

Thes are my “goals” - and I’ve achieved one of them. I believe that if I focus on these three, the health markers will also fall in line. I tend to lose sight of these goals and focus on a scale number!!

Replies

  • sschauer513
    sschauer513 Posts: 313 Member
    interesting fitness for me has nothing to do with weight it is just a number. Muscle strength and endurance is my metrics when I was out of shape couldn't go up stairs without having heart pound. Doing a 5k was about as likely as going to a moon. But now can do everything I want to in life without fear or worry will my body let me do this. Sure I got blood work and those number under control but too many people seem to worry about the weight number as the end all be all.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,782 Member
    edited February 2020
    For me, fat percentage is secondary. Fitness is mainly how I feel : in day-to-day life and while doing activities I like (or have to do). Walking up stairs, cleaning the house, moving furniture, hiking,... Being able to do those things while not feeling hindered by my own body (excessively out of breath, exhausted, or even unable to do it).

    In that sense I already feel a lot fitter than before my weight loss, even though I'm not yet halfway to my weight loss goal. Before my weight loss, I refused all hikes proposed by my BF that exceeded more than a few hundred meters ascent/descent or a distance of more than 10km, because it would exceed my capabilities physically. Now I can walk to work (steep uphill) faster/less out of breath than my colleague who sometimes accompanies me, and I can jog (slowly) for an hour non-stop. (Not sure about the hikes yet, I'll be curious to discover how much better that will go on our next trip)

    My regular exercise is what makes this possible, but I don't have a particular goal set with regards to frequency.

    Health markers are markers for... health. Which to me is not the same as fitness :smile: In some cases, our efforts aren't necessarily rewarded by improved health markers, but it certainly can't hurt.

    Edit: upon reflexion, fitness for me also means being able to at least keep up with 'regular' people (for example my boyfriend during hikes, or colleagues during team events,...), or exceed what they can do.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    Just want to second that <20% is very low for a woman. And that doesn’t mean “elite” - it means that being that low is problematic for hormones and things and proper healthy bodily functions.

    Fitness to me is a healthy cardiovascular system and strength & flexibility to function well in my life. I want to be able to run easily, to be able to pick up my 100lb dog if I need to, I want to be able to bend down and pick something up off the floor without feeling like the tin man. That’s my baseline. Anything above that is an improvement.
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,219 Member
    For me it's all about strength, size and aesthetics. Yes... shallow stuff. However, even if it's not high on my priority list good health markers are a side effect. My wife, on the other hand does it for purely health benefits and also so she can eat more good stuff. The side effect for her is that it helps her look her best. ;)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Having a reasonably strong cardiovascular capacity as well as strength capacity as well as flexibility and mobility. Someone who is generally fit will be pretty well rounded.

    Aesthetic things like 6 pack abs aren't necessarily a measure of actual physical fitness...I've had them in the past and been at a very high fitness level and I've also had them and barely been able to walk around the block without getting winded. I see positive health markers as more of a bi-product of being physically fit rather than a measure of physical fitness. And even then, health markers can be substantially hereditary. I'm pretty physically fit in regards to my abilities, but I still have to deal with hypertension and sometimes some wonky blood work due to hereditary factors outside of my control.
  • Onedaywriter
    Onedaywriter Posts: 326 Member
    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »
    FYI <20% isn't really ideal for general fitness for a woman, that's pretty low and would be that expected of an athlete, having too low body fat for females can have negative repercussions on hormones. As you're Male I guess that doesn't really affect your goals

    [
    Duck_Puddle wrote: »
    Just want to second that <20% is very low for a woman. And that doesn’t mean “elite” - it means that being that low is problematic for hormones and things and proper healthy

    Whoops. My apologies.
    I guess I messed up with the 20% body fat for women!

    I just watched a ted talks with Ogie Shaw and that’s the figure he gave and I just went with it. It’s a good talk nonetheless - maybe he’s a little too aggressive with the body fat percentages:
    https://youtu.be/K60xHx836T0
  • geraldaltman
    geraldaltman Posts: 1,739 Member
    For me today, fitness means less about weight and appearance than doing what I need to do to get and keep vital lab numbers at or within normal range every six months plus continue to maintain mobility regained with two hip replacements in 2019.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Fitness has little to do with weight or appearance, it's a functional factor and its markers will be different depending on the kinds of activities a person participates in. You can be hiking fit and cover dozens of miles at a time with no problem and be terrible at HIIT, or be a circuit pro and suck at 5ks.

    My own standards for myself are twofold - do I have energy throughout the day and can I get through a busy, active day without needing to rest and nap and be active and perky and capable? Good life fitness. How I am running and what I am lifting are more "let's see" fitness factors, like a hobby you work at to get better on.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Onedaywriter wrote: »
    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »
    FYI <20% isn't really ideal for general fitness for a woman, that's pretty low and would be that expected of an athlete, having too low body fat for females can have negative repercussions on hormones. As you're Male I guess that doesn't really affect your goals

    [
    Duck_Puddle wrote: »
    Just want to second that <20% is very low for a woman. And that doesn’t mean “elite” - it means that being that low is problematic for hormones and things and proper healthy

    Whoops. My apologies.
    I guess I messed up with the 20% body fat for women!

    I just watched a ted talks with Ogie Shaw and that’s the figure he gave and I just went with it. It’s a good talk nonetheless - maybe he’s a little too aggressive with the body fat percentages:
    https://youtu.be/K60xHx836T0

    Ah, I watched that last month after reading a thread about it: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10769923/winning-the-mental-battle-of-physical-fitness/p1

    I found his talk inspirational. I tuned out the specifics for BF for women.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,133 Member
    Fitness, to me, is a good (and ideally improving) capability to do the physical things I want and need to do. (Those things include my preferred sports; random active recreation; lifting, moving, carrying random heavy things needed to maintain my home; etc.). Further, it has something to do with creating a physical self that will, with some luck but not a miracle, be able to live independently outside of assisted living/retirement homes for a good long time to come. (I'm 64)

    There are lots of dimensions: Strength, endurance, CV capacity, flexibility, balance, agility, etc. There's no great way to optimize everything simulataneously, so every individual's going to have to figure out there own balance.

    FItness and fatness can be interrelated (usually are), but it's unhelpful IMO to conflate them. I was reasonably fit even while obese (competing athletically, finishing in the pack with my age group, etc.). My athletic stats - things like resting heart rate, strength, best pace, endurance, etc., were pretty much the same when I was obese as they are now when I'm at a healthy weight.

    Aesthetics are of very little interest to me. I understand that they're a priority for others . . . but they may or may not be related to fitness, depending on what a person's aesthetic preferences are. An athletic appearance is not what everyone prefers for themselves, nor what attracts them to others.

    It's possible to exercise every day, be at a low (but not excessively low) BF%, not smoke . . . and still have some bad health markers. There are various ways that could happen; genetics is an obvious one.

    BTW: That 20% BF for women thing isn't the only respect in which Ogie Shaw is kind of out in left field. There was an earlier thread about his TED (maybe TEDx) talk that went into some of that, some time back.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I do not combine weight loss and fitness. One helps the other but I consider them different goals. I do not believe I have to be at a certain body fat percentage to enjoy the abilities of being more physically fit. I enjoyed many of them when I was younger than I am now and heavier than I am now.

    I do not have defined parameters for what physically fit should be for me. That is not practical since I do not know what my capabilities are. I plan to get as fit as I can be within my physical limits and within the limits of a good life and enjoyment balance.

    Right now my goals to improve fitness are focused on getting off my last remaining necessary medication.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,041 Member
    It started out being for weight loss but it's so much more now. It's definitely a boost for mental health and sleeping. Most importantly I'm amazed what my body can do now, before I couldn't stand for more than 5 minutes because of chronic pain and was a physical therapy "failure", now I can do routine things like grocery shop and stand in lines. Weight lifting has made it possible to take out my own green waste cans and lift the large sizes of cat litter. It also keeps my blood sugar down especially doing cardio every night.
  • Terytha
    Terytha Posts: 2,097 Member
    I've always considered fitness to be related to stamina and recovery. How long/hard can I go before I'm struggling? How long does it take to catch my breath and recover?

    Lately I've also been taking into consideration weights and flexibility. I want to lift heavier things. I also want to be more bendy.

    These things are separate from weight loss for me. My fitness improves as my weight drops, but I'm not really thinking about using one to improve the other. I work on them separately.

    I don't care about body fat %. That's an irrelevant number in my life. I just want to be able to do what I want to do and wear cute clothes.
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,281 Member
    Fitness for me is my body being able to do what I want or need it to do when I want or need it to do it. Hopefully that's just me wanting to do a local 10K and being able to sign up and do it, or going to the gym to swim for an hour and doing it, or getting my weight lifting done. But I have too many people in my life who are sick or injured and can't do what they want or need to do. If that happens to me, I'm hopeful that my pre-injured or sick body will recover more quickly.

    I'm doing it for now, but mostly for my future me.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    For me, fat percentage is secondary. Fitness is mainly how I feel : in day-to-day life and while doing activities I like (or have to do). Walking up stairs, cleaning the house, moving furniture, hiking,... Being able to do those things while not feeling hindered by my own body (excessively out of breath, exhausted, or even unable to do it).

    In that sense I already feel a lot fitter than before my weight loss, even though I'm not yet halfway to my weight loss goal. Before my weight loss, I refused all hikes proposed by my BF that exceeded more than a few hundred meters ascent/descent or a distance of more than 10km, because it would exceed my capabilities physically. Now I can walk to work (steep uphill) faster/less out of breath than my colleague who sometimes accompanies me, and I can jog (slowly) for an hour non-stop. (Not sure about the hikes yet, I'll be curious to discover how much better that will go on our next trip)

    My regular exercise is what makes this possible, but I don't have a particular goal set with regards to frequency.

    Health markers are markers for... health. Which to me is not the same as fitness :smile: In some cases, our efforts aren't necessarily rewarded by improved health markers, but it certainly can't hurt.

    Edit: upon reflexion, fitness for me also means being able to at least keep up with 'regular' people (for example my boyfriend during hikes, or colleagues during team events,...), or exceed what they can do.

    For me, this.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    edited February 2020
    To me it's about doing things with your body, not what it looks like. Of course I have different markers as to what I consider "fit" than someone else. (Like someone else might not think running 3 miles straight makes that person fit but I probably would) Good health markers like blood pressure etc. are great but it's separate from being fit IMO. They don't always go together, although usually they do I guess.
  • thescouselander77
    thescouselander77 Posts: 31 Member
    Simple for me - I'm getting old so I just want to be able to get up without saying "oof".
  • Buttermello
    Buttermello Posts: 127 Member
    Being able to walk up multiple flights of stairs without being out of breath.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,570 Member
    I quote ...

    Exercise and Physical Fitness

    Regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health. It has many benefits, including improving your overall health and fitness, and reducing your risk for many chronic diseases. There are many different types of exercise; it is important that you pick the right types for you. Most people benefit from a combination of them:

    Endurance, or aerobic, activities increase your breathing and heart rate. They keep your heart, lungs, and circulatory system healthy and improve your overall fitness. Examples include brisk walking, jogging, swimming, and biking.
    Strength, or resistance training, exercises make your muscles stronger. Some examples are lifting weights and using a resistance band.
    Balance exercises can make it easier to walk on uneven surfaces and help prevent falls. To improve your balance, try tai chi or exercises like standing on one leg.
    Flexibility exercises stretch your muscles and can help your body stay limber. Yoga and doing various stretches can make you more flexible.
    https://medlineplus.gov/exerciseandphysicalfitness.html


    The five components of fitness are:
    Cardiovascular endurance
    Muscular strength
    Muscular endurance
    Flexibility
    Body composition
    https://www.verywellfit.com/the-components-of-fitness-4154074


    The Components of Fitness
    Basic fitness can be classified into four main components: strength, speed, stamina and flexibility. However, exercise scientists have identified nine components that comprise the definition of fitness (Tancred 1995)[1]:

    Strength - the extent to which muscles can exert force by contracting against resistance (e.g. holding or restraining an object or person)
    Power - the ability to exert maximum muscular contraction instantly in an explosive burst of movements. The two components of power are strength and speed. (e.g. jumping or a sprint start)
    Agility - the ability to perform a series of explosive power movements in rapid succession in opposing directions (e.g. Zigzag running or cutting movements)
    Balance - the ability to control the body's position, either stationary (e.g. a handstand) or while moving (e.g. a gymnastics stunt)
    Flexibility - the ability to achieve an extended range of motion without being impeded by excess tissue, i.e. fat or muscle (e.g. executing a leg split)
    Local Muscle Endurance - a single muscle's ability to perform sustained work (e.g. rowing or cycling)
    Cardiovascular Endurance - the heart's ability to deliver blood to working muscles and their ability to use it (e.g. running long distances)
    Strength Endurance - a muscle's ability to perform a maximum contraction time after time (e.g. continuous explosive rebounding through an entire basketball game)
    Coordination- the ability to integrate the above-listed components so that effective movements are achieved.
    https://www.brianmac.co.uk/conditon.htm


    Other sources break balance down into two and add Reaction Time.

    But whatever ...

    For me, personally, I am a long distance cyclist and would like to become a longer distance runner.

    So for me, physical fitness has to do with endurance (muscular/strength and cardiovascular), and a certain degree of balance and flexibility.

    I have achieved an acceptable level of physical fitness when I can cycle a certain distance at any given time. :)

    Unfortunately, although I know flexibility is beneficial, it is my weakest point of what I consider necessary components of physical fitness for what I want to achieve. And so I take a weekly Pilates class to try to help with that a little bit.

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,570 Member
    Buttermello wrote: »
    Being able to walk up multiple flights of stairs without being out of breath.

    Funny you should say that. A few work colleagues and I are doing a February 500 challenge.

    We work in an 11-storey building, and the plan is to walk up 500 flights of stairs (each flight is 20 stairs) in the month of February. There is one holiday in Feb, so that works out to about 26 flights of 20 stairs a day.

    So far, so good.

    I used to do this regularly 4-5 days a week for a year or more ... I really do need to get into it again so I grabbed at this little challenge to kick things off.
  • Sand_TIger
    Sand_TIger Posts: 1,098 Member
    Nice question! Speaking for myself, fitness is mostly functional. In order for my body to work better, my fat percentage needs to be down to a healthy level so I can move freely and not squish my organs and such. I need strength, flexibility, and endurance for my body to work well. Nutrition and exercise support that. Now, if those factors are in place I feel good because things are functioning properly, including hormones and neurotransmitters, blood pressure, lung function, etc.

    Finally, because when a body is set up to function well it generally looks good, a nice looking body is the end result though not much of a factor for me. Other than that I want to look strong and not too slender.
  • Pipsqueak1965
    Pipsqueak1965 Posts: 397 Member
    Same as most people here - be reasonably strong, not get out of breath, be able to balance and bend! Not drink/eat too much. For me my self worth is very much tied up with my weight (not a good thing, but I can't seem to fix it), so keeping my weight down fits in there too.
  • KNoceros
    KNoceros Posts: 326 Member
    From what I’ve I rather think I agree with the general sentiment here.
    Fitness for me is the general ability to perform the physical tasks that I want to, without undue discomfort or excessive exertion.

    I can’t give you metrics for that, it’s a “gut” and “not wanting to die / thinking I’m pushing myself to undue risk while exercising / doing sport” thing.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    Fitness to me is mostly not about specific metrics, but about in general not having to compromise what I do in order to accommodate a weak/fatigued/obese body.
    • Parking wherever I want at the mall, and not worrying whether all the spaces near the movie theater entrance are taken, because it doesn't matter whether the walk is 100 feet or 1/4 mile.
    • Not getting annoyed that the elevator or escalator is out of order. Maybe even intentionally taking the two flights of stairs even though the elevator's working fine, just because.
    • Doing physical things with people, like going walking/hiking or a long museum tour or a day of walking around downtown, instead of only doing sedentary things with sedentary people, like drinking, watching TV, and sitting around doing nothing.
    • Feeling my pulse beating slowly and gently before bedtime, then putting on the finger pulseometer and getting a reading of 52 instead of 88.
    • Wrapping up a cardio workout when I'm sufficiently bored, not because I'm fatigued or exhausted.
    • Not being the person that other people have to slow down for, assist, or otherwise accommodate or ask "are you OK?"

    And there's no doubt that for me fitness is very wrapped up with weight and weight loss. I see not having to live as an obese person as part of fitness:
    • Being able to order clothes from places that have nice clothes but don't serve the obese market, and never having to shop at the Big and Tall store.
    • Not having to ever say "we'd prefer a table to a booth".
    • Not rescheduling my already rescheduled doctor's appointment for another 4-6 weeks out to allow for an emergency 10 pound loss to avoid humiliation.
    • Driving because I want to drive, not because I'm petrified of getting on a plane and having to fit in the seat.

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