Last article I got you thinking about the different components of fitness for your health.
Today I wanted to get you thinking about other components of fitness that help us function at our best.
As you can see, there are many components of fitness, which is why I recommend all different types of activities to continue with your exercises.
Although some activities you do may not seem like "exercise", you are most probably working different components of fitness.
For example, gardening will help with strength, balance and coordination.
These components of fitness are important to your everyday tasks and preventing falls and can be trained and improved at any age.
Balance - We all know the importance of good balance for keeping on our feet and performing most tasks.
Coordination - It's how well our body synchronises with each other. Is related to most of our everyday activities. Writing, cleaning, exercising or any activity where we have to trust our hands to do what our brain is telling us is coordination.
Reaction Time - How quickly we respond to our environment. An example, If we weren't to see a hole in the floor, and step in it, how quickly can we recover to avoid a fall?
Agility - In our daily lives, we must negotiate obstacles such as furniture and objects on the ground. These obstacles require the ability to change our walking pattern and stepping over or around them. This makes agility an important factor in our day to day life both for movement and for preventing falls.
Speed - You may think speed is not so important as we age. But keeping up a safe speed up is important for almost all tasks. (Think about crossing a road in the time the lights take to change). Something we must not neglect our exercise programs.
Power - An important component of fitness to help keep us at our best. It has even been shown that working on power (Basically building strength at a faster speed) can lead to greater functional gains.
Examples of exercises to improve all of these components: Exercise videos, ball games/catch, creative activities like painting, balance exercises, yoga, dance, Tai Chi, yoga. Try different (safe) speeds when walking.