SIMPLE, BUT RARELY UNDERSTOOD
This has to be understood, as this is the most fundamental element that ensures you are on the path to achieving results. The issue I’ve realized through the years in the training world, both through observation as well as simply asking people this question, is that very few even truly know what exercise is.
ACTIVITY ≠ EXERCISE
It appears that the general population understands exercise to essentially be any physical activity that a person can utilize to improve their “fitness”. While this isn’t fully incorrect, that view is surface level and too broad to lead to a meaningful training approach.
The primary flaw in this understanding is believing that exercise is any physical activity.
GENERAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITES
The reality is that most physical activities fall under the umbrella of what I call General Physical Activities. These include manual labor jobs and household work, sports in general, most group exercise classes, walking, jogging, biking, hiking, long distance running, other active hobbies and even submaximal effort strength training.
These general physical activities can be done, but not as the foundational pieces of a long-term exercise regimen as they can only garner results when an individual first begins doing them as progression is limited by the nature of those activities.
SO WHAT IS EXERCISE, EXACTLY?
Exercise is Intentional physical activity (targeted at muscle tissue) which is executed at a high level of Intensity, is inherently Progressive in nature, and is Structured correctly so that it's both safe and repeatable for a lifetime.
True exercise ensures that the body is consistently challenged appropriately, as it is a highly resilient entity that requires constant, increasingly intense stimuli in order for it to adapt.
Using this criteria, effectively only two modalities would constitute true Exercise:
- Strength Training
- Cardiovascular Exercise
Both of these can be prescribed and executed in a progressive fashion by manipulating the frequency, intensity, volume or combination of these three variables.
Strength Training is the Foundation
However, cardiovascular work will reach its ceiling relatively quickly in terms of progression while resistance training can always be progressed in some fashion for as long as one does it.
Therefore, strength training should be the foundation of your regimen provided it is performed with appropriate intensity and attention is given to how it is structured.
