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What Does Flexibility Mean? | Fitness, Health and Exercise Glossary

What’s the Definition of Flexibility and Why Is It Important to Physical Fitness? Find Out The Facts on Flexibility.

Definition of Flexibility

Flexibility is defined as the ability to move joints or muscles through their full-range of motion. Flexibility may also be specific to the joint or individual, allowing some people’s joints to naturally surpass the range of motion in the same joint in another person. Flexibility is one of the five components of physical fitness.

Factors Affecting Flexibility

There are a number of factors that can influence a person’s flexibility, including:

• Genetics
• Connective tissue elasticity
• Composition of tendons or skin surrounding the joint
• Joint structure
• Strength of opposing muscle groups
• Body composition/type
• Gender
• Age
• Activity level
• Previous injuries or existing medical issues

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What Does Muscular Strength Mean? | Fitness, Health & Exercise Glossary

What Is Muscular Strength and How Is It Measured?

Definition of Muscular Strength

Muscular strength is defined as the maximum amount of force that a muscle can exert against some form of resistance in a single effort. 

This is in contrast to muscular endurance, which represents multiple muscle contractions or a sustained muscle contraction over a period of time, for example during running, climbing or performing multiple reps with a dumbbell at the gym.

Practically speaking, you use muscular strength when you lift yourself out of a chair, pick up a heavy object, or push a piece of furniture. In the gym, a single repetition at a given weight is an example of muscular strength.

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Muscular Endurance Definition | Fitness, Health & Exercise Glossary

What does Muscular Endurance Mean? Find out the Definition of Muscular Endurance and How to Test for It. 

Definition of Muscular Endurance

Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or muscle group to do repeated contractions against a less-than-maximum resistance for a given period of time. This is in contrast to muscular strength, which is the greatest amount of force that a muscle or muscle group can exert in a single effort. 

Many daily activities, including sports and weight training, require muscle endurance. Activities like duration or distance running, biking, skating, swimming and climbing all require muscular endurance, since the muscle is under load or tension for extended periods of time. 

Types of Muscular Endurance

There are three primary types of muscular endurance and activities that require muscular endurance or can help enhance it:

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Cardiovascular Endurance Definition | Fitness, Exercise & Health Glossary

What’s the Definition of Cardiovascular Endurance?

Definition of Cardiovascular Endurance

Cardiovascular endurance is the ability of the heart, lungs and blood vessels to deliver oxygen to working muscles and tissues, as well as the ability of those muscles and tissues to utilize that oxygen.

Cardiovascular endurance is also frequently called cardio-respiratory endurance, cardiovascular fitness, aerobic capacity, aerobic fitness or is sometimes more broadly termed “endurance” — although endurance may also refer to the ability of the muscle to do repeated work without fatigue. It is also one of the five components of physical fitness.

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Principles of Weight Training | Fitness and Exercise Glossary

There are four basic principles of weight training:

1. Overload
2. Progression
3. Specificity
4. Rest and Recovery

These principles work together to ensure that a person meets their weight training goals.

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Rest and Recovery (Principles of Weight Training) | Fitness and Exercise Glossary

Rest and recovery is the fourth principle of weight training. It says that each muscle requires adequate time to rest and recover between workouts.

The actual duration of the rest and recovery period may vary from individual-to-individual based on factors like their current physical condition, prior weight training experience, diet, and the intensity and volume of their training.

A good rule of thumb is to provide 48 hours of rest and recovery time before working the same muscle again. 

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Specificity (Principles of Weight Training) | Fitness and Exercise Glossary

Specificity is one of the four principles of weight training.  Specificity means that you train your muscles and choose your exercises, weight, reps and sets with a specific goal in mind.

These goals typically fall into one of four groups:

1. strength
2. size (hypertrophy)
3. endurance
4. power

Depending on the goal, the nature of the exercise you choose, the weight, the amount of reps and sets, and the pace at which you perform them will vary.

For example, training for strength typically involves using a heavier weight that causes the muscle to fail at between one and four reps, while endurance training uses a lighter weight that causes failure at 15 to 20 reps.

Also see: principles of weight training

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