Exercise vs Training: What’s the Difference And Why It’s Important to Differentiate Them

What’s the Difference

These two definitions are used interchangeably and the meaning might not be too different for most people. Perhaps, most people might have not even considered the difference between the two.

For the general population, exercising or training means going to the gym, a workout class or going for a run. Getting the heart pumping, breaking a sweat, and anticipating soreness the following day.

In reality, they are two very different things; and knowing the difference between the two can have a tremendous effect on how you approach fitness and help create a spark in your current workout routine.

Exercise is defined as an “activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness.” 

The Center of Disease Control and Prevention and American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity AND 2 days of moderate to higher intensity weight/resistance training per week. 

It can be anything from walking, running, cycling, swimming to adding in weight lifting or body weight training with resistance bands. There are no specifics on how you should meet the given recommendations but the goal is to affect your body as a whole to sustain physical, cardiovascular, and mental health, among other things.

Simply put, exercise keeps you healthy.

You will certainly make progress on your physical capacity through exercise but the improvements will be random and general.

Training is defined as “teaching or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies.”

The most common phrases you might’ve heard are someone at the gym saying they are weight training or a runner saying they are training for the marathon. Within the context of this statement, there is some kind of guideline to execute a training routine with a specific goal in mind. For the weight lifter, it might be “bulking up” to add more muscle mass to their body. This same weight lifter could be training in order to get stronger and more powerful to run faster and reduce the risk of injuries for a marathon coming up. They are in the same gym, likely doing similar exercises but with a completely different goal in mind.

Simply put, training is actively trying to improve something in a purposeful manner, usually systematically or within certain guidelines.

At the end of the day, the difference between exercise and training comes down to intention. The real difference is in how you approach the process, not what activity you are doing.

Why It’s Important

Understanding the difference between the two will help you create better routines and schedule your workouts appropriately to achieve your goals. It will also make working out more fun as you can challenge yourself by training for certain tasks.

It is also important to understand that most people who are training are exercising as well. For example, a basketball player in the off-season might be training to improve their ability to drive to the basket and finish stronger in traffic. They might be working on their strength, balance, and power to achieve this goal. There will likely be certain weight training to improve their ability to absorb more force into their body without losing balance, as well as training to produce force at a quicker rate to finish at the rim before the defense can fully collapse. During this training, the same basketball player will be doing general conditioning by running/biking/swimming and lifting weights to exercise primary movement patterns. The latter can be considered exercise while the former can be considered training. 

Furthermore, exercise and training can be the same movement and activity. Using a squat as an example, doing 3 sets of 10 squats with a 35lb kettlebell can merely be an exercise to maintain general fitness and give your legs a burn. However, you can do the same squat with a kettlebell with the intention of working on improving squat depth and control utilizing eccentric and isometric contractions in different ranges of the squat. This would be considered training, which will in turn allow you to progress your exercises with heavier weights and reduce the risk of compensating during your squats. Another way to call this type of training is movement refinement.

I know that this seems particular and over-analyzing something that should be simple. However, the truth is reducing the risk of injury and improving human performance effectively and consistently is not easy. The same goes for exercise programming for people who are trying to recover from injuries. Goal setting and adding intention to your workout routine will help athletes improve their performance with higher predictability, as well as help the everyday person trying to stay fit and healthy avoid falling into the same, boring exercise routine on a regular basis. 

Physical intelligence, just like emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence, must be exercised and trained properly to continue challenging yourself in a safe and controlled manner. With a little bit of knowledge on training, you can progress and regress your workouts as needed to adjust for your mood and the readiness of your body for that given day. Learning a new movement is great but learning to tweak the same movement in 5 different ways presents a whole new level of challenge and expands your movement toolbox for years to come.