Working out the right routine

BENGALURU : In the last column, we looked at the health-based components of fitness. This week, let’s look at the skill-based components:

•  Speed
•  Power
•  Balance
•  Coordination
•  Agility
•  Reaction time
• Let’s understand these in a little more in detail.

Speed

• This refers to your ability to complete any activity as fast as possible. It basically measures how quickly you can move your limbs. Benefits of speed training:
•  Improves athletic performance
•  Improves cardiovascular endurance
•  Aids fat loss
•  Prevents injuries

Power

• When you measure power, you measure the maximum force you can apply in as short a time as possible. These are basically explosive bursts of movement. Benefits of power training:
•  Improves athletic performance
•  Improves cardiovascular and muscular endurance
•  Aids fat loss

Balance

• Balance is the ability to control or stabilise your body when you are standing still or moving. Benefits of balance training:
•  Minimises the risk of injuries in any activity
•  Improves athletic performance
•  Improves cognitive function

Coordination

• This accounts for your skill of using your senses together with your body during movement. It can be understood as your capacity to maintain control over your body’s movements. Using the hands and eyes together is called hand-eye coordination. Benefits of coordination training:
•  Minimises the risk of injuries in any activity
•  Improves athletic performance
•  Improves cognitive function

Agility

• Different from speed, agility is not only about how swiftly you move, but also about your ability to change and control the direction and position of the body while being in constant rapid motion. Benefits of agility training:
•  Minimises the risk of injuries
•  Improves performance
•  Improves cognitive function

Reaction time
How quickly you can reach or respond to what you hear, see or feel is your reaction time. It includes the time you take to react to an impulse or make the decision to move in another direction. Benefits of reaction time training:
 Minimises risk of injuries in any activity 
 Improves performance
A good workout is one that has all of these components integrated into it. Doing different health and skill-based exercises helps you be your fittest self. As the names suggest, the health-based components of a workout have the maximum impact on your well-being, and they help in losing excess fat, gaining muscle definition, lowering blood pressure, managing blood sugar levels, having more energy, etc. The skill-based components, on the other hand, allow you to get better and better with time at a certain activity or sport. As you must have noticed, some exercises are good for multiple things.

For example, not only is boxing cardiovascular endurance training, but it is also a good exercise to better your speed, agility and reaction time. So, it’s fairly easy to make sure you cover different components when you set out to exercise. The ratio in which each of the components will be picked for your routine depends on the goal you set for yourself.
(The author is a fitness expert at Cure.fit)