More Fitness "Synonyms"

Exercise and hard work are not synonyms.

Exercise and sweat are not synonyms.

There’s something about the fitness industry where so many terms are used interchangeably as if they were synonyms, when they truly aren’t anywhere near the same thing. For example, the words “stretching” and “flexibility” are always used interchangeably when they aren’t even close to being the same thing. “Balance” and “stability” are used interchangeably as well and they don’t mean the same thing either.

For today’s purposes, our focus is on the terms “hard work” and “exercise”. Not only are they NOT synonymous, but their interchangeable use often leads to dangerous exercise situations.

Let me be clear up front: Most of us do need to work harder in our workouts. A good deal of sweat MAY be a good thing for some of us. But often these parameters are used as measuring sticks as to the efficacy of a workout – sometimes by marginally educated trainers who have been the target of my ire recently. Hard work and sweat ARE NOT synonymous with exercise – period. Especially if it’s exercise that is supervised by a fitness professional.

If hard work and sweat are the residual side effects of good exercise, so be it. BUT IT’S NOT THE GOAL.

Exercise is movement for the purpose of eliciting improvements in health.

Hard work is a task that’s physically difficult to do.

Moving furniture is hard work. But I wouldn’t have my clients do it when I’m training them. There’s just no biomechanically safe way to move a love seat.

Flipping giant truck tires over in a parking lot is hard work. But I wouldn’t have my clients do that either. It looks cool though, so some trainers will have you try…

Donkeys work hard. I wouldn’t do what they do for a workout. There’s a reason the terms donkey, jackass and mule have a negative connotation when used to describe humans.

Ditto for sweating. Sweating means you have an elevated body temperature.

I can stand on my patio in August and sweat, but it’s not going to make me healthier.

Any jackass trainer can make you swing a 32kg kettle bell a million times and make you feel beat up and sweaty. But why you would pay him or her X dollars an hour to do it is beyond me.

It’s difficult in today’s society to get this message across because I have to compete with “The Biggest Loser” and “CrossFit” who exemplify the “let’s just beat people up and have it look cool” mentality. Exerisers who don’t know any better are lead to believe that simply getting the shit beaten out of you is somehow helpful. It’s not. (Unless you’re married to an orthopedist…)

Your workout should be eliciting improvement toward your goals, not setting you up for an injury. Make sure you use a fitness professional who knows the difference.