Movement versus Exercise

I was recently interviewed by Christine Sismondo of The Toronto Star on Movement. You can read that here:

Why is everybody talking about movement?

I actually had a much longer discussion with Sismondo where we covered all kinds of issues. I took the call using my AirPods on a walk — a great way to get more movement is to take your calls outside.

What is the difference between Movement and Exercise? Movement is literally a change of position. Movements can be things like blinking, swallowing, breathing, hairs standing up on your skin, joint articulation, etc.

Exercise is also movement, but it’s done with a specific goal in mind. This kind of movement is usually done with a level of intensity that elicits a pre-determined outcome like weight loss or maintenance, increased muscle mass, cardiovascular fitness.

All exercise is movement, but not all movement is exercise. Why is this important?

When a culture only values exercise and uses that terminology — we believe that only exercise “counts” and the more intense a movement is, the better. We think movement needs a goal or a purpose. But although you won’t lose weight with a blinking program, blinking is necessary for your health. All of your parts require movement of some kind — think about it!

A culture that puts exercise at the apex of the movement hierarchy permits sedentarism: the opposite of doing something is doing nothing.
“What did you do today?”
“Nothing.”
We offset hours of “nothing” with a brief but intensive foray into exercise. But that’s not how your body works — it requires movement — and lots of it!

Consider the position you are in right now, reading this. Can you sit differently? How many ways can you sit in the chair you are in right now? That’s movement.

To further illustrate the difference between movement and exercise, consider this study done with 84 hotel maids. A group of them were told that their movements at work were sufficient to satisfy the Surgeon General’s recommendations for an active lifestyle. A control group were not told this. After 4 weeks, the informed group believed they were getting more exercise than before (even though their behaviour had not changed). Compared to the control group they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist to hip ratio and body mass index!

What had changed? They were told that their work qualified as exercise and their belief in the importance of exercise resulted in some powerful placebo effects. The study was done to explore the role of mind-set in exercise outcomes, but to me it illustrates perfectly how our culture values exercise and not movement.

We don’t need more exercise necessarily (although that’s not a bad thing) — what we need is a cultural shift. If you actually believe that movement matters — you will start thinking of ways to create more movement opportunities in your day. Hint: many of those opportunities come at the expense of convenience.

The excellent article in the NYT by Paula Span: The Pandemic Has Made Many Seniors Less Active (link) talks about the effects working remotely, the absence of socialising, and lockdowns has had on our minds and bodies. Regardless if you contracted Covid-19 or not, these effects have resulted in functional decline.

If your movement requirements depend on gyms, pools, yoga studios, community centres and programs, and all of those are suddenly not available, what do you do?

Creating an abundant movement lifestyle starts with a movement practice that will prepare you. Pre-habilitation is a term currently used to describe exercise prep before surgery, but it’s a term I’d like to co-opt as a way to prepare you for a movement rich lifestyle. Undoing those years of sedentarism in your hips and other joints requires some guidance and planning.