54 Examples of Physical Abilities

John Spacey, October 10, 2022

Physical abilities are capabilities and capacities related to the body. This includes the physical attributes of a person such as strength and elements of kinaesthetic intelligence such as balance. Physical abilities are helpful to various professions, jobs, tasks, activities and pursuits. It is also common for competition in areas such as sport and games to benefit from physical abilities. The following are common physical abilities.

Agility	Aiming
Arm-hand Steadiness	Balance & Equilibrium
Cardiovascular/Respiratory Endurance	Carrying
Climbing	Coordination
Crawling	Crouching
Depth Perception	Dexterity / Fine Motor Skills
Endurance of Flexibility (e.g. holding a difficult pose)	Endurance of Strength
Explosive Strength	Eye-hand Coordination
Far Visual Acuity	Finger Dexterity
Flexibility	Foot / Leg Control
Gripping	Handling Cold Weather / Cold Environments
Handling Hot Weather / Hot Environments	Hearing
Jumping	Kneeling
Lifting	Manual Dexterity
Near Visual Acuity	Neck Rotation
Peripheral Vision	Pulling
Pushing	Rate Control
Reaching Overhead	Reaction Time
Response Coordination	Running
Sense of Smell	Sense of Taste
Sitting / Sitting Endurance	Spatial Awareness
Speed	Stamina
Standing / Standing Endurance	Stooping
Trunk Strength	Vision
Walking	Wearing Protective Gear
Working at Heights	Working in Confined Spaces
Working in Excessive Noise	Working in Extreme Weather

Physical Abilities vs Physical Requirements

Physical requirements for things like job descriptions are very different from physical abilities. For example, a job description doesn't require specific abilities such as walking but rather requires general capacities such as moving. In other words, physical requirements avoid making assumptions about abilities but rather stick to the physical realities of a task or job.