What Is Physical Fitness? Washboard Abs? A Beach Body? Or Something Else?

What is your fitness goal?

You seek a fit body, right?

But what is that you want in your body?

Are you seeking a Beach Body? Or Washboard Abs?

Do they ascertain that you are absolutely physically fit?

Well, in the fitness industry there is a common misconception that physical fitness equals the well shaped attractive looking body. This is unfortunately such a widespread belief touted by many who don’t know the science behind fitness training and to the surprise, even some fitness professionals who appear on TV, very stupidly add to the myth that “If you don’t look like a certain male or female model, then you are not fit” 

First and foremost, not everybody’s fitness goals is to look beautiful or attractive at the beach, be it a bodybuilder, or a fitness magazine model.

For some people, their goal is pure strength which in this case, gaining extra fat actually helps. For other people, it could be sports performance where body fatness depends on what sport is the athlete is playing.

In the sports performance goal, looking pretty is not the goal.

Another one very unrealistic fitness myth is that “If you have washboard abs, then you are extremely fit”. Well many models who appear on magazine covers for money have washboard abs, are they physically fit as per the correct parameters of fitness?

On the contrary, many power lifters are fatter than the average, some with big bellies too,  but that didn’t stop them from performing just right.

Are they not fit enough to perform?

So to say, the fitness goals should not be to have washboard abs or attractive body, but it should be to gain strength and power first and then endurance agility and speed too. 

While having way too much body fat can affect health and performance (obesity), but having a little fat on the body does not always mean that you are not fit or that you can’t function normal as well. The core requisites to a fit body is well functioning, healthy body without having any major ailments.

Having a beach body does not mean you are in good health. There is a difference between a goal for a better health and a goal for LOOKING like a model. Many female health freaks don’t look like bikini models and there does exist bodybuilders with chiselled biceps who nearly died of a heart attack using a McDonald’s diet. (This actually happened btw.) There is also a big difference between a goal for weight loss for a obese person and a goal for six pack abs or looking like a model.

To sum it all, there are or should be five basic health and fitness related goals:

1  Strength

2  Flexibility

3  Cardiovascular Endurance

4 Muscular Endurance

5 Body Mass Composition

For those into performance oriented sports, few more fitness benchmarks are added:

1  Agility

2  Balance

3  Coordination

4  Speed

5  Power

6  Reaction-Time

So folks,  you can see, “Physical Fitness” per se, is far more involved than just the looks of a person.

You can be unfit in your looks, but completely physically fit when it comes to health and strength. It all depends on the specific person and his or her fitness goals. Find out what is yours and work accordingly.

Not everybody desires to look like a super model and to be honest, not everybody has the body structure or metabolic function to have six pack abs so this is not a realistic goal for everybody out there.