“Not everybody wants to train. For many, exercise is good enough. They just want to burn some calories and have better abs. This is fine, for those people. But the second you want MORE, when you decide that there will now be a goal to accomplish, you’ve graduated to TRAINING.”—Mark Rippetoe
A friend shared the above quote recently. I like it. I agree with the sentiment. Rippetoe is a king among strength & conditioning coaches. I would like to take it a bit further, though.
In response to my friend, I commented: “Personally (and professionally), I don’t believe it is ‘exercise’ until there is a goal. Unless it is intended to improve body composition, health, or performance, it is merely ‘physical activity’.” Let me explain.
By definition, “physical activity” is any movement above resting levels. So, unless one is bed-ridden or in a coma, one is likely physically active to some—albeit limited—extent. Good health requires more physical activity than what is considered “sedentary”. Hypokinetic disease abounds, though it need not. We all need to move more—even those of us who are regular exercisers.
“Exercise” is a sub-category of physical activity. As I mentioned to my friend (who is a former student, so he has heard it before), exercise is defined as physical activity that is done for the purpose of improving one’s health, performance, or physical appearance. Thus, by definition, exercise requires a goal—a very specific goal.
I find Mark Rippetoe’s comments to be a bit of a polite understatement. Let’s be frank. You are either exercising or you are not. Increased physical activity will have health benefits—essentially, it will prevent or offset declines in health—but it will do little to improve health. It may maintain certain levels of performance and minimize the softening of one’s physical appearance. It is, by no means, exercise. Thus, to claim to “exercise”, one must overload the body systematically, progressively, and specifically. Exercise is not “going to the gym”. It is using the gym—it is making that decision that you want more and acting on your goals. “Exercise”, then, is “training”. There can be no distinction.
So, let today be graduation day. Graduate to training.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!