Personal Narrative: The Five Components Of Physical Fitness

This fall semester has challenged me in many different aspects of my life. However, the greatest challenge has been the physical component of my life. I’m an athlete, so physical fitness is of the utmost importance. I play volleyball in the fall and run track in the winter and spring. Unfortunately, I have had a series of injuries this semester. I tore parts of my left hamstring which kept me from competing in volleyball for five weeks. When I was finally able to return to volleyball, I incurred an abdominal strain, which kept me from training for track for three weeks. This was a discouraging, agonizing time in my life. These injuries prevented me from playing competitively, but also from engaging in any form of physical exercise. This inactivity …show more content…
Corbin, G. Welk, W. Corbin, and K. Welk (2013) define physical fitness as the “body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively” (p. 7). There are several different definitions of physical activity, but for the purpose of this paper, the preceding one will be used. Caspersen, Powell, and Christenson (1985) classily reference five basic components of physical fitness: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular endurance, flexibility, body composition, and muscular strength (p. 128). As an athlete, each practice is structured around those five components. Personally, I wanted to improve my cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, and body composition. To do this, I planned to start running more frequently. I decided that I would run a mile three times a week. I would then record how long it took me to run each mile, so as to track my progress. Additionally, I planned to incorporate jumping rope, in order to have an alternative form of cardiorespiratory exercise. I was going to start out by jumping rope for 5 minutes during the first week and add an additional minute each week. To improve my muscular strength, I started lifting weights; my goals was to lift 3 times a week. The exercises I performed primarily targeted my arms, specifically my biceps. I also started doing more planks. For the first week, I did a 30 second plank each day. For each week thereafter, I added an additional 30 seconds. At the end of 10 weeks I would have been able to hold a plank for 5 minutes. I applied the same methodology to wall sits to target my quads. For the first week, I did wall sits for one minute each day. For every week thereafter, I added an additional minute. At the end of 10 weeks, I would be able to do a wall sit for 10