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It's not pedantic at all. I'm ~40 and don't exercise at all, yet I'm still perfectly fit. I presume it's due to doing groceries by foot several times per week,

It's not pedantic at all. I'm ~40 and don't exercise at all, yet I'm still perfectly fit. I presume it's due to doing groceries by foot several times per week, having a standup desk, and carrying the kid around. Perhaps genes help too. But the point I'd like to get across is: going to the gym isn't the sine qua non of making you fit. You can get enough "exercise" by simply living without a car, standing, and walking.

shin_lao 8y ago
I think you need to define perfectly fit. Can you do 10 pullups?
- mr_toad 8y ago
  99% of the population can’t do 1 pull-up, let alone 10. Most of the people I go to the gym with would struggle with more than a few. Hell, even marines and rangers have lower fitness standards (3 and 6 dead hang chin ups respectively).
  - graeme 8y ago
    That's a gtoss misrepresentation of the marines' standards. The tables are here: https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCBUL%206100%20DTD%2015DEC16.pdf?ver=2016-12-27-125044-450 https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCBUL%206100... 3 is for men over 51. And that's the bare minimum, not get kicked out of the marines threshold. To reach top rank scoring is more like 15-17 for most ages. Mid rank is about 11 or up. Maybe 99% of the population can't do a pullup, but I feel that's an overestimate. In any case, that says more about our overall societal weakness than anything else. What are your gym friends doing if they couldn't do more than a few? Are they strength training or just doing cardio? Serious question, I'm curious. With a few months training ar age 26 I was able to do 5 reps of my bodyweight + about 40 pounds IIRC. And now, even when I periodically stop strength training, I am rarely below 8-10 when I start again. Chin-ups are hard, but they're not that hard if you train them or do any activity that works those muscles.
- paulcole 8y ago
  I can’t do 10 pull ups but I run 50 miles a week.
- nubbins 8y ago
  Pullups are more of a gymnastic activity that just requires your nervous system is trained to recruit the right muscles very intensely at the right time. I can do maybe 12-15 and am borderline overweight, just because I do them habitually.
- tacon 8y ago
  If you check, you will find it is incredibly rare for health and fitness books and articles to define "health", "fitness" or "exercise". Body by Science[0][1] gets right to it on pages 2 and 3 to define all three: Health: A physiological state in which there is an absence of disease or pathology and that maintains the necessary biologic balance between the catabolic and anabolic states. Fitness: The bodily state of being physiologically capable of handling challenges that exist above a resting threshold of activity. Exercise: A specific activity that stimulates a positive physiological adaptation that serves to enhance fitness and health and does not undermine the latter in the process of enhancing the former. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Training/dp/0071597174 https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Traini... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdJFbjWHEU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdJFbjWHEU
- jholman 8y ago
  Not the person you replied to, but I know well a person who * does zero exercise, other than a few short walks every workday * has done very little exercise at any time in the last 20+ years * is as sedentary as life allows him to be * can do 10 pullups no problem * has a "normal" BMI Is that fit? Who knows, I certainly don't. Also maybe he's not very healthy despite some favourable metrics, I dunno. Could be a lot worse, though. My point here was only to substantiate that exercise and fitness are not perfectly correlated, and thus support vladharbuz's top-level comment.
adrianmonk 8y ago
Now we've just traded one form of pedantry for another. Some would say your activity is exercise. Or you could say exercise is only stuff done for no other reason than fitness, but your activity substitutes for exercise. In any case, the first paragraph of the CNN article makes it clear the distinction is "a sedentary lifestyle". Clearly if you are active, you aren't sedentary. Anyway, what the researchers studied is not self-reported fitness but treadmill testing as a measure of cardiovascular fitness. If your grocery- and kid-carrying habits allow you to do well on a treadmill test, then you "exercise" according to the parameters of what was studied.
brandonmenc 8y ago
> I'm ~40 and don't exercise at all, yet I'm still perfectly fit. You should really get a CPX test to verify this.
- ip26 8y ago
  I'm with you, I've learned that "I'm perfectly fit" is one of those lies we convince ourselves is true to feel better about ourselves. We might have even mostly convinced ourselves that "fit" means "not obese, and doesn't get winded on two flights of stairs" Some kind of at-home standard benchmark would be handy.

shin_lao 8y ago

I think you need to define perfectly fit. Can you do 10 pullups?

mr_toad 8y ago
99% of the population can’t do 1 pull-up, let alone 10. Most of the people I go to the gym with would struggle with more than a few. Hell, even marines and rangers have lower fitness standards (3 and 6 dead hang chin ups respectively).
- graeme 8y ago
  That's a gtoss misrepresentation of the marines' standards. The tables are here: https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCBUL%206100%20DTD%2015DEC16.pdf?ver=2016-12-27-125044-450 https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCBUL%206100... 3 is for men over 51. And that's the bare minimum, not get kicked out of the marines threshold. To reach top rank scoring is more like 15-17 for most ages. Mid rank is about 11 or up. Maybe 99% of the population can't do a pullup, but I feel that's an overestimate. In any case, that says more about our overall societal weakness than anything else. What are your gym friends doing if they couldn't do more than a few? Are they strength training or just doing cardio? Serious question, I'm curious. With a few months training ar age 26 I was able to do 5 reps of my bodyweight + about 40 pounds IIRC. And now, even when I periodically stop strength training, I am rarely below 8-10 when I start again. Chin-ups are hard, but they're not that hard if you train them or do any activity that works those muscles.
paulcole 8y ago
I can’t do 10 pull ups but I run 50 miles a week.
nubbins 8y ago
Pullups are more of a gymnastic activity that just requires your nervous system is trained to recruit the right muscles very intensely at the right time. I can do maybe 12-15 and am borderline overweight, just because I do them habitually.
tacon 8y ago
If you check, you will find it is incredibly rare for health and fitness books and articles to define "health", "fitness" or "exercise". Body by Science[0][1] gets right to it on pages 2 and 3 to define all three: Health: A physiological state in which there is an absence of disease or pathology and that maintains the necessary biologic balance between the catabolic and anabolic states. Fitness: The bodily state of being physiologically capable of handling challenges that exist above a resting threshold of activity. Exercise: A specific activity that stimulates a positive physiological adaptation that serves to enhance fitness and health and does not undermine the latter in the process of enhancing the former. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Training/dp/0071597174 https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Traini... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdJFbjWHEU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdJFbjWHEU
jholman 8y ago
Not the person you replied to, but I know well a person who * does zero exercise, other than a few short walks every workday * has done very little exercise at any time in the last 20+ years * is as sedentary as life allows him to be * can do 10 pullups no problem * has a "normal" BMI Is that fit? Who knows, I certainly don't. Also maybe he's not very healthy despite some favourable metrics, I dunno. Could be a lot worse, though. My point here was only to substantiate that exercise and fitness are not perfectly correlated, and thus support vladharbuz's top-level comment.

adrianmonk 8y ago

Now we've just traded one form of pedantry for another. Some would say your activity is exercise. Or you could say exercise is only stuff done for no other reason than fitness, but your activity substitutes for exercise. In any case, the first paragraph of the CNN article makes it clear the distinction is "a sedentary lifestyle". Clearly if you are active, you aren't sedentary. Anyway, what the researchers studied is not self-reported fitness but treadmill testing as a measure of cardiovascular fitness. If your grocery- and kid-carrying habits allow you to do well on a treadmill test, then you "exercise" according to the parameters of what was studied.

brandonmenc 8y ago

> I'm ~40 and don't exercise at all, yet I'm still perfectly fit. You should really get a CPX test to verify this.

ip26 8y ago
I'm with you, I've learned that "I'm perfectly fit" is one of those lies we convince ourselves is true to feel better about ourselves. We might have even mostly convinced ourselves that "fit" means "not obese, and doesn't get winded on two flights of stairs" Some kind of at-home standard benchmark would be handy.