So what is exercise anyway?: A Sociolinguistic Study on the Definition of Exercise

All people generally know what is and isn't exercise. However, when we get into the gray areas and finer details, our definitions do not all match each other. Most of our definitions feed into the toxicity of fitness culture, which is far from accessible for all people. In order to expand our perceptions of what exercise could be, I conducted a survey with students at Western Washington University. In this survey, participants would be presented with a list of activities and agree or disagree with whether or not that activity could be considered as exercise. I asked participants for demographic information too, to see whether there was correlation between their identities and how they answered questions on the survey. There was no solid correlation between the demographics. However, by taking the personal definitions of exercise from a few participants, I was able to see that their definitions and perceptions lined up with their answers. This survey found that individuals are able to decide what exercise means to them, making it more accessible for all kinds of people to exercise.