What do YOU consider "exercise"?

valerialeek

30min walk? Dog walking? House cleaning?

dykask

It isn't exercise until the sweat is pouring off of me.

GuineaKitty

Walking, jogging, lifting, and Yoga. Pretty much anything that makes me sweat.

malibu927

30 minute walk? If I'm doing it with no other purpose, yes.
Dog walking? Depends on how long we go out for (i.e. not just a walk around the block).
House cleaning? Nope. That's a general activity.

Return2Fit

valerialeek wrote: »

30min walk? Dog walking? House cleaning?

The degree of intensity of your exercise is a function of your goals.
If you have modest goals, dog walking and house cleaning are fine training sessions.

Some of us desire to reach our best, so we need more challenging exercises.
Only you can decide just how high you want to rise and how hard you're willing to work to get there.

JaxxieKat

I don't consider housework exercise. Majorly intensive landscaping work, I do count. Things like vacuuming or dusting? I got fat doing that stuff regularly, so I don't count it. I also don't count a 30 minute walk if it's just a leisurely stroll. I consider it exercise if it gets my heart rate up for more than 20 minutes.

Erik8484

The dictionary I just checked defined exercise as "activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness".

That looks about right in my mind. House cleaning isn't exercise because you're not doing it for health / fitness, you're doing it to keep your house clean. It's what I would call "non exercise physical activity".

A walk for the sake of walking is exercise. Walking to the bus in the morning isn't exercise. Walking the dog is a grey area, use your judgement

That said, if this is actually a question about what exercise you should/shouldn't log, or what calorie adjustments you can/cannot make, what you have to remember is that you can't cheat weight loss. Recording a 1,000 calorie dog walk (or pilates session or whatever) might give you a 1,000 calorie deficit according to MFP, but your body will know how many calories you actually burned in the day. By weighing yourself, logging your food careful and looking at long term trends you start to get an idea of which activities should actually be recorded in MFP, and how accurate the entries are.

jennypapage

anything i don't normally do i consider exercise. running or really long weekend walks.

Shadowmf023

Walking long distances, yoga, weight lifting. Anything intentional I think.

rainbowbow

Anything i intentionally do outside of my normal daily routine. (not cleaning, not walking around the mall, etc.)

LazSommer

Cleaning, singing, standing, grocery shopping, cooking, holding a baby...

Gallowmere1984

OP: Imo, the things you mentioned aren't exercise. They're called "life".
For me? At least an hour walk with a weighted vest on, or a 45 minute to hour and a half lifting session.

Machka9

-- cycling
-- hiking
-- walking
-- running (on the beach or treadmill)
-- weight lifting
-- swimming (I'm not great at it, but I try)
-- snow shoeing
-- cross-country skiing
-- canoeing

OldAssDude

I consider anything that results in a "training effect" exercise.

Anything less than that I consider it just burning some calories or maybe maintaining.

"if you ain't huffing and puffing and sweating, you ain't doing it right"

Hornsby

rainbowbow wrote: »

Anything i intentionally do outside of my normal daily routine. (not cleaning, not walking around the mall, etc.)

That ^^

goldthistime

It depends. The problem with not counting housework as exercise is that if you tend to get the majority of your housework done on a rest day (let's say every Sunday as an example), you're probably expending a lot more energy than during the non-exercise portions of your exercise days. At one point I dreaded rest days because I didn't get enough calories. I could have solved it by entering cleaning as an exercise. If you set your activity level higher and only eat back a small portion of your exercise calories, (which is what I do now), then sure, don't count cleaning as exercise.

dykask

Personally I think there is a big difference between burning a few calories and exercising. One probably burns more calories doing house cleaning for hours rather than exercising hard for less than an hour. However the exercise can impact a lot more than just calorie consumption.

BrianSharpe

I consider activities undertaken for the purpose of improving fitness as exercise. If you've been sedentary and start walking more that is exercise, if you leave the car at home and commute by bike that is exercise.

I'm not sure that I'd include walking the dog - at least with my 2 there's probably more time spent stopped sniffing stuff than moving time - unless you started going for considerably longer walks than usual.

ninerbuff

Erik8484 wrote: »

The dictionary I just checked defined exercise as "activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness".

That looks about right in my mind. House cleaning isn't exercise because you're not doing it for health / fitness, you're doing it to keep your house clean. It's what I would call "non exercise physical activity".

A walk for the sake of walking is exercise. Walking to the bus in the morning isn't exercise. Walking the dog is a grey area, use your judgement

That said, if this is actually a question about what exercise you should/shouldn't log, or what calorie adjustments you can/cannot make, what you have to remember is that you can't cheat weight loss. Recording a 1,000 calorie dog walk (or pilates session or whatever) might give you a 1,000 calorie deficit according to MFP, but your body will know how many calories you actually burned in the day. By weighing yourself, logging your food careful and looking at long term trends you start to get an idea of which activities should actually be recorded in MFP, and how accurate the entries are.

This.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

selina884

Exercise to me is usually when I lift or if I jump on any cardio equipment at the gym.

I love long walks and cycling (for several hours) but I dont really consider it as exercise - in other words, I dont really account for it but I see it moreso as an "active" day.

Noelani1503

rainbowbow wrote: »

Anything i intentionally do outside of my normal daily routine. (not cleaning, not walking around the mall, etc.)

This is my definition too. For me to consider it exercise, it has to be done with intention.

But for logging purposes, it should depend on what your activity level is set to. So if your daily caloric needs were determined using a sedentary activity level, then 4 hours of vigorous housecleaning should probably be factored in. But if you included daily chores, walks, etc, then logging them as exercise would be overestimating your energy expenditure.

J72FIT

Hornsby wrote: »

rainbowbow wrote: »

Anything i intentionally do outside of my normal daily routine. (not cleaning, not walking around the mall, etc.)

That ^^

X2...

J72FIT

Erik8484 wrote: »

The dictionary I just checked defined exercise as "activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness".

That looks about right in my mind. House cleaning isn't exercise because you're not doing it for health / fitness, you're doing it to keep your house clean. It's what I would call "non exercise physical activity".

A walk for the sake of walking is exercise. Walking to the bus in the morning isn't exercise. Walking the dog is a grey area, use your judgement

That said, if this is actually a question about what exercise you should/shouldn't log, or what calorie adjustments you can/cannot make, what you have to remember is that you can't cheat weight loss. Recording a 1,000 calorie dog walk (or pilates session or whatever) might give you a 1,000 calorie deficit according to MFP, but your body will know how many calories you actually burned in the day. By weighing yourself, logging your food careful and looking at long term trends you start to get an idea of which activities should actually be recorded in MFP, and how accurate the entries are.

Perfect answer...

Unknown

This content has been removed.

peleroja

I walk or cycle a lot of places but I don't consider that "exercise" (like, I don't think I've worked out that day) if it's just a half hour moderate biking to and from work or an hour's stroll on my lunch break to pick up whatever.

If I'm biking specifically for exercise and really pushing myself, I count it as exercise. Same with my morning or lunchtime runs or a lifting session or a group fitness class. But just my daily walk to wherever or cleaning the house or whatever? I just consider that normal activity.

chapiano

Exercise is about pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. For some people a 30min walk is doing just that. What ever you do just keep pushing. Go faster, longer, harder and always aim to improve on your previous efforts

LivingtheLeanDream

Walking purposefully/running/lifting or anything that gets the heart rate elevated.

I don't count housework as thats something that is part of my usual day and something I always did even when I was overweight.

I still roll my eyes when I see friends logging ironing and food preparation, they're only kidding themselves imo.

ObsidianMist

doing stuff around the house, not exercise. walking outside, yes, because I keep a more or less consistent pace, it's not stop-and-go repeatedly like chores tend to be. working out at the gym? obviously exercise.

CincyNeid

Anything you set out to do that will improve your Cardio System, or Muscles. While Mowing the lawn, and cleaning the house do burn calories. I do not consider them exercise.

hmltwin

I have to say... If I went by the definitions of some of the people here, I would never log exercise. I know, at least for me, that's not correct - I am exercising. I'm just not in a position to be able to go out for walks of an hour+. I'm not the type of person who sweats very much. Unless it's 95+ degrees out, the sweat will never "pour off" of me.

For me, exercise is when I am intentional about what I'm doing. I get five 15-20 minute walks each day. One walk is in the morning, before work. Two are on 15 minute breaks during work. 1 is during my lunch break. The last one is when I'm walking down to meet my ride home. I'm walking briskly (passing other people like they're standing still). It gets my heart rate up.

So... is housework exercise? Only if it gets my heart rate up. Leasurely vacuuming is not. Dusting? No. Determined sweeping? Maybe. Walking the dog... If it gets your heart rate up, it would be. If it's just a little stroll out to the lawn and back... no.

hlltwin

Noelani1503 wrote: »

rainbowbow wrote: »

Anything i intentionally do outside of my normal daily routine. (not cleaning, not walking around the mall, etc.)

This is my definition too. For me to consider it exercise, it has to be done with intention.

But for logging purposes, it should depend on what your activity level is set to. So if your daily caloric needs were determined using a sedentary activity level, then 4 hours of vigorous housecleaning should probably be factored in. But if you included daily chores, walks, etc, then logging them as exercise would be overestimating your energy expenditure.

This^^^
If you determined your caloric needs at a sedentary level and then ride your bike to work, you should count it, because that's not sedentary. If you factored in the daily bike ride when you set your activity level, then no it wouldn't count because it's already counted.