What is fitness?

Fitness means being in good physical condition. We often think of athletes as being very fit. They tend to focus on performance-related fitness for sports.

But you don't have to be an athlete to be fit. Doing more physical activity improves your fitness and health, no matter what size or shape you are.

This topic focuses on health-related fitness, which helps you feel your best and lowers your risk for certain diseases. Making small changes in your daily lifestyle helps you improve your fitness.

What are the benefits of fitness?

Fitness helps you feel better and have more energy for work and leisure time. You'll feel more able to do things like playing with your kids, gardening, dancing, or biking. Children and teens who are fit may have more energy and better focus at school.

When you stay active and fit, you burn more calories, even when you're at rest. This can help you lose weight if you need to. It also can help you to sleep better, handle stress better, and keep your mind sharp.

Fitness is good for your heart, lungs, bones, and joints. And it lowers your risk for heart attack, colon cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

How much physical activity do you need for health-related fitness?

To improve your health, it’s important to make physical activity part of your daily life.

One way is to get some moderate activity for at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week or more. Brisk walking is one kind of moderate activity.

Or you can do more vigorous exercise, like running, for at least 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week or more. This is activity that raises your heart rate to 70% or more of your maximum heart rate. To find your target heart rate for exercising, use the Interactive Tool: What Is Your Target Heart Rate?

Children and teens should be active for at least 1 hour each day.

Here’s how you can tell if an activity or exercise is making you work hard enough. If you can't talk while you do it, you're working too hard. You're at the right level if you can talk but not sing during the activity.

What types of physical activity improve fitness?

The activities you choose depend on which kind of fitness you want to improve. There are three different kinds of fitness:

• Flexibility is the ability to move your joints and muscles through their full range of motion. Stretching is an exercise that helps you to be more flexible.
• Aerobic fitness means increasing how well your body uses oxygen. This depends on the condition of your heart, lungs, and muscles. Any activity that raises your heart rate, such as walking or running, can improve aerobic fitness.
• Muscle fitness means building stronger muscles and increasing how long you can use them (called endurance). Activities like weight lifting or push-ups can improve your muscular fitness.