When studying any concept, one should pay attention to the meaning of the word itself.

Prepared means ready. Preparedness – readiness for something.

How to apply this meaning to the concept of physical fitness? If you are ready, you are ready for what?

A person performs

Perfectly moving or able to withstand the type of load, can it be called physically fit?

If yes! What is it ready for? For a certain movement or type of work! But if his readiness is limited to this, is he considered prepared?

No, no, no, no! His readiness is limited. He is ready for something specific in certain conditions, outside of which his effectiveness is low or equal to zero.

Physical preparedness is a concept that describes the readiness of the organism as a whole for something related to the use of its capabilities.

No, no, no, no! His readiness is limited. He is ready for something specific in certain conditions, outside of which his effectiveness is low or equal to zero.

Physical preparedness is a concept that describes the readiness of an organism as a whole for something related to the use of its possibilities.

If the body possesses only strength, but weakness of other qualities, or only endurance, or only a skill with limited development of other physical characteristics, such a body is incorrectly called physically prepared.

In the field of physical training, today I see a tendency to divide and conquer in politics. A lot of federations, their own rules, competitions. Everybody pulls in his or her own direction breaking the very notion of physical training. Some shout – it is necessary to be like this! Others contradict them by shouting about the importance of one and the uselessness of the other!

Some convince to swing, others convince to run. A fighter is better than a boxer. Boxing is better than fighting, etc. And everyone has a lot of arguments.

But why is that?

Everyone creates a market for themselves and protects it!

An artificial environment is created. And in this environment they talk about preparedness.

But what about “simple mortals”? Who live in a real, living environment. They work in firms, enterprises, factories, and public service. Every day, they may encounter various external stimuli of a natural and social nature that require physical preparation. And the health, quality of their work, rest and life in general will depend on this preparedness.

Do they need physical training?

You do!

But what should it be? What should be considered preparedness? What should we strive for? And the main question is. Why? Why?

A clear understanding is half the solution.

The only correct criteria of physical fitness, the rules to be followed in physical training for life are: life realities (life as it is, not artificial environment), biomechanics, physiology, anatomy, psychology.

Then which person can be considered physically prepared? If I can run a distance of 40 kilometers, am I prepared? Probably, yes! But what am I prepared for? I am prepared for running and related conditions of manifestation of physical abilities.

And if I run badly, but I can squeeze the barbell 200 kg from my chest and sit down a lot, I guess, too, prepared? Yes! But that’s what I’m limited to, if I’m not working on my body’s other capabilities. Well, what if I can’t sit down a lot, but I pull up 35 times like this? This is definitely no further preparation!

When I’m talking, asking such questions, I often hear why I need something else than what I’m doing. Everything suits me, I am awesome!

What we may need, we will only know when we need it, but often it’s too late. And the important thing is not what we want, being under the influence of advertising and fashion, but what is important for our body. After all, the obvious imbalance in the development of the body affects its health, the ability to fully use its body.

Quickly and much to run, swim, lift large weights, skillfully manage your body, all these parameters can be used in describing a person as physically prepared.

But the development of any physical quality (above strength, only endurance, only flexibility, train only ass and biceps) to the detriment of everyone else, is unlikely to fall under the description of physical fitness, because, when performing work requiring different physical qualities, motor skills than those on which the bias in preparation was made, will cause reduced efficiency or inability to perform the work at all, as well as, limits our health.

The development of the body must be as balanced as nutrition. Lack, absence or oversupply of nutrients leads to failures, limits his work, can be dangerous.

As well as the training process should be balanced, including the development of the appropriate level of physical qualities, skills and abilities that will improve its overall performance, health and prepare the body for various variations in stress and living conditions.

Physical fitness is a balance of physical qualities (strength, endurance, coordination, agility, speed, flexibility, power) and applied motor skills against a high level of health.

As an example, I’d like to give a few stories from my life:

“One day, a friend of mine asked for a friendly favor. He was moving to another apartment and had to help with the furniture.

There I met a friend of his, who also came to the rescue. My future colleague was impressive, by modern standards – beautifully built.

Waist, biceps, wide back, etc. – Athlete, prepared. With him, it seemed, there would be no problems. Externally, there was a feeling that such an athlete is ready to keep the ground on his shoulders without rest – forever. While lowering the sofa, he deflated on the 3rd floor.

When I reached the back of the sofa with my chest, on the other hand, I could feel its rapid heartbeat. On his forehead, it felt like I could fry eggs.

My friend’s story:

“The protection of public order. There was a need to change the location and quickly move to another place. The distance to the new place is within 400 meters.

The speed of movement made it difficult to wear and special equipment: boots, shin pads, kneecaps, elbow pads, helmets, shields, flak jackets, etc. Not everybody managed to get there in a timely manner. Some of the “heroes” were lost in the process of moving and arrived at the place with a certain delay and fatigue, which limited their ability to effectively perform their function further.

According to a friend: “They were pulling their shields! They were strong, huge, they lifted a lot of weight and drank several kilograms of different powders during the month. An interesting observation that I noticed from his words.

Those who were enduring were the first to run, but that’s not all, we have to hold the shield, give resistance – there won’t be enough endurance alone. Those who can create a strong, impenetrable wall can do so for a short time or don’t get to the location at all. What is preparedness then?