Holly has worked in the fitness industry for 13 years and holds a degree in nutrition and exercise science, a master’s degree in sports and exercise science (biomechanics), and a postgraduate certificate in education.
Cardiovascular fitness is a crucial aspect of overall health and well-being, influencing not only physical performance but also longevity and quality of life. In its essence, cardiovascular fitness refers to the efficiency of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels in supplying oxygen to the muscles during physical activity (Agarwal, 2012). Outside of physical activity, a strong cardiovascular system improves your ability to perform day to day tasks with a certain degree of ease which in turn creates the opportunity to lead a healthy active lifestyle. Ensuring your cardiovascular health is optimum also reduces the risk of a number of chronic diseases and heart and vascular conditions so it really is a key aspect of health and wellbeing.
One key measure of cardiovascular fitness is VO2 Max, which represents the maximum amount of oxygen the body can utilize during intense exercise. A higher VO2 max indicates better cardiovascular fitness and greater endurance, allowing individuals to engage in more strenuous activities without fatigue (Astorino et al, 2017). The only way to improve VO2 max is by putting the cardiovascular system under stress and forcing the tissues and signals to respond and adapt. Additionally – performing cardiovascular exercise can improve breathing rates and lung volumes which increases capacity to perform aerobic exercises and carry out physical tasks throughout the day without becoming breathless or fatigued.
Ultimately, good cardiovascular fitness translates into better energy levels, improved stamina, and a reduced risk of diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes so it is a key component to focus on during training.
Strength training is a fundamental component of overall health and fitness, contributing to the development of muscle strength, endurance, and functional mobility. Unlike aerobic exercises that primarily improve cardiovascular health, strength training focuses on enhancing the body’s ability to generate force. This is essential for carrying out everyday tasks and maintaining an active lifestyle which is an important aspect of aging successfully. Regular strength training can lead to numerous health benefits, from improving muscle mass and bone density to enhancing metabolic function and reducing the risk of injury (Westcott, 2012).
One of the primary benefits of strength training is its ability to increase muscle mass, which naturally declines with age. By including resistance exercises in your training routine, individuals can maintain or build lean muscle which boosts metabolism and supports healthy weight management. Additionally, increased muscle strength is directly linked to better functional fitness which again enables the successful completion of daily activities in a way that doesnt feel challenging or overwhelming.
The way in which muscles pull on bones and joints during weight bearing exercises plays a critical role in bone health, helping to prevent conditions such as osteoporosis and supports joint health by enhancing stability and mobility of the muscles and connective tissues surrounding joints (Maestroni et al, 2020). All these aspects together result in a stronger body that is at a reduced risk of injury and has improved posture and balance.
The simple answer is neither of them – they both carry such important physiological roles that we need to ensure we are targeting all areas in order to successfully achieve well rounded physical health. The key to successful aging is to create a body that is resilient and can stand the test of time from the organ level right through to the skin level. The below breakdown of the 5 main components of health and fitness acts as a short analysis on how we might target each one – and some specific recommendations on easy to access gym equipment that might help us to achieve this.
By basic definition endurance is the performance of cardiovascular exercise for longer than 20 minutes (Wenger & Bell, 1986). Cardiovascular endurance training is often done in a continuous fashion with a set speed for a set length of distance or time – in contrast to cardiovascular interval or fartlek training that is more stop start and interchangeable with speeds and intensities. Running is often a simple go-to for most people as it feels very accessible. It’s something you can step out of your door and do free of charge and for gym goers, the treadmills are a firm favourite of any cardiovascular section of a gym floor.
Treadmills are actually a fantastic tool for making running more accessible. The suspension based treads are kinder on the lower extremities of the body as they dissipate the load more evenly and reduce the impact in the ankles, knees and hips in comparison to road running (***). They provide an easy way for users to gradually increase speed, distance or incline in a way that feels very controlled and is also very easy to track and monitor. For building cardiovascular endurance, running (whether on a treadmill or otherwise) is really successful -as the constant rhythmical contractions of the muscles during a jogging or running motion requires an increased uptake in oxygen which forces the cardiovascular system to work harder and adapt to these new requirements. Over time, when training stays consistent, the cardiovascular system will adapt more permanently and allow for increased performance and further adaptations to be achieved.
For those of us not fortunate enough to live in a dry climate, the weather can become a huge barrier to us building frequent outdoor running into our routine, so a treadmill provides a solution for all seasons. Its versatility means that not only could you use it for the increase in cardiovascular endurance, but you could also include some HIIT or Fartlek training into your routine for even more prolific all round cardiovascular improvements.
Recommended equipment:
Endurance Touch Series Cardio Equipment
Muscular endurance refers to the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to sustain repeated contractions or maintain a continuous exertion of force over an extended period without fatigue. Unlike muscular strength, which focuses on the maximum amount of force a muscle can generate in a single effort, muscular endurance emphasizes how long a muscle can perform under stress or effort (DeSimone, 2016). Muscular endurance is super helpful for day to day life – walking from one place to another, carrying out jobs around the house, gardening and playing with children or young relatives. We want these activities to feel easy – so we need to train beyond our normal activities and put the endurance stress on our bodies in order to get the desired training effects.
Muscular endurance training can be done with weights such as dumbbells and barbells but in addition to this it can also be done with rhythmical contractions of the muscle performed under force – making an exercise bike or a cross-trainer the ideal equipment for promotion of muscular endurance.
An exercise bike can be found in upright or recumbent versions with the upright being more of a classic bike design and the recumbent being a lower design with more back support. A bike is perfect for enhancing the muscular endurance of the lower body muscles and is progressive in nature due to the ability to increase the resistance level on the pedals. A user can steadily and consistently increase the length of time they are able to hold a certain cadence for at a set resistance and over time aim to increase the resistance that this consistency can be achieved at. The cross-trainer works in a very similar way but is weight bearing due to the user being stood up. This means a more whole body muscular endurance effect is achieved rather than a specific lower leg focus.
Of course muscular endurance training can be done in many ways – something like an exercise bike or a cross-trainer is however a very accessible and simple approach that even for beginners will feel is achievable rather than overwhelming (which some of the more complex bodyweight and resistance training movements might well do).
Recommended equipment:
Muscular strength is defined as the maximum amount of force that a muscle or group of muscles can generate in a single effort. Having a good amount of muscular strength plays a huge role in obtaining optimum postural control, balance, functional mobility and injury risk reduction (DeSimone, 2016). Most activities that we do in active life require a certain ability to lift, push, pull or carry so making strength training a part of our lifestyle and regime is very important.
The best way to strength train is through resistance exercises that target specific muscle groups. Muscles can be activated in the desired way by manipulation of movement direction, the speed of movement, the load selected and the amount of reps performed. Most muscles in the body can be targeted for training – even if total isolation is unobtainable – general muscle group activation is relatively simple to achieve through basic weight lifting approaches.
The standard equipment often seen in muscular strength training is dumbbells, barbells, weight racks, smith machines and one of my personal favourites – cable machine. The beauty of a lot of this equipment is that it is versatile and can be used in lots of different ways, which is one of the main reasons that the cable machine is appealing to me as a small personal training studio owner. This piece of kit saves space as it can be used for many different exercises and is easily progressible through the simple addition of more weight on the stack. It bridges the gap between free weights and fixed resistance as the cable allows for free movement around a fixed base. This helps with movement technique which is a key factor to successful progression alongside consistency of training and the encouragement of compound movements that promote the strength gains to span more than one joint in the body.
Most clients I work with have jobs that have them seated for the majority of the day, driving for at least some of it and a high use of computer work. With this in mind I have a few cable machine movements that I find key to help with the muscular imbalances that can occur as a result of this daily routine. These exercises have a focus on contracting and shortening the muscles in the back muscles of the body (lats and rhomboids primarily) and stretching the muscles in the front of the body (mainly pectoralis major and minor) and are ones I use regularly.
For the above exercises if muscular strength is the focus then the rep range needs to be 12 or below, with the last few reps feeling specifically quite challenging. Without this challenge, the adaptations of strength will not be achieved.
There are literally hundreds of strength based exercises that can be performed on the cable which is why it makes a great addition to any gym area.
Recommended equipment:
Flexibility is often a more ignored component of health and fitness and only achieved if people are regularly attending Yoga sessions or similar coached formats.
Flexibility is crucial in the search for muscular balance and in the reduction of injury risk. As discussed above – most lifestyles and jobs create muscle imbalancement and cause the body to be in positions for hours at a time that are not ideal for human performance. Flexibility (in combination with mobility) creates movement freedom and enables us to move better for the rest of our lives. Exercise in general can increase flexibility in comparison with a sedentary lifestyle (Bushman, 2016) but there are also specific things we can do to increase and improve our flexibility. I often use elastic resistance bands with clients to encourage resisted flexibility training. On occasions the resistance bands are attached to the squat rack and different heights depending on the focus, and for others the resistance bands are used on their own. Due to the nature of most peoples work in the modern technology driven world the pectorals and hamstrings are usually very tight (from rolling shoulders forward when using a computer keyboard and from being seated for long periods of time). With this in mind two go-to resisted stretches I use a lot are;
The use of resistance bands may seem simple, however flexibility is one of the main components of fitness and yet is often not applied often within a workout programme.
Recommended equipment:
Body composition is also one of the main components of health and fitness and it is hugely affected by all the aspects above (in combination with a balanced macronutrient intake). There is no single approach that focuses specifically on body composition – and the best approach for all required aesthetics is the manipulation of cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength and flexibility for the desired outcome. This will be different for each client and or each goal but it is very easily tracked through the use of photos, physical measurements and more scientifically tracked through a body composition analyser. Information such as % body fat, % body muscle, % body water and % bone mass can be measured and tracked at regular intervals through a training programme to see if the approach is successful.
Recommended equipment:
Selecting the right training methods for your own or clients goals really is the key to success, but no matter the goal an overall focus on improvement in health and wellbeing is key. The above components of fitness should not be ignored in favour of one only as this will likely cause complications in health, posture and overall wellness at a later stage in life.
Agarwal, S.K., 2012. Cardiovascular benefits of exercise. International journal of general medicine, pp.541-545.
Astorino, T.A., Edmunds, R.M., Clark, A.M.Y., King, L., Gallant, R.A., Namm, S., Fischer, A. and Wood, K.M., 2017. High-intensity interval training increases cardiac output and VO2max. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 49(2), pp.265-273.
Bushman, B.A., 2016. Flexibility exercises and performance. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, 20(5), pp.5-9.
DeSimone, G.T., 2016. SHAREABLE RESOURCE: Muscular Strength Versus Endurance Versus Power—What Is the Difference?. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, 20(5), pp.3-4.
Maestroni, L., Read, P., Bishop, C., Papadopoulos, K., Suchomel, T.J., Comfort, P. and Turner, A., 2020. The benefits of strength training on musculoskeletal system health: practical applications for interdisciplinary care. Sports Medicine, 50(8), pp.1431-1450.
Wenger, H.A. and Bell, G.J., 1986. The interactions of intensity, frequency and duration of exercise training in altering cardiorespiratory fitness. Sports medicine, 3, pp.346-356.
Westcott, W.L., 2012. Resistance training is medicine: effects of strength training on health. Current sports medicine reports, 11(4), pp.209-216.
Holly has worked in the fitness industry for 13 years and holds a degree in nutrition and exercise science, a masters degree in sports and exercise science (biomechanics) and a post graduate certificate in education. Her fitness experience spans working in council leisure facilities, private company gyms and now she runs her own personal training and fitness class studio in barrowford, Lancashire. Holly has lectured and taught across a number of college courses, higher education provisions and industry specific fitness qualifications and holds the role of national trainer and presenter for both FitPro and the HIITCOMPANY.
82 Roman Way Industrial Estate
Preston
PR2 5BE
United Kingdom
Registration Number: 3349377
VAT Number: 628894877
