Physical Activity vs. Exercise – What’s the Difference?

So many people don’t know the difference between physical activity and exercise.

For years, when I worked on a large university campus, people told me they exercised daily. When I asked for more details, they often said they “walked all over campus.”

Digging more, I learned it wasn’t for their lunchtime exercise but because the nature of the campus was that you often had to park in the outer lots and walk to get to the various buildings on campus – a pedestrian campus. Parking close to the multiple classes, offices, and other amenities took a special permit. So everyone who was physically able had to “walk all over campus” to get to their destinations.

I mentioned in last week’s post about pets that I walk my dogs daily, but the nature of our walks is physical activity, not exercise.

Students in my sports nutrition class tell me they exercise at work, such as walking, doing patient transport, standing all day at work, or doing other forms of activity, such as being a restaurant worker. I admit these are active jobs, but are they exercise?

People often confuse physical activity and exercise. But they are not the same thing.

Not all physical activity is exercise, but all exercise is always physical activity.

Not all tissues are Kleenex, but all Kleenex are tissues.

Not all smartphones are iPhones, but all iPhones are smartphones.

Get it?

In a Public Health Report going back to 1985, entitled, Physical activity, exercise, and physical fitness: definitions and distinctions for health-related research, the following comes from the Abstract:

“Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure. The energy expenditure can be measured in kilocalories. Physical activity in daily life can be categorized into occupational, sports, conditioning, household, or other activities. Exercise is a subset of physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive and has as a final or an intermediate objective the improvement or maintenance of physical fitness.”

Physical activity is any movement carried out by the muscles that require energy.

Physical activities include:

Getting up in the morning.
Putting on clothes.
Walking to the kitchen.
Making coffee.
Showering.
Walking to the car or bus stop.

I have a two-story home, and walking up and down the stairs is physical activity, not exercise.

We call these activities of daily living, or ADLs. Some individuals need assistance with these ADLs.

Doing work is primarily physical activity. So, for example, typing this article makes those muscles and tendons in the fingers and forearms work; it requires energy but isn’t exercise.

Any movement a person does (on their own) is physical activity. Me putting on roller skates and having my dogs “mush” isn’t. I don’t do that, but that is what I mean by any movement a person does on their own.

Exercise is a sub-category of physical activity with the following addition to the definition: planned, structured, repetitive, and purposely focused on improving physical fitness.

There are several components of exercise including flexibility and stretching activities.

Exercise can include stretching or yoga, or other flexibility aspects.

Exercise can include walking for movement and maintaining or improving health. Going for a jog, run, bike ride, or swim is also exercise. And hanging at the beach or pool isn’t exercise unless you swim – not just hang out.

Exercise can include weightlifting, resistance bands, or other forms of resistance training like bodyweight exercises, including squats and pushups.

Exercise can be a group fitness class, but it doesn’t have to be.

Exercise can be doing machines at the gym, but it doesn’t have to be.

Exercise can include golf (ideally walking) or a hike or skiing – these are planned, structured, and repetitive examples.

That is a lot of walking - so skip the gold cart.

Is golfing in a golf cart considered exercise? The walking is minimal, but if you have ever hit a golf ball, you may have felt your muscles in the next day or two. Hard to say.

Is stairclimbing exercise? Climbing stairs in your home, when going to a different floor at the store, or between floors at work – probably not. However, doing stair intervals or intentionally going a few floors or more is planned and repetitive.

Some things could be more straightforward but are not always clear.

For example, having two family members who have worked for UPS, some of that work is very physical. It requires strength and flexibility (when loading three package cars in a few hours), and some of that work includes many steps and provides endurance and strength (like the delivery driver hustling every day).

Is it purely to improve physical fitness? It is potentially a nice side effect; however, not all workers are physically fit. One could argue either way – but it is up to the person to make it purposeful to acquire health benefits and body fitness.

Some things are subjective. I walk my dogs and know it is physical fitness and not exercise. However, some people run with their dogs so that it could be exercise. It just depends on a few factors.

But there it is physical activity vs. exercise.

Not all physical activity is exercise, but all exercise is always physical activity.