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Training vs. Exercising – The Reason So Many Workout but See Little to No Results

You know the sayings ‘toe-may-toe, toe-mah-tah’ or ‘poe-tay-toe, poe-tah-tah’? They’re saying that two things are the basically the same or similar enough it doesn’t make a difference, they just look or sound different.

Let me give you an example, if my friends and I said let’s meet up at 8:15 tomorrow and then I ask them later if we’re meeting at 8:10, they would say no, 8:15, and I would say ‘oh, well, tomato, tomata’ because it’s a 5-minute difference. Those times are basically the same.

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Some of you may be like, no, those are not basically the same times and that is a debate for another day lol. All of this to say, there is no tomato, tomata when it comes to training and exercise.

They are not the same, they are different entities and knowing this could revolutionize the way you approach your workouts and could be the factor that gets you results.

How could this be? Let’s start with the definitions of each.

Exercise – Any activity with the goal of getting your heart rate up, moving your body, stimulating your muscles

This is super broad. It could be going for a walk, going for a run, lifting weights, taking a class. Anything that is designed to stimulate the muscles and get you sweating.

It is SUPER beneficial for you. I mean, exercising is WAY better for you than sitting on the couch eating Cheetos. A little couch time is good, you know resting, but the Cheetos you should probably do without lol.

Even though exercise is beneficial, training is better.

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Training – Exercise with a focus, goal, or purpose

Training is when you take exercise and are intentional of how you set up your exercise time to produce a specific result.

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ALL TRAINING IS EXERCISE, BUT NOT ALL EXERCISE IS TRAINING

The reason people are decently in shape, they look pretty good, and they’re sorta happy with the results they’ve gotten is because they are exercising.

When you shift from exercising to training – exercising with a goal in mind – you will shift your workouts to the things that will get you to that goal and eliminate all the things that don’t get you to that goal.

That’s why at Steel we believe in, of course, Strength Training – the type of exercise we gear our program around – but most of all, we just believe in TRAINING!

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It’s not just lifting weights like if you went to a class where you did some cardio and lifted some weights. Yea, it’s good for you and you are exercising, but that isn’t what I would call true Strength Training.

When you are focused on strength training, you will plan your workouts to have everything you need and kickout everything you don’t. It gives you a much more efficient workout program. It’s not meaning you have to work out super freakin’ hard.

If you’re working out to be an Olympic or Pro Athlete, you’ll have to train harder, but I am talking about the everyday man or woman that wants to be lean, strong, and healthy to do the things they love with the people they love.

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You may be exerting less energy training than you were exercising because you are doing the right things, in the right amounts, at the right time! And guess what! Your results are going to be far better than if you just exercised.

Like we’ve talked about before, more is NOT always better.

If you are reading this and you’re like Nate, I just want to exercise, I don’t want to put thought into it or work with a trainer, that is fine! I’m not trying to tell you exercise is bad; exercise is HIGHLY beneficial!

But, if you want to get the most bang for your buck, the most results out of your workouts, you want to be training.

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Here’s another problem that comes with not knowing the difference between exercising and training: most people don’t train, but they have the same goals (get leaner, stronger, and healthier) as people who do train.

Exercising will get them a lot closer to those goals than a sedentary lifestyle will, but it won’t get them all the way there like training will.

If you are really set on meeting these goals, but you are not training, the only gauges you have on whether your workouts are effective, are all short term.

You’ll be focused on everything everyone else is focused on – am I sore, am I sweaty, am I tired, do I feel sick – that’s only if you’re crazy. Seriously, some people go as far to say their exercising was only efficient if they are about to get sick. That is not true, and I DO NOT recommend that.

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If you aren’t sore, sweaty, or tired you probably aren’t working hard enough, but the goal is not to chase those things. They will be by-products of proper training. Just going in with exercising and chasing those three things is not sustainable. You are going to crush yourself every time you go to the gym. It’s also not all that effective.

Training sounds more intense, but it’s really just focused on doing the right things. Your goals will be more long-term if you are training which means you don’t have to feel crushed every time you go to the gym. EVER! We don’t crush our clients ever at Steel, because we TRAIN them.

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The goal is to lay a brick towards building the house you want every workout. This is possible because through training you know exactly where you are, exactly where you want to be, and exactly how to get there.

So, what are you waiting for? Quit exercising and start training. Get focused and be more intentional when you work out. If you want guidance or think you may need guidance, we WANT to help you train. It’s what we do. It’s what our passion is.

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