Do you 'exercise', or do you 'train'?

When we think of exercise and training we think of them as one and the same, and on the surface, they are. If we get a little bit more specific though, we can use these words to describe why we go to the gym and what drives our workouts.

What do I mean by this?

Last year 1 in 8 of the UK population signed up to a gym membership. Every week, either before work, during the lunch breaks or after work these people go to the gym, either to exercise or to train.

When I describe someone that goes to the gym I place them into two categories, those who go to exercise, and those who go to train. If they go 3-5 times a week, look to get their heart rate up, push around a few weights, catch up with friends, and de-stress, these people are exercising. When I think of someone who is training when they go to the gym, I am describing someone who is using the gym as one of many tools, to help them reach a specific goal.

As a strength and conditioning coach and a personal trainer I work with a variety of people who all come for various reasons, I work with international athletes, ‘weekend warriors’, and the general public, each with their own specific needs/goals. The athlete comes to me to help them reach the top of their sport and/or to keep them there whilst making sure they are robust enough and free from injury so they can handle all the competitions they have to compete in that season. Weekend warriors come to me because they want to be fitter, faster, and stronger and/or they want to go through a whole season without getting injured. The general public come to me for a variety of reasons; wanting to look good, feel good, lose weight, get fitter and/or reduce pains and aches they feel every morning when they wake up. They all follow a training programme that works on their specific goals and through constant assessment and progression their training evolves to help them reach these targets. They are all training with an ‘end point’ in mind. Whether that’s becoming world champion, playing a whole season of rugby without injury, losing weight, or getting rid of aches and pains that plague their everyday life is irrelevant.  Their time in the gym is to help them reach that goal and can be measured by whether they succeed. They’re whole attitude towards training, recovery, diet and lifestyle is working towards their goals. These people are training.

So…. Do YOU exercise, or do you train??

It doesn’t really matter, unless you are not reaching your goals. If your goal is to be the best you can be at a sport or recover from an injury, maybe just exercising isn’t enough, maybe you need to train, make sure your work out matches your goals.