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A 2012 report by the independent Institute of Medicine (IOM) (Fitness Measures and Health Outcomes in Youth) recommended the use of the term cardiorespiratory endurance. The IOM is a branch of the National Academy of Sciences. A panel of experts was selected by the IOM to review the literature on the relationship between health and the components of physical fitness, and they chose the term cardiorespiratory endurance for several reasons.
Cardiorespiratory refers to the two systems of the body that are important in sustaining long-term physical activity (cardiovascular and respiratory), whereas cardiovascular refers to only one of the two systems. Endurance refers to the ability to persist in a performance for a long time, whereas fitness is a more general term. Together the terms cardiorespiratory and endurance were considered to be more descriptive than cardiovascular and fitness.
Recently authors from SHAPE America, Physical Best, Fitnessgram, Human Kinetics, and Fitness for Life prepared an article for JOPERD providing information about key fitness concepts. More information is in the JOPERD article cited in the reference list (Corbin et al., 2014). The article discusses the use of the term cardiorespiratory endurance.
References
Corbin, C.B., Welk, G.J., Richardson, C., Vowell, C., Lambdin, D., & Wikgren, S. (2014). Youth physical fitness: Ten key concepts. JOPERD, 85(2), 24-31.
Institute of Medicine. (2012). Fitness measures and health outcomes in youth. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.
