In the world of physical training, there are a series of basic qualities that determine the physical condition of the athlete. These qualities can be divided into two large groups: conditional physical abilities, which refer to strength, speed, flexibility, and endurance, and coordination abilities, a group related to orientation, balance, agility, etc.
we will explain what conditional physical abilities are and why it is essential to work well with each of them.
Table Of Content
1. What are conditional physical abilities
2. What are the conditional physical abilities
3. Speed
4. Strength
5. Endurance
6. Flexibility
What are conditional physical abilities?
Conditional physical capacities are those functional qualities of the human being that are executed through physical activity. There are four: speed, strength, endurance and flexibility. Before continuing, we must make clear the difference between conditional and coordinative capacities.
- Coordinative abilities ( balance, rhythm, reaction, orientation, etc.) are born from birth, so we understand that genes play an important role in their transmission. This means that coordinative abilities are not obtained, but we can only improve them.
- Conditional capabilities, on the other hand, are done autonomously, that is, we can obtain them or not depending on the training we do.
What are conditional physical abilities?
Now that we have seen the difference between conditional and coordinative abilities, it is time to focus on the physical abilities that we will be discussing today.
As we have already seen, there are four conditional physical abilities: speed, strength, endurance and flexibility. Each of these activities is linked to the physical performance and training of each person, so we understand that these capacities are functional and energetic qualities that are developed due to an action that we carry out voluntarily and consciously.
Speed
Speed refers to the movement that is carried out in the shortest possible time. This quality largely determines an individual’s athletic performance and requires a high level of development and preparation. When we talk about this conditional physical capacity we must take into account three types of qualities:
- The speed of translation: is the one that refers to the ability of a person to move from one point to another in space in the shortest possible time.
- Reaction speed: it is the ability of the individual to react to a given stimulus in the shortest possible time. Example: the person makes a run and upon hearing the signal performs a push-up and continues running.
- Speed resistance: this quality responds to all those motor actions that the subject performs over a long period of time at a high speed.
Strength
Strength is the ability to move the body by tensing the muscles and, through them, overcome or counteract a given external resistance. This quality can be trained periodically for the development and preparation of our muscles before any physical exercise. The human being can exercise three types of force in his physical activity:
- Strength-endurance: is the ability of a person to perform a prolonged strength exercise resisting exhaustion. This is clearly seen, for example, during push-up exercises.
- Maximal Strength – This refers to the maximum exertion of the muscles to counteract a large external resistance. An example of this is weight lifting, since it responds to an overload activity in which the individual tries to reach their maximum state of strength.
- Quick force: it is the force that is executed to overcome an external resistance derived from a muscular contraction in a short time. An example of this is seen in the exercises in which we perform a squat before a jump.
Endurance
This physical capacity allows you to perform and endure a certain exercise for as long as possible. By developing resistance we are able to stop or mitigate fatigue, as well as keep it as low as possible. Thus, we are talking about one of the most essential qualities in the world of sports. There are two types of resistance:
- Aerobic resistance: it refers to the resistance that we use in activities of moderate intensity that allow the body to stay oxygenated during the course of the exercise. We talk about aerobic endurance when we bike or jog.
- Anaerobic endurance: This type of endurance, on the other hand, implies that the individual performs intense physical activity in a short period of time. Along with resistance, the individual has to exert a great effort in the exercise, so taking the previous examples, we would talk about pedaling faster on a bicycle or running faster if we go jogging.
Flexibility
The last of the conditional physical capacities is flexibility, a quality that although we all have when we are born, it is gradually lost over time if it is not trained. This quality consists of making joint movements of great magnitude without the need to use a lot of energy in the exercise. An example of flexibility training is that carried out in yoga. There are two types of flexibility:
- Dynamic flexibility: it is derived from performing exercises in significant movements for a certain time.
- Static flexibility: consists of maintaining a stretched body posture for a certain time without any movement.