What is the difference between training and exercising?

Whilst it may seem like an arbitrary distinction there is an important difference between training and exercise.

Confusing the two could have a dramatic impact on your long-term fitness progress.

With that in mind here are the differences between the two.

Exercise

Exercise is moving around, getting sweaty, using your muscles and getting the heart rate up.

Exercise makes you feel good and has health benefits, but it will not provide the same long-term satisfaction or results as training.

We are often told about the importance of exercise. For example, the NHS recommends people do at least 150 minutes of exercise per week.

A person who is exercising will lack any structure in their gym sessions, for example their workout may look something like this

The gym session of a person who is exercising will often lack structure. For example their workout may look like this.

They head to the gym without a real concrete plan of what to do. They do a few sets of bench press, a few sets of bicep curls, 10 minutes on a treadmill, several sets of horizontal rows then five minutes on the assault bike to finish.

The next day they do dumbbell chest fly’s, barbell overhead press, 10 minutes on the exercise bike before finishing off with some quad extensions.

They undertake these workouts without any long-term goal beyond ‘getting into shape’ ‘building muscle’ or ‘losing fat’. Vague goals without any actual plan to get there, result in exercise.

What is training

A person who is training is working toward achieving a specific goal. That goal helps them to create a long-term, structured plan.

The person who is training will go into the gym knowing exactly what they need to do.

For example, they could be aiming to hit a certain weight on the bench press. In order to hit that weight, they will have a periodised training plan including a group of specific exercises which they will complete week in week out.

This training plan may look something like the following, bench press, dumbbell incline bench press, cable chest fly’s, tricep extensions, cable crunches, horizontal rows and dumbbell shrugs.

They know what weight/reps/RPE (rate of perceived exertion) they need to aim for. For example, last week they lifted X weight for Y reps on bench press, so the following week they know they need to add one more rep or increase the weight by X amount of kgs in order to ensure they implement progressive overload.

The goal could be anything, training is the road to get there.

So how do you avoid exercise and focus on training?

Training means you are implementing a structured, informed approach specific to hitting your target.

One important structure to discuss is periodisation.

Periodisation

Periodisation is how we design training programs over various lengths of time. We can break periodisation down into three groups

Macro cycle

A macro cycle is the long-term training program geared toward an end goal. A macro cycle could be several months to several years.

For example, many Olympians will gear their macrocycles around the next Olympic games four years away.

Meso-cycle

A meso-cycle is a more medium-term training program lasting several weeks or several months.

Macro cycles are made up of many different meso-cycles all fitting one after the other and all with specific goals.

It could be that you have three meso cycles per year, each lasting four months.

The first could be about building work capacity with lots of high volume and low intensity to prepare the body.

The next cycle could be about building muscle. High reps and lots of volume but with more intensity and focus than the initial meso cycle.

The third could be about increasing strength. Higher intensity and lower volume with a focus on building power.

Micro cycles

Micro cycles are the building blocks of your meso-cycle.

Micro cycles are the training sessions over a few weeks or even over a few individual days with specific goals in mind.

These micro cycles fit together to form the meso-cycle, which in turn forms the macro cycle.

Track your progress

Periodisation allows you to make a fully informed approach where you can track your progress. This is key to achieving your goals. Keep track of your lifts so you can implement progressive overload.

In order to periodise your training, you should set yourself a goal and map out your route to get there.

Here’s a hypothetical periodised training plan designed to hit a specific goal.

Let’s say you currently bench 50kgs and you want to reach 70kgs.

You may begin with a muscle building phase, going for higher reps and volume in order to encourage muscle growth.

You might also include plenty of high rep accessory exercises here to supplement your bench press, such as tricep extensions, chest fly’s, lat and upper back work and abdominal exercises.

Over the course of your meso-cycle you might begin to lower the volume and increase the intensity, working toward heavier weights for fewer reps to focus on more of a strength building phase.

At this point you have moved into a new meso-cycle.

After this you may then return to a muscle building phase and so on and so forth until you reach the goal of 70kgs on the bench.

Whilst you’re undertaking this training you will be able to track your progress.

You can go into the gym knowing that ‘last week I lifted X weight for X reps, so this week I’m going for the same weight with 1 more rep’.

Compare this approach with the person who is exercising, and you can see that the two are night and day. Exercising will not get you results, training will.

Training allows for consistency

The mindset that comes with training can help you stay in the gym.

When you have no goal and you are just in the gym going through the motions then you have no real reason to be there.

You might be in for 20 minutes and look at the clock feeling bored. You are probably going to be more inclined to miss a session or to be inconsistent in your personal life.

When you have a goal to work towards your mind is stimulated by training.

Every gym session represents you chipping away at that goal. Making it more likely for you to continue in the gym and more likely for you to be consistent in your diet and your personal habits (such as ensuring you get enough sleep, being mindful of your diet and your alcohol intake), when you are doing it for a reason.

Conclusion

The difference between training and exercising may seem minimal at first but it can have a huge impact on your long-term progress.

If you want to make the most out of the gym then having a long term structured, goal-oriented approach is going to make it easier and more enjoyable in the long run.