What do YOU consider "exercise"?

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valerialeek
valerialeek Posts: 65 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
30min walk? Dog walking? House cleaning?
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  • dykask
    dykask Posts: 800 Member
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    It isn't exercise until the sweat is pouring off of me.
  • GuineaKitty
    GuineaKitty Posts: 97 Member
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    Walking, jogging, lifting, and Yoga. Pretty much anything that makes me sweat.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    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.
  • JaxxieKat
    JaxxieKat Posts: 427 Member
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    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.
  • jennypapage
    jennypapage Posts: 489 Member
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    anything i don't normally do i consider exercise. running or really long weekend walks.
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    Walking long distances, yoga, weight lifting. Anything intentional I think.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    Anything i intentionally do outside of my normal daily routine. (not cleaning, not walking around the mall, etc.)
  • LazSommer
    LazSommer Posts: 1,851 Member
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    Cleaning, singing, standing, grocery shopping, cooking, holding a baby...
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    edited August 2016
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    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
    Machka9 Posts: 24,890 Member
    edited August 2016
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    -- 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
    OldAssDude Posts: 1,436 Member
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    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
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    rainbowbow wrote: »
    Anything i intentionally do outside of my normal daily routine. (not cleaning, not walking around the mall, etc.)

    That ^^
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
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    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
    dykask Posts: 800 Member
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    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
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    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
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,535 Member
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    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.

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  • selina884
    selina884 Posts: 826 Member
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    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
    Noelani1503 Posts: 378 Member
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    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.

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