Fitness Terminology
Brian December 6th, 2008
People who exercise have a plethora of different terminology thrown at them constantly. These terms mean nothing to the average trainee without some explanation or context. If you are an avid athlete or exercise enthusiast this may bore you, but for the lay person this is a great start to understanding fitness and its many facets.
Aerobic Capacity-Â this can be used interchangeably with aerobic fitness, cardiovascular fitness and fitness capacity. This is simply a measure of your body’s ability to take in, distribute and utilize oxygen at the cellular level. In articles you will see this listed as VO2 max or METS.Â
Maximal Strength-this is the maximal amount of force a muscle can produce. In a lab setting they use a test called dynamometry, but for gym trainees it will be measured by the external force produced (i.e weight lifted).
Explosive Strength-a subcomponent of maximal strength, this measures how fast a given weight can be moved. A good example to see the distinction between explosive and maximal strength is to watch an Olympic Weightlifter (explosive strength) and someone going for a max lift on the bench press (maximal strength).Â
Conditioning-many times this is confused with aerobic fitness, but it is actually something different. Aerobic fitness is a component of conditioning, but there are other processes at work with conditioning. Conditioning is your body’s ability to do work with minimal fatigue, while utilizing and breaking down by- products of physical work. Think of how different you feel when you do repeat sprints vs. a slow 8 mph. long distance run.Â
Toning-this phrase is mentioned by almost every female trainee out there. However, it is a misnomer to say that you want to “tone up”. Muscle tone is simply the resting tension that a muscle has (think of a loose or taught piano string). What people really mean is that they want to lose the bodyfat they have over the muscle. Losing this fat will make a person LOOK more tone, but there may have been no changes to the muscle.
Check back soon for fallacies of fitness and the continuation of my diet series.
In Health,
Brian Ramage