I am sure I have written on this topic many times before in varying fashion and from a variety of vantage points, but I will say it again, if I haven’t already, not all physical activity is exercise! Physical activity is defined as any movement above rest. Some move more than others. Exercise is a category of physical activity that is performed for the purposes of improving one’s health, performance, and/or physical appearance. In many cases, there may be a fine line between physical activity and exercise. The Guidelines that I have discussed in a few recent posts are physical activity and health guidelines. They are focused on the prevention of disease, e.g., cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.
The distinction between merely physical activity and exercise is in the intention. Simply preventing disease is not improving one’s health. Thus, increasing accumulated physical activity (e.g., taking the stairs, walking more, standing rather than sitting, etc.), without attention to overload and progression, is not exercise—unless one is extremely sedentary. It is true that initially the progressive increase in volume will have some benefit in improving one’s health and, possibly, physical appearance, however, the return quickly becomes diminishing. At some point exercise has to be more intensive to promote an adaptation.
We should be stressing intentional exercise—exercise that benefits health and neuromotor function. We should be stressing the importance of improving cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle strength/endurance, flexibility/mobility, and body composition, as well as neuromotor function (i.e., agility, balance, coordination, power, speed, and reaction time), not merely maintaining. Maintenance is intended for high-levels of fitness and for areas of fitness that far exceed the other dimensions (i.e., to allow the other areas to catch up).
Accumulated physical activity is icing on the cake. Move more—always as much as possible—but do so in addition to regular exercise. Look for opportunity to be more active—e.g., taking the stairs that are next to the escalators, parking the car a bit farther away from your destination, etc. I am always fascinated by the people who will drive to a gym to walk or run on a treadmill. Let that sink in. Schedule time for exercise and be more physically active beyond this. Focus on improving. Consider specificity, overload, and progression. Allow your activity to be increasingly more challenging—even that which is intended for leisure. Choose to improve your health rather than to merely maintain your health.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!