Exercise and Related Topics

A bike lane in Amsterdam. Bike lanes are dedicated for cyclists and provide shelter from vehicle traffic.

Cycling

A parking lot for bicycles in Niigata, Japan.

Bicycle stands outside the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Many students at the university opt to travel by bicycle.

The safe physically separated Fietspad in the Netherlands, keeping cyclists away from traffic as seen in Utrecht.

A bicycle loaded with tender coconuts for sale in Karnataka, India.

In the Netherlands, bicycles are freely available for use in the Hoge Veluwe National Park.

Tour de Fat group ride in Portland, Oregon.

San Jose Bike Party in San Jose, California (July 2019).

A peloton of professional bicycle racers on the Golden Gate Bridge.

OP Grand Prix, a one-hour cycling competition in Porvoo, Finland, on June 11, 2005.

San Francisco Critical Mass, April 29, 2005.

Headquarters of the Union Cycliste Internationale in Switzerland.

Heavily equipped London cyclist: specialist cycle clothing, pollution mask, dark glasses and helmet.

Virgin Mary venerated as the holy protector of bicyclists on the roads of the mountainous Basque Country.

Bicyclist pedals uphill at the Taroko Gorge in Taiwan.

Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport.

Physical activity

Defined as any voluntary bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure.

Intensity of physical activities on a continuum from sedentary behavior to vigorous physical activity.

It includes both exercise and incidental activity integrated into daily routine.

Physical fitness

State of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of sports, occupations and daily activities.

Playing sports such as lawn tennis is a common way to maintain/improve physical fitness. Image shows international tennis player Barbora Strycova.

Swimmers in competitive swimwear perform squats prior to entering the pool in a U.S. military base, 2011.

Ladies performing a common 19th-century fitness routine including climbing the underside of a ladder, balancing and gymnastics.

Physical fitness is generally achieved through proper nutrition, moderate-vigorous physical exercise, and sufficient rest along with a formal recovery plan.

Strength training

Strength training or resistance training involves the performance of physical exercises that are designed to improve strength and endurance.

The bodyweight squat is effective at strengthening the legs and core. It requires no equipment and can be performed almost anywhere. A person stands with their arms by their sides, and then squats down moving their arms out ahead of themselves, and then stands up again while moving their arms back to their sides, and so forth.

A woman doing strength training using weights at a health club with her coach standing behind her.

Arthur Saxon performing a Two Hands Anyhow with an early kettlebell and plate-loaded barbell

In addition, people who undergo strength training tend to have a more favorable body image even than those who also engage in regular physical activities such as walking and running.

Push-up

Military recruits will often perform push-ups as part of their physical training. Here, U.S. Marine recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego perform push-ups in May 2005, as a part of their basic recruit training.

The Hindu push-up, also known as a dand. This is the most basic version, similar to that used by Bruce Lee who referred to it as a cat stretch.

A U.S. Army employee demonstrates a one-arm push-up in an extended position.

The push-up (sometimes called a press-up in British English) is a common calisthenics exercise beginning from the prone position.

Donald Henderson as part of the CDC's smallpox eradication team in 1966.

Health

Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".

Percentage of overweight or obese population in 2010, Data source: OECD's iLibrary.

Percentage of obese population in 2010, Data source: OECD's iLibrary.

Nurses in Kokopo, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea

Postage stamp, New Zealand, 1933. Public health has been promoted – and depicted – in a wide variety of ways.

Health can be promoted by encouraging healthful activities, such as regular physical exercise and adequate sleep, and by reducing or avoiding unhealthful activities or situations, such as smoking or excessive stress.

A group of amateur runners in a long-distance race in Switzerland.

Long-distance running

Form of continuous running over distances of at least 3 km. Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength.

Burton Holmes' photograph entitled "1896: Three athletes in training for the marathon at the Olympic Games in Athens".

Paavo Nurmi, also known as the "Flying Finn", at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris; at the time, he won Olympic gold in the 5,000-meter long-distance running.

Men in the 10 km run section of the 2011 Grand Prix de Triathlon in Paris.

Runners turning the bend in the men's 10,000 metres final at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Women runners on a closed-off-road at the 2009 Yokohama Marathon.

Women racing on snow in the 2012 European Cross Country Championships

In modern human society, long-distance running has multiple purposes: people may engage in it for physical exercise, for recreation, as a means of travel, for economic reasons, or for cultural reasons.