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Adie Blanchard | 2014-06-19 04:46:33
When it comes to being fit, everyone seems to have an image in their head of a professional athlete, or at least someone who is a lot ‘fitter’ than themselves.
Whilst many people aspire to be as fit as possible this isn’t always the case, which has led me to question what it is to be fit.
Fitness is generally defined as; the condition of being physically fit and healthy or the quality of being able to fulfil a particular role or task. As you can see, it’s very open to interpretation. Whilst most of us would agree that Mo Farrah is fit, what about the lady who lives next door? She might not be as fit as an athlete, but if she can go about her day to day tasks with ease then the definition of fitness would suggest that she is fit too.
Unsurprisingly, there are many different perceptions when it comes to levels of fitness. Some people are happy to be fit enough to get up and walk to the shop. Others feel fit if they can run to catch a bus whilst some only feel fit if they can compete at sport or run a marathon for example.
I’m sure my opinion of what it means to be fit differs from yours, but that doesn’t stop either of us from trying to reach it, whilst accounting for our capabilities of course. Becoming fitter doesn’t mean that we have to become fit enough to compete at sport, but rather that we become fitter than we were before, which is completely unique to an individual and their situation.
We can all aim to reach a level of fitness that we are happy with, as long as it enables us to carry out our day to day tasks and isn’t detrimental to our health. Being active is great for our health and wellbeing, so increasing our activity level (and subsequently our fitness) over time can have great benefits too.
The point I’m hoping to get across here is that everyone has a different idea of fitness and what it means to ‘be fit’ and there is no specific right or wrong answer. As long as we are acting on improving our activity levels or staying active to reach our own desired level of fitness, we are certainly going to improve our health and quality of life too.
Adie Blanchard – Researcher