“I walk 10,000 steps a day”, “I have an active job”, “I do a lot of work at home” – these are the answers I often hear when I ask people if they exercise. Let’s make one thing clear – these are not forms of exercise. Movement – yes. Activity – yes. Exercise – not even close.
Original source: here.
We have already covered in a previous article why gardening is not exercise and in this article, we will explain the differences between be active and fit.
Active simply means you are not lying down. You’re not Al Bundy, sitting on the couch in his spare time, watching TV. The bar to be active is low. But don’t lump physical activity and exercise into one category.
All exercise is physical activity. But not all physical activity is exercise. Going shopping is indeed a physical activity. But it doesn’t suit you. Vacuuming and cleaning your house is indeed physical activity. But it also doesn’t suit you.
So what are the differences? This is where the definitions come in.
- Active: we specified this earlier – we are not dormant.
- Exercise: a deliberate effort to improve the quality of fitness.
Let’s break it down:
- Intentional: means that on purpose – not by accident or as a side effect – you make progress on something.
- Improve: you try to get better at it. There is progress. You’ll be a little better at it the next time you do it.
- Fitness quality: there are 3 basic attributes of fitness – strength, cardiovascular endurance and flexibility. There are also other secondary fitness attributes such as speed, agility, muscular endurance, balance and more.
If you compare the definition of exercise with physical activity, you will see that there are no similarities.
Being active is not intentional. The purpose of being active is to complete the chosen activity well. Not to improve your fitness. You don’t vacuum (for example) to improve your cardiovascular endurance. You vacuum to clean your house.
Physical activity is not progressive. You don’t count the time it took you to vacuum and try to beat it next time. You also don’t count how many stairs you climb at work and try to get over it the next day.
Physical activity without exercise does not improve strength, endurance or flexibility. Why? Because it’s not strength, endurance or flexibility training.
What is Cardiovascular Exercise? It is a 2 part definition. The two parts are:
- Intensity: you should be working above 65% of your maximum heart rate.
- Duration: you need to maintain this heart rate for at least 20 minutes (as a beginner. More if you’re past the beginner stage).
He must meet both criteria to be cardio. When people walk to work, they don’t exactly walk with the intention of taking 20 minutes to get from one office/cubicle to another. They also don’t walk with the goal of reaching more than 65% of their maximum heart rate. They walk with the intention of getting where they need to go.
We need to stop thinking that being active and being fit are the same thing. Case in point:
- I had a client who walked her large, energetic dog for 2 hours a day, 7 days a week – yet she was still 150 pounds overweight. They were active. Very active. But it doesn’t fit. 2 hours a day did not exceed the intensity limit to improve her heart disease.
- I worked with a construction company to improve wellness in their workplace. When I interviewed their staff, about 40% of them were type 2 diabetics – much higher than the general population. However, who is more active than construction workers? Not many people.
Don’t get me wrong – being active is much better than being sedentary. But it’s even better to be fit.
- Sedentary life is the worst.
- Active is better.
- Fit is the best.
So this isn’t just an opinion piece (I know if it’s a battle of opinion, your opinion wins over mine. After all, it’s your opinion), I will bring the proofs – my studies. Hopefully in the presence of some hard data, it will be enough to change your mind.
Cardiovascular endurance is measured by something called “VO2 max.” If you really want to know, V stands for “volume”, O2 it is oxygen. In a studyresearchers recruited people with an average age of 60 and measured their VO2 max. These people were active, but not doing cardio on purpose. Their voice2 max was 27.7 ml/kg/min.
Another study they took adults of a similar age who were active but not fit. For 6 months, they intentionally did cardio, and by the end of the study, their VO2 max ranged from 33.8-38.5 ml/kg/min. This is a huge difference between active and fit.
What about the power? A study found that even in older adults (over 60) who are active, many of them experience sarcopenia – a loss of muscle mass sufficient to be diagnosed as a medical condition.
A meta-analysis (which is a review of several studies) looked at what happens when you take already active seniors and put them on a purposeful strength training program. Even in people over 80 years old, their strength can improve by 30-100% over a period of 4 months.
In another study85 active (non-sedentary) subjects with an average age of 72 were divided into 2 groups:
- Group 1: remained active but did no intentional exercise.
- Group 2: remained active and did strength training.
After 4 months of strength training, group 1’s strength remained unchanged. Group 2 improved their strength by 41%.
The message: fitness is no accident. Fitness is not a side effect of activity. He needs his own dedication.
What do these 2 points mean in everyday life:
- If you’re 60 and active (but not in good shape), you may have low energy, high or borderline high cholesterol/triglycerides, be pre-diabetic or diabetic, have fatty liver, not sleep as well, and have a few extra pounds.
- If you stay active, but not fit, into your 80s, you may need to either be in a nursing home or have a family member care for you.
- If you’re 60 and not just active, but fit, you’re not complaining about your energy levels. You are proud that while your friends are all on at least one drug (and some of them on many more), you are not on a single drug. You do whatever you want to do. Want to play pickup basketball or hockey? You do it. Do you want to go skiing? You do it.
- If you are 80 and not just active, but in good physical condition, you have no complaints about your energy levels. The thought of a nursing home never even crossed your mind. You play with your grandchildren, you travel wherever you want, without wondering if you will be able to get everything out of it. If you are not fit, your only option is a beach holiday where you can walk on the beach. If you are fit, you can go on the very hilly road of Portugal or climb the Swiss Alps. No problem.
The difference in quality of life between active and fit older adults widens over time.
In addition, “fit” is domain specific. Just because someone can lift a lot of weight doesn’t mean they have great endurance. And Just because someone can run a marathon doesn’t mean they are strong. And just because someone does yoga and can twist themselves into a pretzel doesn’t mean they have good endurance or strength. Each quality of fitness must be trained separately. You don’t get strong by doing yoga or jogging.
If you need help improving your fitness, we have a special program called “Fit Over 50”. If you want to see if this program is for you, just open the application form our home page. Completing the application form does not obligate you to anything. We’ll just schedule a quick 10–15 minute chat to understand your situation, your goals and if we can help you get there. No pressure or sales.
