Exercise Vs Recreation

I want to take some time and compare exercise vs recreation / activities so I can hopefully help others find better health in minimal time.

Unfortunately, the fitness industry has created a huge misunderstanding of what exercise is.

In the past, even many doctors have misunderstood what exercise is, because they simply weren't aware of the amazing benefits in actual exercise.

Exercise is something we have control over, we can use our bodies in a way that produces amazing long term health benefits, and we should all be exercising.

The problem is that most individuals group activities and recreation into the category of exercise.

Why is this a problem? 

Because millions of people world wide believe they are getting huge life changing benefits from simply walking, playing soccer, or jogging every day.

But unfortunately, all of the incredible life changing benefits that are attributed to what people assume is exercise - 

Those benefits only come from strength training. Read more about these exercise benefits, and the release of myokines in the body during strength training.

More about Ken Hutchins' five key distinctions between exercise and recreation below -

Exercise Vs Recreation

So, the big problem when we compare exercise vs recreation and other activities is this:

People think they're benefiting their bodies in huge ways by doing recreation but they simply aren't.

The power of exercise is creating a stimulus that improves all biomarkers for health and longevity - 

When we talk about exercise being life changing, this is simply an understatement.

Because actual exercise truly makes us biologically younger. 

We could spend all day walking and hiking, and we could get some minimal benefit from this, including expanding our vo2 max, the ability to hold more oxygen.

But the changes that happen in our body from simply hiking pale in comparison to the LIFE EXTENSION factors we get from strength training. 

What is the missing factor in recreation and activities?

The stimulus is not enough to create huge changes in our bodies. 

I want to be very clear about this -

Exercise = Strength Training = Life Extension

The biggest stimulus that we can achieve during actual exercise is getting our muscles to the moment of full muscle fatigue, and I'll describe this more in my video below.

Exercise Vs Recreation

When approaching the topic of comparing exercise vs recreation, the founder of The Perfect Workout, Matt Hedman, wrote a great article that gets a bit deeper into the five key differences between exercise and recreation.

Here he explains how exercise isn't necessarily fun or intuitive at all, but it's logical and creates the stimulus necessary for positive physical changes.

Granted, there seem to be a small amount of individuals who enjoy doing intense resistance training, but most of us truly don't view this as "fun" by any stretch of the imagination.

Playing tennis is a LOT of fun, but lifting weights really isn't "fun". 

The thing is, if we want to have all of these incredible benefits that exercise (safe strength training) can give us - 

• lowered cholesterol and blood pressure
• increased ability, strength, and balance
• fast changes in body composition
• increased brain function and cognitive ability
• biologically younger gene expression

If we want these important benefits of exercise, then we need to DO exercise.

And like you already know, as I have said above - 

Exercise = Strength Training = Life Extension

If you wonder how to get started with true exercise (strength training) - you can get started at home by using no weights and see the incredible benefits by doing these exercises twice a week, in my video below.

If you're like most of us, and prefer to have a fitness coach guide you through training, the fastest muscle growth I've ever seen is from The Perfect Workout method.