Unit 4: Muscular Fitness

Unit 4: Muscular Fitness

This unit describes the importance of muscular fitness and its benefits to overall health. Students will learn the two components of muscular fitness: muscular strength and muscular endurance. They will also learn how to improve their overall health by improving their muscular fitness.

Muscle fitness can mean two different things including a person has more powerful muscles so they have the ability to lift heavier object, or it can mean that they will work for a longer period of time before becoming tired- have more strength and stamina to outlast others. This higher level of fitness can be achieved through a combination of strength and weight training, and a blend of cardiovascular and flexibility training.

Before beginning a fitness regime you will need a plan. You need to have a general idea as to what look you are trying to achieve. Once you have that in mind or on paper you will need to begin the early phase of laying out a foundation which can involve months of gradually increasing the intensity of your workouts.

You may experience months without seeing very drastic results especially if you look in the mirror more than once a day. It is common for us to think that we still look the same but slowly daily improvements were happening all along and it is just difficult to see when you look at your body every day. Eventually you will look in the mirror and realize that you have achieved your goal, now it has become a matter of keeping the weight off and the muscles strong and firm.

When you are considering muscle fitness you see that it is the aspect of general fitness and concentrates on developing the strength and size of out skeletal muscles. This will involve some weight or resistance training. Most of us associate muscle building weight lifting with body builders rather than those simply trying to be healthier. In fact there are both health and cosmic reasons that we all should strength train.

When you train and have proper muscle fitness you will be able to lift heavier objects easier and will also be able to have more stamina and work for long periods of time without becoming tired. Keeping muscle fitness and tone also helps you to avoid injuries to your body's joints. This is because your muscles have become more flexible and have the ability to deal with the stress you place upon and around your joints.

You should have professional assistance when you are beginning a weight training program so that they can help you design a workout that includes total muscle balance. You should choose a similar number of exercises and sets to complete for the opposite muscle groups.

If you don't balance the exercises you are susceptible to injury and you posture can be altered if there are significant amounts of training that are completed one and not the opposite one. This can lead to muscular weakness and also postural deficiencies. You need to have an overall body workout to achieve the maximum results when strength and weight training.

Unit Focus

• Components of muscular fitness
• Benefits of muscular strength and endurance
• Muscular structure—three types of muscle fibers
• Types of muscular exercise—isometric, isotonic, and isokinetic
• Training principles for muscular fitness
• Common fallacies associated with weight training
• Measuring muscular fitness
• Exercise to improve muscular fitness