In my last blog post I spoke about climbing Glastonbury Tor. We’d probably agree that it takes a certain amount of health and fitness to do this. But what does that mean exactly? Let’s look at just some of the factors involved.
Cardio fitness is probably what we think of first of all as fitness. This is the ability of your body to deliver enough oxygen to your muscles during activity. The more cardio-fit you are, the less out of breath you get. Even the fittest athletes get out of breath – Usain Bolt would be puffing like a good ‘un at the end of 100m. Less fit people might puff just as much climbing one flight of stairs.
Strength is next on my list. We often take our strength for granted … until it goes. These everyday activities all require strength: walking up a flight of stairs, lifting your travel bag into the overhead locker on the plane, carrying your weekly shop to your parked car.
Body composition can have a big impact. The usual way this is measured uses BMI (Body Mass Index), it’s not an ideal measure but works for most people. The heavier you are, the harder that climb up the Tor will be. An interesting experiment you can try at home is to put 6kg (one stone in old money) into a backpack, feel that weight and then try walking up some stairs with it.
The last one – and often overlooked – is mental fitness. What if you cannot even get yourself out the door to get to the Tor? Referring to this as mental fitness, not mental health, is a great way of thinking that the mind needs to be kept fit, as well as the body.
Over the next few weeks I’m going to look in more detail about all of these areas, and many more. But now I have a question for you. I’ve been using Glastonbury Tor as an example, but what are your goals for your fitness and health? Do you want to be able to travel independently into your latter years, lifting your luggage into the plane’s overhead locker? Do you want to take long walks on the Quantock Hills? Run the Long Meadow parkrun in Taunton? Or just be able to live in your own home and not a care home as you get older?
Without knowing your goals then it is so much harder to stick with whatever plan you might have to get fitter and healthier. How many diets and gym memberships last but a short time?
When should you start on your fitness journey? The short answer is NOW! For the longer answer, read my next blog post.