[Athletic training or daily movement activities for optimal health and quality of life]

During the 70ies and 80ies, it was mainly endurance training that was recommended for disease prevention and health promotion. During the 90ies, the health-enhancing value of moderate-intensity exercise, including daily lifestyle activities, has been recognized. Considering two lines of evidence--epidemiological findings from observational studies and 'physiological' results from experimental training studies to alter specific disease risk factors--it becomes clear that physical activity and exercise of different intensities and durations will produce different biological outcomes. Therefore, both vigorous exercise and moderate-intensity lifestyle activities have their specific advantages and disadvantages which may help to optimize individual choices for physical activity. Two years ago, the Swiss Federal Office of Sports and the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health have published their joint recommendation for health-enhancing physical activity; these guidelines try to combine the advantages of daily activities of moderate intensity, cardiorespiratory fitness training and strength/flexibility exercises as well as further sports activities.