Definition of Fitness Terminology

Terminology Explained

• Fitness: The condition of being physically fit and healthy. The ability to complete a task.
• Teamwork: Cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause.
• Resilience: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

The Components of Fitness

• Strength – The extent to which muscles can exert force by contracting against resistance. (e.g. holding or restraining an object or person)
• Power – The ability to exert exert maximum muscular contraction instantly in an explosive burst of movement. The two components of power are strength and speed. (e.g. jumping or a sprint start)
• Agility – The ability to perform a series of explosive power movements in rapid succession in opposing directions (e.g. ZigZag running or cutting movements)
• Balance – The ability to control the body’s position, either stationary or mobile.
• Flexiblity/Mobility – The ability to achieve an extended range of motion.
• Local Muscle Endurance – A single muscle’s ability to perform sustained work. (e.g. push-up or running)
• Cardiovascular Endurance – The heart’s ability to deliver blood to working muscles and their ability to use it. (e.g. running long distances)
• Strength Endurance – A muscle’s ability to perform a maximum contraction time after time. (e.g. continuous explosive rebounding through an entire badminton game)
• Co-ordination – The ability to integrate the above listed components so that effective movements are achieved.

Other Terms

• Aerobic Exercise – Any physical activity that increases the body’s need for oxygen by using large muscle groups continuously for at least 10 minutes. The term aerobic means “with oxygen.”
• Anaerobic Exercise – Short lasting, high intensity activity, where the demand for oxygen from the exercise exceeds the oxygen supply.
• AMRAP – As many reps as possible.
• Body Composition – Amount of fat vs. lean muscle tissue in the human body.
• Body Mass Index (BMI) – Measure of the relationship between height and weight; calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in centimeters squared.
• Calisthenics – Exercising using one’s own body weight which helps develop muscular tone.
• Cardiorespiratory Fitness – Measure of the heart’s ability to pump oxygen-rich blood to the muscles. Also called cardiovascular or aerobic fitness.
• Cardiovascular System – A complex system consisting of the heart and blood vessels; transports nutrients, oxygen, and enzymes throughout the body and regulates temperature, water levels of cells, and acidity levels of body components.
• Circuit Training – Takes the participant through a series of exercise stations (which could also include strength training), with relatively brief rest intervals between each station. The purpose is to keep the heart rate elevated near the aerobic level without dropping off. The number of stations may range from 4 to 10.
• Cool down – Lowering of body temperature following vigorous exercise. The practice of cooling down after exercise involves slowing down your level of activity gradually.
• Core – A muscle group comprised of the abdominals, lower back, obliques, and hips.
• Cross-Training – An individualized combination of all aerobic-training methods, characterized by a variety of intensities and modes.
• Ectomorph – A body shape characterized by a narrow chest, narrow shoulders and long, thin muscles.
• Electrolytes – Salts (ions) found in bodily fluids. Pertaining to exercise, your body loses electrolytes (sodium, potassium) when you sweat. These electrolytes need to be replaced to keep concentrations constant in the body, which is why many sports drinks include electrolytes.
• Endomorph – A body shape characterized by a round face, short neck, wide hips, and heavy fat storage.
• EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) – This explains why your breathing rate remains heavy for a few minutes after finishing a workout. Your body needs more oxygen after a workout in order to restore the oxygen stores in the blood and tissues, and to meet the oxygen requirements of the heart rate, which is still elevated.
• Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers – Fibers that are better-suited for high-force, short duration activities because they contain more stores for anaerobic energy utilization.
• Flexibility – The measure of the range of motion, or the amount of movement possible, at a particular joint.
• Health – The state of being free from illness or injury. A person’s mental or physical condition.
• Heat Cramps – Muscle cramps that occur during or following exercise in warm or hot weather.
• Heat Exhaustion – A heat stress illness caused by significant dehydration resulting from exercise in warm or hot conditions; frequent precursor to heat stroke.
• Heat Stroke – A deadly heat stress illness resulting from dehydration and overexertion in warm or hot conditions; can cause body core temperature to rise from normal to 100 or 105 degrees Fahrenheit in just a few minutes.
• HIIT – High-intensity interval training (HIIT), also called high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) or sprint interval training (SIT), is an enhanced form of interval training, an exercise strategy alternating periods of short intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods.
• High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) – Retrieves cholesterol from the body’s cells and returns it to the liver to be metabolized. Also referred to as “good” cholesterol.
• HIgh Impact – Activities that place more stress on the bones and joints, where your limbs are actually making contact with the ground or other surface with force. Examples include: walking, running, step aerobics, and sports that involve impact, like basketball or tennis.
• Hypertrophy – An increase in cell size (girth), usually in reference to fat or muscle cells.
• Hypothermia – A life-threatening condition in which heat is lost from the body faster than it is produced.
• Interval Training – Repeated intervals of exercise interspersed with intervals of relatively light exercise. This type of training provides a means of performing large amounts of high-intensity exercise in a short period of time.
• Isometric Exercise – Any activity in which the muscles exert force but do not visibly change in length. For example, pushing against a wall or carrying a bag of groceries.
• Lactic Acid – Once thought of as a waste substance that builds up in the muscles when they are not getting enough oxygen, leading to muscle fatigue and soreness. Now, experts believe that lactic acid is beneficial to the body, acting as a “fuel” to help people continue high-intensity (anaerobic) exercise even when oxygen consumption is low.
• Lactic Threshold – The point at which the level of lactic acid in the blood suddenly increases (during exercise). This is a good indication of the highest sustainable work rate. Also known as anaerobic threshold.
• Lean Mass – Total weight of your muscle, bone, and all other body organs. (Everything in the body besides fat.)
• Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) – Transports cholesterol and triglycerides from the liver to be used in various cellular processes. Also referred to as “bad” cholesterol.
• Low Impact – Activities that place less stress on the bones and joints. These are better for people with joint pain, and overweight individuals whose weight can hurt their joints. Examples include: swimming, elliptical, cycling, and other activities where your feet (or other body parts) aren’t touching the ground with force or where you are somehow supported.
• Max VO 2 – (V02 Max) Highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise. The higher this number, the more you are cardiovascularly fit and capable of increased levels of intensity.
• Mental Agility – Mental quickness and sharpness.
• Mental Toughness – Is a collection of attributes that allow a person to persevere through difficult circumstances (such as difficult training or difficult competitive situations in games) and emerge without losing confidence.
• Metabolic Conditioning – Also known as MetCon, is a method of training that involves a very high work rate, using exercises designed to burn more calories during your workout and maximize calories burned after your workout ( afterburn). In other words, these are vigorous, high intensity circuit-type workouts that often involve challenging total body workouts with minimal rest. 
• Mesomorph – A body shape characterized by a large chest, long torso, solid muscle structure and significant strength.
• Moderate Intensity – Activities that range from 40-60% of max heart rate. These activities cause a slightly increased rate of breathing, and feel light to somewhat-hard. Individuals doing activity at this intensity can easily carry on a conversation.
• Muscle Fibers – Individual muscle cells that are the functional components of muscles.
• Muscular Endurance – The ability of the muscle to perform repetitive contractions over a prolonged period of time.
• Muscular Strength – The ability of the muscle to generate the maximum amount of force.
• Obesity – A weight disorder generally defined as an accumulation of fat beyond that considered normal for a person based on age, sex, and body type.
• One-Rep Max (1 RM) – The amount of weight/resistance that can be lifted or moved once, but not twice; a common measure of strength.
• Opposing Muscles – Muscles that work in opposition to the ones you are training. For example, the bicep is the opposing muscle to the triceps; the hamstring is the opposing muscle to the quadriceps.
• Osteoporosis – A disease characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue, which increases risk of fracture.
• Overload Principle – This principle says that in order to train muscles, they must work harder than they are accustomed to. This “overload” will result in increased strength as the body adapts to the stress placed upon it.
• Overuse Injuries – Injuries that result from the cumulative effects of repetitive (day-after-day) stresses placed on tendons, muscles, and joints.
• Physical Fitness – The ability to perform regular to vigorous physical activity without great fatigue.
• PNF Stretching – Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching is a static stretch of a muscle immediately after maximally contracting it.
• Plyometric Training – Exercises that enable a muscle to reach maximal force production in as short a time as possible. For example, jumping from a 3 ft. stool to the ground and immediately springing back up to another stool.
• Power – The ability to exert maximum muscular contraction instantly in an explosive burst of movement.
• Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) – Scale of 1-10 that rates how you are feeling (both physically and mentally) as it relates to exercise fatigue.
• Repetition – The number of times an exercise is repeated within a single exercise “set.”
• Resting HR – Rate at which your heart beats at rest (while sitting or being inactive). Low resting heart rates are a good measure of health and fitness.
• Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) – Number of calories expended to maintain the body during resting conditions. Also referred to as basal metabolic rate.
• Set – A basic unit of a workout containing the number of times (repetitions) a specific exercise is done (e.g. do 3 sets of 5 repetitions with 100 pounds).
• Shin Splint – Generic term used to describe pain in the lower leg, either on the medial (inside) or lateral side (outside) of the shin bone.
• Skinfold Calliper Test – A method of determining body fat whereby folds of skin and fat at various points on the body are grasped between thumb and forefinger and measured with callipers.
• Static Stretching – A low force, high-duration stretch where the muscle is held at the greatest possible length for up to 30 seconds.
• Strength Training (Resistance Training) – The process of exercising with progressively heavier resistance for the purpose of strengthening the musculoskeletal system.
• Speed – Speed can be thought of as the rate at which an object covers distance.
• Tapering – The process athletes use to reduce their training load for several days prior to competition.
• Target Heart Rate (THR) – The recommended range is 60-85% of your maximum heart rate.
• Warm Up – To prepare for an athletic event (whether a game or a workout session) by exercising, stretching, or practicing for a short time beforehand.

Reference:

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/conditon.htm

http://www.sparkpeople.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org