Activity VS Exercise
It is important before beginning any type of exercise routine that we ask ourselves ‘what is the purpose behind this potentially new change in behavior?’ A second question we should consider is ‘what do we expect to get out of this potentially new change in behavior, IF anything at all?’ The reason these two questions are vital for anyone looking to incorporate an activity routine into their lives is because we do not want our potential goals or expectations of this new activity routine to be a barrier for continuing to be active long term. We must keep in mind that 50% of the general population who begin exercise will quite within the first 6 months when beginning a new exercise routine (1). It is essential to make sure that we are active over our lifetime; therefore, sustainability is of the most vital importance when considering the attitude and mentality of beginning a new activity. From my anecdotal/personal experience as a personal trainer, a common reason people seem to quit an exercise routine is they ‘do too much too soon’; they play with too many variables. The variables that people increase to quickly can be very specifically defined as frequency (how often we engage in an activity), duration (how long the activity takes place), and intensity (how hard was the activity). When someone who was previously sedentary begins a new exercise routine and they play with more than 1 of the variables frequency, duration, and intensity it usually becomes a bit to taxing and that individual will typically stop and quit the activity and/or injure themselves.
Defining our terms is vital in any aspect of life to make sure we have a common understanding; therefore, a discussion can take place. Otherwise, without common terminology it is highly probable that individuals will talk past one another leading to unnecessary misunderstandings. The term activity is defined as any type of movement besides being seated and/or at rest (2, 3). Exercise is a subset of physical activity consisting of planned, structured, and repetitive bodily movement done to improve and/or maintain one or more components of physical fitness (2). Physical fitness can be broken up into two separate categories consisting of health-related physical fitness and skill related physical fitness.
Health-Related Physical Fitness Components (4)
-Cardiorespiratory Endurance: the ability of the circulatory and respiratory system to supply oxygen during sustained physical activity.
-Body Composition: the relative amounts of muscle, fat, bone, and other vital parts of the body.
-Muscular strength: the ability of muscle to exert force
-Muscular endurance: the ability of muscle to continue to perform without fatigue.
-Flexibility: the range of motion available at a joint.
Skill-Related Physical Fitness Components (4)
-Agility: the ability to change the position of the body in space with speed and accuracy.
-Coordination: the ability to use the senses, such as sight and hearing, together with body parts in performing tasks smoothly and accurately.
-Balance: the maintenance: of equilibrium while stationary or moving.
-Power: the ability or rate at which one can perform work.
-Reaction Time: the time elapsed between stimulation and the beginning of the reaction to it.
-Speed: the ability to perform a movement within a short period of time.
The purpose here is to understand that we can be physically active without engaging in structured exercise in a fitness center, but do not take that to imply that exercising at a fitness center is bad/wrong. We need to remain active as human beings because we no longer need to utilize our fitness levels (as defined above) to hunt and gather food. Our survival used to require us to utilize our cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, agility, etc. to hunt and gather food. Since the industrial revolution and the exponentially advancing technology we have today, much of our time is spent being less active than previous generations; therefore, we need to structure in more activity and/or exercise.
References
1.Dishman RK. Exercise adherence: Its impact on public health.Champaign: Human Kinetics Books; 1988.
2.Casperson CJ, Powell KE, Christenson GM. Physical activity, exercise, and physical fitness: definitions and distinctions for health-related research. Public Health Rep. 1985;100 (2):126-31
3.Rochmis P, Blackburn H. Exercise tests. A survey of procedures, safety, and litigation experience in approximately 170,000 tests. JAMA. 1971;217 (8):1061-6.
4.American College of Sports Medicine. ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. 10th ed. Baltimore (MD): Wolters Kluwer; 2018.1 p.