Defintion of 'fit'

[Canaris]

fitness is really about matching yourself to the task at hand.

So physical fitness is the ability to do physical actvity effortlessly. 

Obviously there must be a baseline fitness measure, which is the fitness required to function as a human being.  Here obesity, overweightness and BMI are good starting points.  A morbid obese is definitely not fit.  A anorexic is not fit.  In fact most people are not really fit enough to enjoy life properly.

THe difficulty comes with sportsmen/ women who are fitter than the minimum requirement of getting out of bed and feeding oneself.  Here the military standard may be a possible baseline, 2.4km under 12 minutes, 40 or so pushups and situps and a routemarch.  But this again only tests relavant muscle groups to a desired minimum standard.

 

For proffesional sportsmen/women fitness cannot be measured objectively, but is a normative issue, if you lose or come second then you not fit enough, or you were the third, fourth ext fittest on the day.

 

THerefore to try operationalise fitness into a quantative measurement is simply to complex.  Rather stand at a subjective, I feel great being fit (even if you are overweight and lazy)

[Wonder Woman]

KonaFan, you can't say that the person who came second isn't as fit as the person who came first....there is such a thing as talent....especially when you are getting to those upper levels of competition.

 

The person who came second may actually be fitter but not as talented??

[jabbathemutt007]

 

KonaFan' date=' you can't say that the person who came second isn't as fit as the person who came first....there is such a thing as talent....especially when you are getting to those upper levels of competition.

 

The person who came second may actually be fitter but not as talented??

[/quote']

 

Due to the slipstream effect in cycling unlike many other endurance sports the fittest (or the most talented) doesn't always win. Often the smartest tactician (read best wheelsucker) can beat the strongest rider.

 

[keith]

So in other words a good rider may be as 'physically' fit as a TDF rider, but not as 'mentally' fit? This being due to talent and coaching?

[Bike Mob]

and there's always someone better than you!!

Speak for yourself

 

 

Sorry Lance Armstrong....didnt realize you were on here...

[supavan]

It's all relative. If your uncle or brother... okay wrong type of relative

Fit is a beast of many ... smaller beasties?

 

Yes there is the physical side with it's resting heart rate and lactate thresholds etc.

 

Then there is the mental side. I recall a story of a little train that thought he could...

 

Really it's a moving target and as expressed before you'll always compare yourself to those stronger (and more talented perhaps) than you.

 

The biggest Fit problem these days is being able to buy a pair of pants that fit properly.

 

[Evan Andreou]

KonaFan' date=' you can't say that the person who came second isn't as fit as the person who came first....there is such a thing as talent....especially when you are getting to those upper levels of competition.

 

The person who came second may actually be fitter but not as talented??

[/quote']

 

If fitness is defined as the effort (or lack of) needed to complete a physical (or mental) task, then your theory holds true WW.

Talent would be a differentiating factor.

 

 

[Gumpole]

I think of fit being more like 'fit for purpose'

 

if you sit on your ass watching sport drinking beer all day and that is all you do you will be fit - huge boep that can handle all the alcohol. If you get Cadel Evans to sit on the couch next to this guy and drink with him he WILL die.... fit for purpose

 

if you have a W/kg of 6.0, a resting HR of 35 and are a SAn fun-cyclist you are very fit... but if you are a Tour team leader you will get dropped on any tough mountain climb and lose many minutes... ie you are not fit.

 

So fitness comes in many shapes and forms.

 

(its no co-incidence that both of the above guys are so fit that sometimes they die very young from heart attacks)

[Wonder Woman]

Gummy, I don't care what you say.....to me anyone who sits on a couch all day is not fit...especially if he has a beer boep

 

But yip, he'll certainly be able to drink me under the table

 

 

[cycleq]

I'm sure in exercise physiology "fitness" has some quite specific parameters. I do know one measure is the evenness of the interval between your heartbeats.

 

And having a heart attack, as pointed out, has little to do with fitness or lack thereof. But it does impact on survival and recovery rates when you do sieze!