The 10 Physical Skills of Fitness Excellence

Train all 10 physical skills of cardiorespiratory endurance, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, accuracy and toughness for physical fitness excellence… Not just one or two abilities creating unbalanced fitness performance.

Physical fitness excellence should be the goal of any physical training workout program. Most physical fitness training programs are designed for the maximization of a particular physical attribute… size, strength, endurance, speed, etc.

It is this quest for maximization, this specialization, that leads to an imbalance in physical abilities.To exhibit true physical fitness excellence, you must become a jack of all trades… and master of none.

The truth is, physical fitness is a compromise of 10 physical skills…

1. Cardiorespiratory Endurance The ability of the body’s systems to gather, process, deliver and sustain oxygen during a prolonged stressful effort or activity.
2. Strength The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.
3. Flexibility The ability to maximize the range of motion of a given joint or being able to bend or to be bent easily without breaking.
4. Power The ability of a muscular unit, or a combination of muscular units, to apply force in a minimum amount of time. Think of power as, strength + speed.
5. Speed The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement. In simple terms, how fast something moves.
6. Coordination The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement. For example, the ability to make your arms, legs and other body parts move in a controlled way.
7. Agility The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another. An agile person is able to change from one movement pattern to another quickly and easily.
8. Balance The ability to control the placement of the bodies center of gravity in relation to its support base. In plain language, the ability to hold a position without falling over.
9. Accuracy The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity while remaining correct, exact or without mistakes.
10. Toughness The physical and/or mental strength and determination to do something which might be difficult and which will take a long time. …and each are important.

The greatest physical fitness improvement is made by training ALL of the physical skills, bringing them up to optimum levels… without maximizing any one attribute at the expense of all others.  I’ll let you in on a little secret… The key to exceeding your expectations lies not only with the training of these 10 physical skills… but also in how these skills interact, support and contribute to each other while performing an activity.

The 10 physical abilities are not something to be trained separately and used robotically… they are skills that must be trained in conjunction with one another and flow together flawlessly. In other words… when you perform an activity, you are not going to say to yourself, “Now I will use my balance, now my speed and now my strength.” For Physical Fitness Excellence… the lines between the physical abilities will be blurred and seamless. Many people settle in to training only a few physical attributes but still say they are seeking physical fitness… but they forget that physical fitness is a compromise.

Most likely… your physical fitness success will be tested in sport, work and life by your weakest physical abilities, and not your strengths. Seek to improve your physical fitness by improving all of the abilities needed for physical fitness excellence. How many physical skills is your current physical fitness training program improving?  

Coach Lomax is a strength, conditioning and fitness coach dedicated to building better humans for sport, work and life.