What does it mean to be fit?

What you need to know:

UP AND RUNNING: Just because you are slender, it doesn’t mean that your fitness levels are high. However, most people are not aware of this fact thus do not bother to work out until the kilos start piling up.

When you go to the gym, you are most likely to see plus size people working out. Most slender people at the mention of exercise, will most likely say, ‘I’m fit enough I don’t need to exercise’. However, the big question is whether one’s weight is synonymous with their fitness levels.

What does being fit entail?
Brian Miiro Nsubuga, a sports tutor at Makerere University department of sports and recreation, defines being fit as the ability for one to execute tasks with ease and in a specified time frame, be it in athletics or when performing everyday general duties. Common measures of fitness include cardiorespiratory endurance plus muscular strength and flexibility.
“The only way to prepare your body to be fit is through training it either with the various physical straining activities you do, such as walking up the stairs a number of times or going an extra mile and taking to the gym,” Nsubuga says.
Physical fitness experts argue that if you don’t exercise irrespective of size, you can’t be considered fit.

A combination of things
Fitness is most times associated with health as chances of getting sick are minimal because it improves blood circulation and physical strength which allow for the body organs to function properly.
Micheal Nyakahuma, a fitness instructor at Siima Fitness Centre, Ntinda, says, fitness comes with good health combined with proper feeding and exercising. Proper feeding involves eating a balanced diet which includes carbohydrates, proteins, fruits and vegetables that provide the body with a variety of nutrients to boost its immunity.

Douglas Bamweyano, a sports tutor at Makerere University, recommends that to attain fitness, there are certain exercises that should be on everyone’s schedule at least three times a week, to be done for a minimum period of 30 minutes. “Everyone should be able to do regular physicals through intense activities such as walking a few kilometers, carrying things around the house like full jerry cans of water or even washing while bending at least thrice a week.”
Such exercises best suit the office person who has no time to go to the gym but wants to keep fit. He adds that jobs that involve lifting things or constant movements on the stairs are beneficial as they keep a person in shape albeit indirectly.

Dr Kezekia Tumwebaze Kibirigyi, a general practitioner from Rainbow City Hospital Namuwongo, says there are certain diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes associated with plus size people, thus a lot of emphasis is put on overweight.
“However even those who think they are healthy should not comfortably relax until proven otherwise by doing general body checkups especially on your inner organs to confirm their fitness. Small people can also have fats that are less dense that could get on the blood vessels which might have them succumb to high blood pressure.”

Fitness for mental stability
He adds that slender people can do regulated exercises such as squats to keep their muscles strong and for the sake of their mental stability for exercise comes in handy as it relieves stress. Once blood flow is easy, then the ability to think faster is guaranteed, a reason enough to have everyone both chubby and slender seek exercise intervention.
A professional gym instructor, Phipo Lutwama of the Nakivubo Power house and Aussie barbell gymnasiums, recognises that fitness is both physical and mental. And different body sizes command different exercise depending on what they want to improve on. “In the gym, it is all about toning down on the fats for the overweight but the slender bodies need to strengthen their muscles, so exercises such assquats and leg biceps come in handy for them,” Lutwama says.

A little caution
However, Dr Tumwebaze cautions on the harm that might come with over exercising for both the overweight and slender bodies. He says uncontrolled exercising is bad for the body given the intention for exercising being the burning of body fats, these fats do not have to be fully done away with as they provide the body with energy more than the expected carbohydrates. And once your fitness goal is achieved, benefits are worth the hustle. Nsubuga says longevity is achieved after all it is hard for your body to succumb to life threatening cardio vascular diseases and looking young is a plus for anyone who exercises alongside the obvious which is physical strength.

Tit bits on fitness
• Maintaining physical fitness can help ward off a number of diseases.
Different types of muscle fiber develop depending on the type of activity completed.
• Body composition can change drastically without an associated change in weight.
• Athletes’ hearts show different changes dependent on their chosen sport.
• Muscle strength increases by fiber hypertrophy and neural changes.
• Body composition can be ascertained in a number of ways.
• Stretching to increase flexibility can ease a number of medical complaints.