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Fit or Fat

Lorri Wilson-Clarke	Bonnie Brown	Ellie Taylor

Question: Dear Trainer, my bathroom scale also has a body fat meter that says I have 29% body fat. I think that I am fit but am I too fat? - Joyce from Cordova

Joyce, fitness is your ability to perform in the world. We all have different goals and agendas and, in the end, we're all going to age and eventually die. But fit people age more slowly than the unfit. Consider the six parameters below, and if we can perform them decently, we can consider ourselves to be fit. And, more than anything else, a fit lifestyle is probably a lot more fun than a non-fit one.

1. Body-fat percentage. This is the percentage of your total body weight that is composed of fat. 10% to 20 % is considered good for men, and 14 %to 24 % is considered good for women. Unless you're a weight-dependent athlete or a fitness model, you don't need to go to extremes, but all of us should strive to be within a healthy body fat range. Too little body-fat has health risks too, but going above it is what most of us need to worry about. The obesity epidemic is sweeping the world and unfortunately Americans are leading this race with having almost 30% of Americans are obese and 60% are over-weight. Obesity is a body fat of 35% or more. Not only does excess weight put our bodies under extra strain, but excessive amounts of fat change our abilities to function properly. You should be focusing on keeping your body-fat percentage within a healthy range.

2. Aerobic endurance. This is how efficiently your body transports oxygen. Aerobic endurance is important in everyday activities like chasing after grandchildren, doing yard work, or having sex. Indicators of good aerobic fitness are a low resting heart rate and the ability to recover quickly after cardiovascular activity. You help increase this endurance by doing any type of activity but more efficiently when you do continuous low-level activity, like walking, jogging or dancing.

3. Flexibility. Flexibility is the ability to move your body freely through a full range of motion. It's important that we stretch our muscles because they contract during exercise and the daily rigors of living. Keeping your muscles supple gives you a buffer against being injured and is an indicator of overall fitness. It will help you age without as many complications. Yoga is a great way to gain flexibility and relax your mind/body.

4. Strength. Strength is the ability to use your muscles to generate force. Your body needs to be able to move stuff around. Most importantly, it needs to move you around. As we age, we lose muscle mass and strength. Muscle mass protects your body. Strength moves it and keeps it from falling over. Furthermore, strength training requires short bouts of high-intensity outputs. These stimulate hormonal responses that also decline as we age. In a nutshell, the stronger you are, the slower you age. Training with a personal trainer is a great way to get started.

5. Balance. This is your ability to maintain control of your body's center of gravity over your base of support. The importance of this ability is obvious, since life's no fun if you're always toppling over. It requires use of all of the aforementioned factors, and the best way to get it is to practice. What's really important is that to stay in balance your body uses smaller muscles, called stabilizer muscles (the large ones you see are called prime mover muscles); and these help keep your joints tracking properly. A person with good balance has less chance of incurring an injury, especially an injury due to overuse. Pilates’ exercises are a great way to activate and train stabilizer muscles.

Fitness Facts are brought to you by BodyWatts Personal Training, Pilates and Yoga Studio located in Easton Plaza. BodyWatts members receive regular fitness evaluations as part of their membership. For a free no obligation body fat evaluation contact BodyWatts’ owner, Lorri Wilson-Clarke by email: lorri@bodywatts.com or call 410-770-5077.