Training vs. exercise, what does that mean, what’s the difference?

We all exercised at some point in our lives. There are 100s, even 1000s of ways to exercise. A quick search on google for the term yields 5, 120,000,000 searches in 0.54 seconds. Page one of google also displays the ‘people ask’ dialogue box which provides its own’ top asked question’, and here it is: “What is the best 10 exercise”!

Well, there is no such animal! 10 best exercises for accomplishing WHAT? No wonder people are confused, not only is there no answer to this question, the question itself is irrelevant! It would be like asking: ‘What are the 10 best letters of the alphabet’, it makes absolutely ZERO SENSE!

Just like all the letters of the Alphabet need to be mastered to make words, words make sentences, which are organized in paragraphs to express ideas, that ultimately are collected in a study, a treatise, a book, all of which might affect your personal life, even the direction of nations! In the same way, exercises must be organized to provide a purpose, follow convention, and lead to a goal.

Exercise is loosely defined as movement that increases heart rate to produce effects such as blood pumping, muscles burning, heavy breathing, all in the hopes of burning calories or gettin fitter. Exercise is movement produced for immediate effect for its own sake, and for today.

While we all started exercising in our early years, moving from crawling, to walking, to running, it was a means to an end. It was done in a random approach with no particular goal other than to get somewhere faster than previously! That mindset evolved later in life translating to activities such as aerobic classes, weight lifting, or the multitudes of gym equipment found in today’s gyms.

There is nothing wrong with exercise, for many, it is its own satisfaction, and it also may be the introduction to the  ‘Fitness Continuum’. However, exercises just lumped together yield what is popularly referred to as a ‘workout’. Beyond burning calories or getting fitter, it has no long term goal, no achievement beyond its immediate sense of accomplishment! A workout is often judged by how hard it was, and how sweaty it made the participant.

The Human body ultimately adapts to this requirement of exercise, and subsequently adjusts its metabolic response by lowering its energy expenditure to become a more efficient organism, which is the driving force behind physiologic adaptation. In the end, if the daily repeated stressor (exercise), is consistently the same, results such as caloric expenditure vs. effort reach equilibrium, meaning that if the intent was to lose fat or get fit, a plateau instead has been reached and further adaptation is stalled.

If you want to evolve beyond this plateau and resume goals such as losing fat, running faster, gaining endurance, gaining muscle mass and strength, or reach the next level in whatever your pursuit or desire is, then you need to TRAIN!

TRAINING

Training is dynamic in nature, and an activity that is continually evolving to the next level of fitness. It is not constrained by time nor schedule. A training session is not ‘everyone else’s workout’, it is particular to your needs, and conducted at your convenience.

Training is a process by which physiologic adaptation occurs through progressive resistance. Unlike exercises that are randomly conducted as part of classes for example, training is conducted in progressive stages that are designed to increase in intensity at designated sessions. Training makes use of concepts such as duration, intensity, frequency, volume, applied in a structured program to yield increasing performance. This is a long term undertaking.

An example might be you currently run a Mile in 10 minutes. With properly designed and applied training, you later could run this same Mile in 8 minutes. This only occurs through physiologic adaptation, altering a multitude of parameters in your human body, which now is more efficient metabolically at dealing with the requirements of running that Mile!

Why might you want to run a Mile faster that previously you might ask? Simple, If you weigh 180lbs and have 30 minutes to train, and run a Mile in 10 minutes, you will burn 405 calories. When you can run that Mile in 8 minutes, you will burn 506 calories in those 30 minutes. Therefore, by engaging in a carefully designed training program to enhance performance, you’ve become more efficient at burning calories, or getting fit.

BUT THERE’S MORE!

An unsung adaptation also occurs here, and it has nothing to do with athletic ability. In training your body through a training regimen, you will develop structure, perseverance, diligence, endurance, organization, and the will to see your goals attained. Unbeknownst to you, you are training your mind and developing many of the habits that will dictate your success concerning Longevity and Quality of Life. You’re in the process of developing a Lifestyle!

Lets face it, unless you come into your senior years with these habits firmly entrenched and an integral part of your motus operandi, you are not all of a sudden going to develop these at 60 or 70 years old, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! The entire concept of training developed in your younger years, will carry over into your latter years. 

The sooner in life you adopt and adapt to the concept of training, the greater success you will have later, simple as that!

Journey well my Friends, Claude