The tests are administered annually, and the aim is to allow individuals to ascertain their relative level of conditioning, and determine whether improvement or deterioration is taking place. The tests are chosen to cover five areas of physical fitness. These include body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness, flexibility, muscular strength and muscular endurance. Body composition is one component of fitness that greatly influences health. Fat tissue is a normal component of the human body that serves the important purpose of storing energy.
Obesity is a condition signified by excess body fat that frequently results in poor health.
Increased amounts of body fat seriously impede performance by being an extra weight burden to the body, interfering with its cooling process and straining the circulatory system. Cardiorespiratory fitness, also known as cardiopulmonary or aerobic fitness, is a good measure of the heart s ability to pump oxygen-rich blood to the body. The person with a health heart, that can pump great volumes of blood with each beat, will have a high level of cardiorespiratory fitness. This is particularly important to individuals who must sustain intense physical effort over long periods, such as required in fire fighting. The metabolic requirements, added burden of protective equipment, and heat stress encountered during fire fighting mandate a higher than average level of aerobic fitness.