H. Harrison Clarke was one of the first to write extensively about health related physical fitness. Indeed, we would consider him and his contemporaries such as Tom Cureton, Wilhelm Raab and Arthur Steinhaus as the leaders in changing the way we view physical fitness today. The definition of fitness in 1958, when the first national youth fitness test was developed is considerably different from our current definition of physical fitness. In addition, new terms have been developed such as metabolic fitness and wellness. Landmark documents such as the Healthy People series of national health objectives (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2000; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 1990; U.S. Department of Health, Education, & Welfare, 1979) have helped standardize some terms as have other documents such at the two international consensus conference volumes (Bouchard, et al., 1990, 1994) and the more recent Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 1996).

Commonly Used Fitness Terms

Product vs. Process

For ease of understanding, we have grouped the definitions in two broad categories: Product and Process. Products refer to states of being such as physical fitness, health and wellness. These are also commonly referred to as outcomes and they are frequently used as dependent measures in research. Process refers to behaviors or lifestyles and these are frequently used as independent measures for research purposes. Examples of processes or lifestyle behaviors are physical activity, exercise, sports, dance, etc.

Product Definitions

Creative Physical Fitness

A set of attributes that people have or achieve relating to their ability to perform physical activity (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 1996).