Exercise and Physical Activity are not the same, but they do work together.

Key highlights

• Physical activity is any movement produced by your skeletal muscles
• Exercise is a form of physical activity as you are moving for a purpose using your skeletal muscles
• Exercise has specific benefits that physical activity may not have including cardiovascular benefit or muscular strength and hypertrophy benefits
• You should be physically active on most, if not all days, including scheduled exercise

First: Physical Activity

It is likely that you have had to move today. Whether that is getting out of bed this morning, walking from your car to the office, walking to the bus station, or bringing those grocery bags in all at once #onetrip. All of these periods of movement are classified as physical activity.

The term physical activity was coined in the mid-80s by Caspersen et al. (1985) [1], mainly so health professionals and health-researchers could begin to define and produce high quality research in the field of exercise and health science. Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement via skeletal muscle that results in energy expenditure and is positively associated with physical fitness [1].

So lets break this definition down:

• Any bodily movement via skeletal muscle that results in energy expenditure

• Is positively associated with physical fitness.

So what is exercise?

Caspersen et al., (1985) also defined the term exercise, which until then had been interchangeable with "physical activity". Exercise however, is different to physical activity in that it is a planned and structured affair. When you go to your gym's spin class, you are exercising. When you go to your weekly hockey training, you are exercising. Here, we can see that the physical activity that you are participating in, is planned and structured and therefore, is considered exercise.

Exercise is defined as any bodily movement via skeletal muscle that results in energy expenditure, is very positively associated with physical fitness, is planned and structured, and has an objective or goal [1]. So let's break down this definition:

• Any bodily movement via skeletal muscle that results in energy expenditure

• Is very positively associated with physical fitness

• Is planned and structured

Being physically active is extremely important for general health, but incorporating exercise into your weekly routine allows you to reap greater benefits. Exercise provides you a greater opportunity to work on improving core aspects of physical fitness [1].

The exercise science and physiology community generally regard exercise as the best and fastest way to improve both the health-related and skill-related components of physical fitness. Greater health-related physical fitness is very strongly associated with reduced mortality and morbidity (that is improved health and quality of life throughout the life cycle).

Meeting the general physical activity and exercise guidelines [2] is important to ensuring that you reap the greatest health-related physical fitness benefits from physical activity and exercise.

References:

[1] Caspersen et al. (1985). Physical activity, exercise, and physical fitness: Definitions and distinctions for health-related research. Public Health Reports, 100(2), 126-131. URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1424733/

[2] Australian Government, Dept Health and Aged Care. (2023). Physical activity and exercise guidelines for all Australians. Physical activity and exercise. URL: https://www.health.gov.au/topics/physical-activity-and-exercise/physical-activity-and-exercise-guidelines-for-all-australians