Pretty Sure "Pretty Fit" doesn't Fit... Wednesday, March 20

Someone used the phrase today “pretty fit” to describe someone and my automatic reaction was to frown my eyebrows and assume they were just being polite. Their labeling didn’t exactly match the word I would have used but it got me thinking. What does it mean to be fit? Is there a means to properly measure and determine if someone is fit or not? 

Skinny is often mistaken as being a marker of fit but being skinny doesn’t necessarily mean someone is fit and healthy though. I’ve met my share of “skinny fat” girls here in Korea – girls that are super small but have a high percentage of body fat and couldn’t do a push-up to save their life. So skinny is out, but what about a factual thing, like body fat percentages? Is having a lower body fat the marker of being fit? No, definitely not. One of my previous clients was anorexic when I first met her and I can assure you that her 8% body fat was not healthy. 

What about the number on the scale? It’s a common thing for people to get all hung up on the number that pops up – their weight-- but unless you’re in a weight-sensitive sport, it really doesn’t mean much. Actually, even in a weight-sensitive sport it is not an accurate measure of whether you’re fit. I can tell you, from my personal experience with boxing, when I had to get down to 47kgs for my fight in Japan, though many of my Korean friends and inlaws praised me for it and said they envied my weight, my body was so unhealthy then.  Due to the excessive training, excessive dehydration and the limiting of food intake I was forced to experienced, not to mention the mental and emotional exhaustion at that point, it was clear the number on the scale didn't reflect health.

There is an ideal body weight according to height for both men and women and there are body fat percentage categories too. However, just because someone holds an ideal weight and has an acceptable body fat percent, this still doesn’t necessarily mean they are fit. These two measurement are but just two things of many that make up what it means to be fit. 

Overall fitness is made up of five components
• Cardio respiratory endurance
• Muscular strength
• Muscular endurance
• Body composition
• Flexibility

So how do we measure these five components?  Good question.

I’m always telling my personal training clients to make S.M.A.R.T goals – specific, measureable, attainable, realistic, time-oriented – with an emphasis on the fact that it should focus on a number. For example, if their goal is to lose weight then perhaps they should focus on a specific body fat percentage and appoint a set goal date. But in trying to figure out my own definition as to what it means to be fit, beyond that of body composition, I then thought about how I would go about properly assessing and assigning numbers to each of the five components of fitness. Here’s what I came up with:

As you can see, in me trying to properly define what it means to be fit according to numbers and the five components, I ended up complicating my search for a definition even more. No sooner had I figured out a way to measure a component but then it lead to having to figure out a scale by which I could assess the results. 

Way too complicated.

Perhaps the label “fit” is like that of the word “beautiful”. We all have our own idea of what we think is beautiful and what’s beautiful to one person may not be beautiful to another. Perhaps the word "fit" is the same; it’s a matter of personal opinion. I can accept this somewhat but not entirely. I didn’t agree with my friend labeling someone “pretty fit” because of what I came to the conclusion as being my definition of fit -- physically fit. 

I’ve always felt that being fit is a mind, body and soul thing but tonight’s conversation with my friend focused specifically on being physically fit. There is a difference, so perhaps I should use the term “physically fit” here. 

My own personal definition of being physically fit is someone who eats properly, sleeps well, and exercises regularly. Consequently, if someone does this then the results produced will touch base on all five components of overall fitness listed above.  They will be in their ideal weight category, be in the acceptable body fat percentile, will have a suitable BMI, have an acceptable muscle mass, and will be able to participate in extended physical activity without being out of breath. 

Of course the results of doing the above three components vary from person to person and there are varying levels of being physically fit, my point here though is that being physically fit is more of a lifestyle than simply whether or not someone is skinny or strong. Being physically fit is a lifestyle and lifestyle choices have a way of bringing upon both direct and indirect effects. Becoming leaner and stronger are merely the after effects of living a physically fit lifestyle but they certainly go hand-in-hand with it. 

So when my friend threw the label “pretty fit” into the conversation, I cringed and disagreed. I think there are three key components to what it means to live a physically fit lifestyle, just like there are consequential effects to living it, but starving and struggling through a simple exercise are not them. However, their struggle is a definitely a much needed part of their learning process towards becoming physically fit. We all start off as a beginner and I think it’s important to give due acknowledgement to our struggles – accept them, learn from them and grow from them. Only by making mistakes and struggling do we make ourselves better and become physically fit.  After all, there is no skipping the beginning stage and what doesn’t challenge us doesn’t change us.