Runners tend to think that “physical fitness” is the same as a performance indicator. The faster or longer you run, the healthier you are. To do this, plan your workouts for your training cycle and upcoming races.
However, in reality, being healthy and living a long life is not just about running speed and PR. In fact, there are five components to physical fitness. To continue running and stay healthy, you’ll likely need to add certain movements and workouts to your weekly schedule to meet all five.
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According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the five components of physical fitness are:
Muscle strength Cardiopulmonary endurance Muscular endurance Flexibility Body composition
However, this list is not final. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has combined strength and endurance into the category of “musculoskeletal fitness,” added “balance” and “speed,” and omitted “body composition.”
All of these lists provide people with a holistic approach to fitness that supports longevity, disease prevention, quality of life, and the ability to reach personal exercise goals.
To understand each of these five elements of fitness and how they benefit not only your running performance, but your overall health and longevity, we spoke to experts and compiled a list of ACSM. I explained it in detail. According to ACSM, each component ensures that the body functions at optimal levels during exercise and daily life.
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What you need to know about the five elements of physical fitness
1.Cardiovascular endurance
The term endurance basically means “how long you can keep doing what you’re doing.” Milica McDowell, DPT, physical therapist, certified exercise physiologist, and vice president of operations at Gait Happens, tells Runner’s World. Cardiovascular endurance refers to the ability of the heart, blood vessels, and blood to continuously supply needed oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, especially when demand is increased, such as during running.
Improved cardiovascular endurance is characterized by specific physiological adaptations. McDowell explains that this includes the heart’s stroke volume, or the amount of blood pumped out with each beat.
The body also relies on capillaries, small blood vessels that deliver oxygen to muscles and help remove waste products, and parts of cells that convert oxygen into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the body’s main source of energy. Some mitochondria also produce more. Basically, you’ll have more gas in your tank and be able to put it to better use.
What runners need to know: You need a solid baseline of cardiovascular endurance to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Next, you need to keep improving this component to increase your mileage and reduce running fatigue.
Zone 2 training (steady-state exercise that allows you to talk) is the foundation of any endurance program, but if you want your cardiovascular system to evolve, you need to stress your cardiovascular system as well. McDowell advises runners to prioritize variability and overload in their training.
In other words, if you run the same 3-mile loop at the same pace every day, your endurance will reach a plateau. But adding speed intervals or doing one more lap of that loop increases intensity and volume, which can lead to improved cardiovascular endurance.
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2. Muscular endurance
Muscular endurance refers to the ability of a muscle or muscle group to “fire repeatedly over time in a coordinated pattern,” says McDowell. Every movement requires some degree of muscular endurance, from walking and running to carrying objects and maintaining an upright posture.
Muscles require sufficient fluids, electrolytes, and oxygen to contract and relax continuously. It must also be able to withstand sustained neuromuscular firing. This means you need to make sure your brain doesn’t succumb to fatigue and signal your body to stop exercising.
When you have good muscular endurance, “your brain keeps telling your body to do that pattern rhythmically, and your body adapts and gets used to that pattern because you’ve been training to do it,” McDowell says. I say.
What Runners Need to Know: To build and maintain muscular endurance as a runner, you need to accumulate time on your feet. If you have an injury, cross-training on a bike or elliptical is a solid option. (“Muscular endurance is reduced somewhat, but not by much,” McDowell says.)
Running is generally one of the most effective ways for runners to increase muscular endurance in their lower body, but strength training that includes the upper body can also be helpful. Unlike hypertrophy and maximal strength lifting, which use heavier weights, programming designed to build muscular endurance typically prescribes higher repetitions at lighter loads.
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3. Muscle strength
Muscle strength is measured by how much force you can exert. Factors that determine muscle strength include muscle size, placement, and physiological structure. Like muscular endurance, strength also varies from muscle to muscle.
For athletes, the need for strength is sport-specific. For example, a powerlifter needs to generate more force than a horse rider. But even people who aren’t athletes need muscle strength for everyday activities like lifting groceries, opening doors, and getting up from the floor.
According to the National Institute on Aging, muscle strength can mean the difference between being able to live independently and needing assistance for older people, and strengthening muscle strength can help maintain muscle mass, improve mobility, and extend healthy lifespans. also says it’s helpful.
Increasing strength requires consistent strength training, proper nutrition (with an emphasis on protein), and proper recovery (muscles repair themselves after exercise and become stronger).
Also, because you have to lift heavier weights, you should do fewer reps and lift closer to your maximum weight for one rep or the maximum weight you can lift in one repetition.
What Runners Need to Know: Runners often deprioritize strength training in order to increase cardio, but Will Baldwin, a USATF and VDOT. It claims to bring innovative benefits in terms of.
In fact, a 2024 study published in the Journal of Sports Medicine found that various strength training methods, particularly high-intensity lifting and plyometric training, improve running economy in middle-distance runners.
Baldwin told Runner’s World that as your strength improves, your running will improve as well. If you can lift your knees 1% more easily, he explains, you’ll get off the ground easier, skate farther, and your stride will be more efficient. Stronger muscles also allow you to absorb ground reaction forces more easily and safely, allowing you to better withstand the impact of running.
However, don’t just focus on your lower body. “I think one of the levers that people forget to pull is everything from the legs up,” McDowell says, noting that strong arm swings and a strong core have a positive effect on running. , and this is supported by a 2019 study published in the journal Sports.
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4. Flexibility
Flexibility isn’t about doing the splits or having the most impressive downward dog. Flexible runners have joints that can move through a full range of motion without pain or restriction.
A lack of flexibility can make it difficult to participate in daily life and sports (try playing tennis with limited shoulder mobility). It can also lead to movement compensation that causes injury.
Unfortunately, most of our daily activities (sitting in a chair, hunched over a screen) limit flexibility and mobility and cause chronic tension. Dedicated mobility practices like active stretching and foam rolling can counteract these suboptimal habits and keep us flexible.
What runners need to know: According to both McDowell and Baldwin, runners need to pay special attention to hip and ankle mobility. “If your hips aren’t fully extended while you’re running, a lot of power is going to leak through your glutes. Your glutes are basically the biggest muscles you have to propel you forward,” McDowell says.
Inadequate ankle mobility can affect hip extension and impede power transfer mid-stride, Baldwin says. “If the ankle is unable to fully glide, it will often stop at the point where most of the contact force with the ground occurs, and the force is lodged in the plantar of the foot, Achilles tendon, or calf. You can’t transfer that force to your hamstrings or glutes.” This type of incorrect movement pattern can negatively impact efficiency and increase your risk of injury.
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5. Body composition
Body composition refers to the ratio of body fat to lean body mass. There’s a wide range of what’s healthy, and the numbers vary depending on your age, biological sex, and fitness goals. Generally, a healthy body fat percentage ranges from 14 to 31 percent for women and 6 to 25 percent for men.
Too little body fat can disrupt your hormones and cause other health problems, while too much body fat can increase your risk of metabolic syndrome.
What runners need to know: Runners come in all shapes, sizes, and body compositions. Competitive endurance runners tend to have lower body fat percentages, but striving for a leaner or lighter frame can negatively impact performance, especially if you don’t take steps to preserve muscle mass. There is a gender.
“A lot of times when people are trying to get smaller or leaner, they end up losing strength and slowing down because their muscles get smaller,” Baldwin says. “Your body doesn’t get excited about running because it’s not being supplied with energy and your muscles aren’t as strong.”
For runners looking to lose body fat, Baldwin suggests working with a nutritionist to check for any deficiencies or deficiencies in important nutrients.
Another piece of advice: don’t be afraid to build muscle. “Even if you gain a few pounds, you may still have enough power (in terms of speed) to make up for that weight difference,” Baldwin says. “Smaller is not always better.”
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