The Broad Range of Muscle Fitness
While it is wonderful that more and more people have become turned on to the world of exercise and physical fitness, it is somewhat distressing that most people pigeonhole their concept of what a physical workout program actually entails. In other words, people look at exercise as a means of serving two ends: increasing muscle mass and reducing body. Now, this is an accurate assessment of what occurs when a proper exercise regiment is followed. It is also a noble goal to achieve. However, there is far more to exercising that just those two areas. One area that is neglected far too often is the area of muscle fitness.
The Most Common Areas of Muscle Fitness
Usually when people think of muscle fitness they center on cosmetic appearances. This is the commonly perceived contest physique that most people adore. There is nothing wrong with such adoration, but it is somewhat limited in scope. That is to say, there are a number of functional muscle fitness goals that could be attained in addition to the cosmetic ones.
Muscle Fitness and Strength
Just because someone looks strong does not mean the person really is strong. In order to increase strength, one needs to work on a series of exercises that will increase the functionality of the muscle. Isolation exercises such as leg raises, for example, will do nothing in terms of increasing strength. Squats of heavy weight for the duration of low reps, however, will increase strength.
Muscle Fitness and Rehab
Since leg raises were negatively singled out in the previous section, it would be important to mention the proper role of leg raises. While there are a number of uses for isolation exercises such as leg raises, they are commonly used to rehabilitation of injuries. So, an exercise such as a leg raise will strengthen a torn knee.
Muscle Fitness and Endurance
Have you ever felt your arms or legs get tired? This occurs when the muscles have reached the limits of their muscular endurance capacity. For athletes who take part in sports such as rowing, for example, muscle fatigue can set in rather quickly. The way to eliminate such muscle fatigue would be to perform a series of high rep body weight exercises greatly increase. A rower would probably wish to perform a high number of pushups so as to increase endurance in the chest, shoulders and arms. Of course, this does not mean lower body exercises should be ignored as they would aid as well.
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