0Cardiovascular Endurance is the ability of the heart and lungs to provide oxygenated & nutrition rich blood to the working skeletal muscles."
If this component of fitness is compromised, then Muscular component (defined below) can not be challenged. For instance, in sports like boxing, football, no matter how muscular and fast the athlete is, he can not use his strength once cardiovascular fatigue sets in.
Muscular endurance is the ability of skeletal muscles to continuously contract at sub-maximal levels for an extended length of time before fatigue sets in.
Cardiovascular endurance cannot be challenged and hence improved, without muscular endurance. Let's consider a football player again here; a player would not be able to hit the ball with the highest prowess till the last moment of the match if his/her muscular endurance levels are not up to the mark, even if he/she is not cardiovascular tired.
Musco-skeletal Strength is the ability of skeletal muscles to generate maximum force against the given load. It's a combined strength of Muscles, bones, ligaments & tendons.
Without the component, performing activities like hockey, football, 100m and 400m sprint races, marathons cannot be possible even with high cardiovascular and muscular strength as the body will not be able to sustain the stress of running on the tough surface.
Flexibility is the ability of the body to maintain the full range of motion across the joints.
This component is a must to avoid injuries while performing both endurance and explosive type of activity. For instance, during squats, there will be high stress in the lumbar region, which will cause the bending of the spine and hence the high chances of spine injury.
Ideal body composition is the ability of the human body to maintain an ideal ration between fat-free mass (includes the weight of muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, blood, organs) and the Fat. For males, it should be between 5-15% and females 8-20%.
If there is a high presence (above 15% for males and 20% for females) of adipose tissues (fat) in the body, all other aspects of fitness will be compromised. As simple as, a person with high belly fat may not able to tie shoe laces as a complete range of motion will be compromised even he/she has flexible muscles. Also, the person even with high cardiac and muscular endurance will tend the get very fatigued, if he carries a high amount of adipose tissue in his/her body, while climbing stairs till 10th floor of a building, as this resembles carrying two heavy bags.
It makes it clear that every component is equally essential for the body to perform any activity at its peak.
