169 A Christian Guide to Body Stewardship, Diet and Exercise week of strength training and more than 2-3 days per week of mobility training while maintaining the minimum of 5 days per week for moderate-intensity or 3 days per week for vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. To better illustrate this point, imagine an individual’s current level of fitness as a three-legged stool with each leg representing one of the three key components of physical fitness. In order for the stool to be balanced, each leg of the stool must be the same length. However, if even one leg is a different length than the others, then the stool becomes unbalanced. This is the case for most individuals. When our level of fitness is unbalanced, the result is decreased athletic potential and increased risk of injury. To prevent this unbalance, individuals should strive to identify and aggressively train the component(s) of fitness that needs work, while maintaining the component(s) in which they are already proficient. This can be done by meeting, but not exceeding, the minimum weekly requirements for the component(s) in which they are proficient and exceeding the minimum weekly requirements for the component(s) in which they are lacking. Often, individuals prefer to only train the component(s) of fitness that they enjoy and/or are good at instead of the component(s) of fitness that need the most work. These individuals will likely always have an unbalanced level of fitness as the legs of their fitness stool are never able to achieve the same length. Figure 8.3 depicts both a balanced and an unbalanced plan level of fitness. Figure 8.3. Well-Balanced (Left) vs. Unbalanced (Right) Foundation of Fitness Fitness Testing So how do you know which component(s) of fitness you are proficient in and which one(s) you are lacking? One of the most effective ways of assessing your level of fitness is to perform periodic fitness testing. A fitness test is a series of exercises designed to assess specific components of
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