what is fitness?

what is fitness/Stamina actually?
for example, take a fat guy who has never really exercised and can't run 100m without puffing.. he exercises regularly for a month or so until he can run 5km 'comfortably'.. what changes in the body over this time to facilitate this?

His body's ability to utilise oxygen. The best way to measure is V02 Max, volume of oxygen per kilo of bodyweight per mintue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max

There is also all the guys who I knew when I was fishing... Big, tubby men who could run 20m let alone 100m yet they posessed enormous physical strength and stamina... Where they fit? In a way, yes. Were they particularly healthy? I suppose so, in that they where ruddy and staunch and stout in the way "rude good health" implies.


But the last time I saw one of them I was navigating almost into breakers in our boat because his little cray boat had drifted towards the shore and no one could get him on the radio... When we got close enough we could see gumboots sticking stiffly out of his cabin door.

he had dropped dead of a heart attack at about 55 or 58. Young, but not an bad way to go doing what he loved.

I'm not sure enormous physical strength has anything to do with fitness or health. I suspect stamina is just some sort of result of strength or something similar that resides in the muscles too, so that would also have little to do with over all health... Just guessing, could be wrong.
*goes to read wiki link*

I guess the way to put it is everything is relative. There are many ways to measure fitness, though as an (ex) fitness professional (bum personal trainer), I see this as the initial post dealing directly with how a fat guy's body adapted to training over a month long period. Cardiovascularly he improved therefore his body utilises oxygen more efficiently.

You could do lactate threshold testing in this instance as well as the afore-mentioned fat guy would probably have seized up completely when he tried to run 100m at the start, but his body after a month would have dealt with the lactic acid much more efficiently.

Stamina is when you can bang your gf for 8hrs non stop!

If you look at the male shotputters at the World Champs this week - bet most of those would struggle to beat your average 12 year old in any kind of running race.

So...would you call them "fit"? I'd say no.

Just not to their faces.

I disagree. I've known super-heavyweight (108kg+) weightlifters that run incredibly quick 20m sprints. Explosive power experts, sprinting is no different.

My old weightlifting coach (Bronze medalist at Commonwealth level weighing 110kg) was as quick as any sprinter in the country over 20m.

There's not really a running race though is it? That's like the first few steps of a race.

True...point taken. The same guys have incredible lung capacity though. I guess their bodies are just fit for purpose.