Physical Activity and Exercise

Posted on August 18, 2010

Physical Activity: any bodily movement produced by the contraction of skeletal muscles that result in a substantial increase over resting energy expenditure.

Examples: taking the stairs, lifting heavy objects as part of work, etc.

Exercise: a type of physical activity consisting of planned, structured and repetitive body movement done to improve or maintain one or more components of physical fitness.

Examples: spin class, yoga, planned run/walk/swim/bike ride, weight training program, etc.

A lot of people, myself included, use these two terms interchangeably. Just wanted to share what they really mean.

Bottom line: Physical activity AND exercise are important for good health. It doesn’t really matter what you call it… movement is good.

[From ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, 8th edition].