Exercise is physical activity that enhances or maintains fitness and overall health. It is performed for various reasons, including weight loss or maintenance, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic skills, improve health, or simply for enjoyment. Many individuals choose to exercise outdoors where they can congregate in groups, socialize, and improve well-being as well as mental health.
Aerobic exercise is physical exercise of low to high intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy-generating process. "Aerobic" is defined as "relating to, involving, or requiring oxygen", and refers to the use of oxygen to meet energy demands during exercise via aerobic metabolism adequately. Aerobic exercise is performed by repeating sequences of light-to-moderate intensity activities for extended periods of time. Examples of cardiovascular or aerobic exercise are medium- to long-distance running or jogging, swimming, cycling, stair climbing and walking.
Exercise physiology is the physiology of physical exercise. It is one of the allied health professions, and involves the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise. Exercise physiologists are the highest qualified exercise professionals and utilise education, lifestyle intervention and specific forms of exercise to rehabilitate and manage acute and chronic injuries and conditions.
Physical fitness is a state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of sports, occupations, and daily activities. Physical fitness is generally achieved through proper nutrition, moderate-vigorous physical exercise, and sufficient rest along with a formal recovery plan.
Anaerobic exercise is a type of exercise that breaks down glucose in the body without using oxygen; anaerobic means "without oxygen". In practical terms, this means that anaerobic exercise is more intense, but shorter in duration than aerobic exercise.
V̇O2 max (also maximal oxygen consumption, maximal oxygen uptake or maximal aerobic capacity) is the maximum rate of oxygen consumption attainable during physical exertion. The name is derived from three abbreviations: "V̇" for volume (the dot over the V indicates "per unit of time" in Newton's notation), "O2" for oxygen, and "max" for maximum and usually normalized per kilogram of body mass. A similar measure is V̇O2 peak (peak oxygen consumption), which is the measurable value from a session of physical exercise, be it incremental or otherwise. It could match or underestimate the actual V̇O2 max. Confusion between the values in older and popular fitness literature is common. The capacity of the lung to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide is constrained by the rate of blood oxygen transport to active tissue.
Exercise intensity refers to how much energy is expended when exercising. Perceived intensity varies with each person. It has been found that intensity has an effect on what fuel the body uses and what kind of adaptations the body makes after exercise. Intensity is the amount of physical power that the body uses when performing an activity. For example, exercise intensity defines how hard the body has to work to walk a mile in 20 minutes.
Strength training, also known as weight training or resistance training, involves the performance of physical exercises that are designed to improve strength and endurance. It is often associated with the lifting of weights. It can also incorporate a variety of training techniques such as bodyweight exercises, isometrics, and plyometrics.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a training protocol alternating short periods of intense or explosive anaerobic exercise with brief recovery periods until the point of exhaustion. HIIT involves exercises performed in repeated quick bursts at maximum or near maximal effort with periods of rest or low activity between bouts. The very high level of intensity, the interval duration, and number of bouts distinguish it from aerobic (cardiovascular) activity, because the body significantly recruits anaerobic energy systems. The method thereby relies on "the anaerobic energy releasing system almost maximally".
Aerobic conditioning is the use of continuous, rhythmic movement of large muscle groups to strengthen the heart and lungs. Improvement in aerobic conditioning occurs when athletes expose themselves to an increase in oxygen uptake and metabolism, but to keep this level of aerobic conditioning, the athletes must keep or progressively increase their training to increase their aerobic conditioning.
Physical activity is defined as any voluntary bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. Physical activity encompasses all activities, at any intensity, performed during any time of day or night. It includes both voluntary exercise and incidental activity integrated into the daily routine. This integrated activity may not be planned, structured, repetitive or purposeful for the improvement of physical fitness, and may include activities such as walking to the local shop, cleaning, working, active transport etc. Lack of physical activity is associated with a range of negative health outcomes, whereas increased physical activity can improve physical and mental health, as well as cognitive and cardiovascular health. There are at least eight investments that work to increase population-level physical activity, including whole-of-school programmes, active transport, active urban design, healthcare, public education and mass media, sport for all, workplaces and community-wide programmes. Physical activity increases energy expenditure and is a key regulator in controlling body weight. In human beings, differences among individuals in the amount of physical activity have a substantial genetic basis.
Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) refers to the ability of the circulatory and respiratory systems to supply oxygen to skeletal muscles during sustained physical activity. Scientists and researchers use CRF to assess the functional capacity of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. These functions include ventilation, perfusion, gas exchange, vasodilation, and delivery of oxygen to the body's tissues. As these body's functions are vital to an individual's health, CRF allows observers to quantify an individual's morbidity and mortality risk as a function of cardiorespiratory health.
Interval training is a type of training exercise that involves a series of high-intensity workouts interspersed with rest or break periods. The high-intensity periods are typically at or close to anaerobic exercise, while the recovery periods involve activity of lower intensity. Varying the intensity of effort exercises the heart muscle, providing a cardiovascular workout, improving aerobic capacity and permitting the person to exercise for longer and/or at more intense levels.
Lactate inflection point (LIP) is the exercise intensity at which the blood concentration of lactate and/or lactic acid begins to increase rapidly. It is often expressed as 85% of maximum heart rate or 75% of maximum oxygen intake. When exercising at or below the lactate threshold, any lactate produced by the muscles is removed by the body without it building up.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to exercise:
Second wind is a phenomenon in endurance sports, such as marathons or road running, whereby an athlete who is out of breath and too tired to continue, finds the strength to press on at top performance with less exertion. The feeling may be similar to that of a "runner's high", the most obvious difference being that the runner's high occurs after the race is over. In muscle glycogenoses, an inborn error of carbohydrate metabolism impairs either the formation or utilization of muscle glycogen. As such, those with muscle glycogenoses do not need to do prolonged exercise to experience "hitting the wall". Instead, signs of exercise intolerance, such as an inappropriate rapid heart rate response to exercise, are experienced from the beginning of an activity, and some muscle GSDs can achieve second wind within about 10 minutes from the beginning of the aerobic activity, such as walking. (See below in pathology).
Incremental exercise is physical exercise that increases in intensity over time.
In kinesiology, the ventilatory threshold (VT1) refers to the point during exercise at which ventilation starts to increase at a faster rate than VO2 (V – volume, O2 – oxygen). One's threshold is said to reflect levels of anaerobiosis and lactate accumulation. As the intensity level of the activity being performed increases, breathing becomes faster; more steadily first and then more rapid as the intensity increases. When breathing surpasses normal ventilation rate, one has reached ventilatory threshold. For most people this threshold lies at exercise intensities between 50% and 75% of VO2 max. A major factor affecting one's ventilatory threshold is their maximal ventilation (amount of air entering and exiting lungs). This is dependent on their personal experience with the activity and how physically fit the person is. Comparison studies of more athletic people have shown that your ventilatory threshold occurs at a higher intensity if you are more active or have been training for that exercise; although, in some cases shorter continuous tests can be used because of rapid alterations in ventilation.
The physiology of marathons is typically associated with high demands on a marathon runner's cardiovascular system and their locomotor system. The marathon was conceived centuries ago and as of recent has been gaining popularity among many populations around the world. The 42.195 km distance is a physical challenge that entails distinct features of an individual's energy metabolism. Marathon runners finish at different times because of individual physiological characteristics.
The benefits of physical activity range widely. Most types of physical activity improve health and well-being.
