A recent read, Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman, reminded me of something I have believed for years: movement and exercise are not the same thing. Both are important, but they are often conflated.

Exercise is something we schedule and do. Exercise is almost always a form of movement.

Movement, on the other hand, is something we live.  Not all movement is exercise, but virtually all movement is good for us.

Many of us think about health in terms of workouts. Did I get to the gym today? Did I walk three miles? Did I close my rings? Those are not bad questions, but they can cause us to overlook a more important one: How much did I move throughout the day?

That question has influenced my habits for years. I am always looking for opportunities to incorporate movement into ordinary life rather than relying exclusively on formal exercise. Sometimes that means walking in my Memphis neighborhood or on the nearby University of Memphis campus. In Florida, I enjoy walking around Sea Bird Island or along the beach, or at the track near our condominium.  When the weather cooperates, these walks hardly feel like exercise at all.

Other opportunities appear in less obvious places. I’ve walked laps around the large lobby of my office building. I’ve walked airports while waiting for flights instead of sitting at the gate. I’ve walked around other office buildings, to nearby restaurants, and through shopping malls when traveling. If it’s pouring rain, I may walk the five floors of my parking garage or use a treadmill. When options are limited, I’ve even resorted to running in place in a hotel room.

One of my favorite examples is parking far from the entrance of a restaurant, big-box store, or wherever I happen to be going. The extra steps seem insignificant at the time, but they accumulate surprisingly quickly. The same is true of taking the stairs, standing instead of sitting, or choosing to walk when a short drive would be easier.

Pickleball is another source of movement for me. After a couple of hours on the court, I normally accumulate more than 4,000 steps without ever thinking about exercise. I am simply engaged in a sport I enjoy.

One of my best examples of movement occurred during a recent visit to New York to see my son and daughter-in-law. I averaged about eight miles of walking per day, not because I had set a fitness goal, but because walking was the natural way to move around the city. Movement was built into the experience itself. My son and daughter-in-law consider a twenty-minute walk “just a short walk.”  Those “short walks” add up to a lot of movement.

The focus on movement is what resonated with me in Bowman’s book. The goal is not necessarily to exercise more. It is to create a life that contains more movement. Our bodies respond to what we do all day long, not just during a scheduled workout.

Exercise is obviously important. I have no quarrel with structured workouts. And I often focus on walking briskly to get all systems brewing. I am also adding a bit more strength training to develop muscles that otherwise would disappear.

Exercise is important.  But health may depend as much on the hundreds of small movement decisions we make each day as it does on any single trip to the gym.

So, when I think about movement now, I find myself returning to a simple question: not “Did I exercise today?” but “How much did I move today?”

Our answers may tell us more than we think.  Think about the question as it pertains to you.

Last December, I gave up my Fitbit and purchased a Garmin Vivoactive 6 smart watch.  Last week, my watch showed me something I had not previously seen.  Garmin has a concept called “Fitness Age.”  Next week, I’ll talk about Garmin’s Fitness Age concept and what it might mean for aging professionals.

In the meantime, be well, and age gratefully,

Chris