Five Elements of
Fitness and Physical Health
As
practitioners of CTF Taekwon-Do, we saw last season the benefits of training.
To maximize our training we need to see what areas of fitness we need
improvement upon. We then can judge our levels of fitness.
There are five elements of fitness you must understand to
improve your TKD health and fitness and stay on a path to a healthy lifestyle.
1) Muscular
Strength: Maximal ability of a muscle to
generate force. Push ups, sit ups and weight training add to gaining strength.
In TKD strength is used but not a major factor, unless combined. Building up
muscle mass can actually slow a person down. Muscular strength becomes important
in TKD when speed is added to it. The speed strength factor is Explosive Strength
= POWER. If you put three boards together, and side kick them, strength will
only push the boards, with the addition of speed and strength, explosive strength
aka speed will snap all three of the boards breaking them.
2) Muscular Endurance: Endurance in repeatedly moving body weight
in proportion of maximum strength. The limitation lies in the muscle itself.
M.E. is very important in TKD especially in the training and repetitions of throwing
techniques and combinations. The more we can throw the better our training can
be giving a person endurance to continue training for longer periods of time.
3) Flexibility:
Ability to move joints freely through their full range of motion. Flexibility
will depend on each person?s own ability and injuries. Flexibility can be increased
with proper stretching. Even on one person flexibility differs, the legs maybe
flexible but the upper body may not be. So a proper stretching routine has to
be incorporated into your training program. The longer a person holds the
stretch or longer they perform it the better your flexibility will become. Some
people are naturally flexible and others are not. Constant stretching and
warming up will improve flexibility which can help improve movement.
4) Cardio-Respiratory
Endurance: CRE is the fast and energy efficient delivery of oxygen and sugars
through the blood to the muscles that need it and the removal of waste. The
lung muscle needs exercise to procure the needed oxygen levels needed for the
muscles, so as to feed them and decrees? lactic acid build up. The heart must
pump efficiently (more volume of blood per beat) to deliver the oxygen and
sugars and remove wastes to keep a person running at max.
The heart
is the pump that must work at maximum efficiency. A good scenario to understand
proper efficiency would be you are in a row boat and it begins sink because of
a hole. An out of shape heart would be a 6 ounce plastic cup. You bail the
water out in small amounts at an extremely fast scooping pace trying to keep
the boat from sinking, a small volume per each scoop. The heart is working
harder with bad results. An ?in-shape? heart would be a giant bucket. You will
remove more water with less scooping, large volume per scoop. An in shape heart
lets you workout longer and more efficiently. It lets you go many rounds when sparring.
Terms to know:
A. Resting
Heart Rate (RHR): The beats per minute at rest. Take your rate when you wake up
from a good night's sleep.
B. Maximum
Heart Rate (MHR): 220 - your age (rule of thumb for the novice)
a.
A 20 year old would be 220-20 = 200 beats per minute
C Working Heart Rate (WHR): Beats per minute
while working (Exercise)
D Percentage to Maximum Heart Rate: Percentage
of beats between resting and maximum heart rate. A good workout would be about
65% to 90% of maximum heart rate for at least 20 minutes.
5) Girth/ body
composition: The relative amounts of fat and lean body tissue (muscle, organs,
bone) found in the body. Weight is not a standard for fitness as an active
person who may be big will be healthier than a thin person who is inactive.
Your body mass will be dependent on your eating habits, activity levels, age
and genetics, all play a role in your body composition.
Next edition we hope to put up fitness charts so you can judge where your fitness levels and were you can improve.
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