Feel good, look good - get fit

I BARELY remember the days when just about all I thought about were four simple things: swimming training, mates, school and sleep. I was one of what the rest of the world call fitness fanatics. But of course there is more to such people than just two words.

How important is fitness? Is it actually needed? What's fuelling the nationwide increase in exercise and fitness and is it actually good to work your body that hard? How do some people achieve massive levels of fitness and how much does it take to be an Olympic medallist?

At its simplest, fitness refers to your body's capability to distribute inhaled oxygen to muscles during increased physical effort. It is linked to heart strength and how big your cardiovascular muscle is. This is how we tell how fit you are.

Do we actually need fitness? No, we don't, but it can help the immune system protect against heart disease.

For students aged 7 to 15, physical education in schools is mostly compulsory. After leaving school the choice whether to exercise is all yours. Fitness helps keep you alive but how much you do is your choice.

The sports I prefer are swimming, cycling, running and football, which keep me fit and strong. But I have a problem with running and cycling because I am just unable to force myself to get outside and do them.

Here's an idea for parents who can't seem to get their kid out to do some exercise - buy a dog for their birthday and tell them they have to exercise it. If they don't, have some sort of consequence up your sleeve.

So what is really fuelling the national interest in fitness? Could be the weather ... no the weather isn't great.

Wait, maybe it's a desire to look young and healthy. That's it, people are exercising to look young and healthy, and it seems to be working.

In 2006 New Zealand's obesity rate was 26.5 per cent - that's about 1,113,000 people with a BMI of over 30. In 2011 the rate has dropped to 20.9 per cent, meaning that about 192,000 people have brought their BMI down below 30 to be now counted as healthy.

So exercise is very useful to make you look healthy and is good for you in most instances.

Too much exercise can be incredibly bad for you, however. Nothing is worse than going straight into full-on exercise and then having to drop out because of an injury for over-using something.

A common complaint is an inflamed muscle or ligament.

Before you jump straight into exercise create a schedule and build up to it over three or four months. If you start to find something too hard, go back down a level and don't put stress on your body unless it is used to it.

There are some major fitness fanatics in the world who excel at the sport they do or play. They devote their whole life to it and then they win medals and titles.

Take Michael Phelps, for example. He trains six hours a day, six days a week, even on public holidays such as Christmas or New Year's day. He will still do a full day of training. He swims up to 80km a week - about 13km a day.

To help his muscles recover, he has two massages a day. Sounds like the life, but it is all a lot of tiring work - and that is what it takes to become an Olympic gold medallist.

Fitness is important and for some people it is really needed. But for others it is not so important. Some people are starting to exercise because they want to look good and healthy. But at the same time it's not very good to jump straight into it because you may cause yourself an injury.

Instead, it is better to slowly build up to it. Being a fitness fanatic is pretty easy, but just don't jump into it.

Come on, New Zealand, this fitness and exercise boost is good. It is a way of becoming a healthy nation.

Leon Arcus, Year 9, Hamilton Boys' High School