In 2020, I offered an alternative to the dominant, traditional and influential definition of physical activity. For many years, physical activity had been defined in physiological/anatomical terms. And I argued that academics and society were probably worse off because of it. By emphasising different “things” in a definition of PA, we would be better able to research it, learn about it, and make policy to improve people’s lives as a result.
Since 2020, it has been great to see a variety of different articulations of physical activity. I am sure these will expand our comprehension about what physical activity is, and provoke us to ask new questions about what PA means for our lives (and for our government policies). I offer these definitions below. Let me know if you have more to add!
| Name | Year | Definition |
| Caspersen, C. J., Powell, K. E., and Christenson, G. M. | 1985 | Physical activity is “any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure” |
| Bjørnarå, H.B; Torstveit, M.K; Stea, T.H; Bere, E | 2017 | Sustainable physical activity includes “those activities that are conducted with sufficient duration, intensity and frequency for promoting health, yet without excessive expenditure of energy for food, transportation, training facilities or equipment. Sustainable physical activities have low environmental impact and they are culturally and economically acceptable and accessible.” |
| Piggin, J | 2020 | Physical activity is “people moving, acting and performing within culturally specific spaces and contexts, and influenced by a unique array of interests, emotions, ideas, instructions and relationships.” |
| Budzynski-Seymour, E; Jones, M; Steele, J | 2022 | Physical activity experience: “draws upon the area of experience economy, which aims to engage those partaking in an educational, (e)aesthetic, escapist, and entertaining way…. the focus is on engagement. By staging physical activity as an experience, it is proposed that children can actively partake in physical activity in a way that is focused on the experience offered.” |
| Beggan, A | 2024 | Intergenerational physical activity: “a reoriented object that [is] less like behaviour and more like birdsong.” … “In our efforts to gain control of a behavioural problem predominantly understood by its consequences (pathology), we may have too quickly concluded what the world is asking of us, eschewing the plurality of available answers.” |
Physical Activity Politics 
I think it would be great to add a couple of definitions such as PA policy and PA policy analysis so we can discuss and improve them (a lot to say here, from the global south !!!).
According to the CAPPA framework, “PA policy is indicated by the totality of formal written policies, unwritten formal statements, written standards and guidelines, formal procedures, and informal policies (or lack thereof) that may directly or indirectly affect community or population-level PA”.
“Accordingly, we defined PA policy analysis as any kind of policy-relevant research that audits or assesses one or more aspects of PA policy”.https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-019-0822-5
This is a very nice blog. And we are also using your thoughtful academic articles. Cheers
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