Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Health vs. Fitness

This can be a confusing topic. So many of use strive for "healthy" bodies but what we really mean is a visually fit body. Many of us think if we have a "fit" body, then we are healthy. So what is what, which is which, what is best? I will say that health and fitness are not synonymous.

To get some clarity on the topic, let's define what we are looking at.

Health - a) a state of well-being free from disease. (websters) (obviously a good thing)
            
               AND/OR

              b) a level of functional and/or metabolic efficiency of an organism, often implicitly human. (wiki)

Fitness - a) good physical condition; being in shape or in good condition.

What a vague definition. No wonder there is so much confusion. It seems so abstract... What about...

Fitness - b) Physiological headroom. The distance between the least you can do, and the most you can  do. (re-worded from Arthur DeVany)

That sounds a little more