In health and fitness science, exercise is considered a specific subset of physical activity that has which of the following characteristics?

Introduction / Context:
Physical activity is any movement of the body that requires energy, such as walking, climbing stairs, or doing household chores. Exercise is a more specific concept used in health, sports, and fitness. It refers to forms of physical activity that people perform deliberately to improve or maintain fitness, health, or performance. Knowing how exercise is defined helps in understanding fitness guidelines and interpreting research on physical activity. This question asks which characteristics distinguish exercise as a subset of physical activity.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- Physical activity is a broad category that includes all body movements that burn calories.
- Exercise is a narrower category within physical activity.
- The options mention repetitive, planned, and structured characteristics.
- One option suggests that all listed characteristics together define exercise.

Concept / Approach:
Health and fitness organisations define exercise as planned, structured, and repetitive bodily movement done to improve or maintain one or more components of physical fitness, such as strength, endurance, or flexibility. Planned means the activity is intentionally scheduled or chosen rather than accidental. Structured means it has organised elements like specific exercises, sets, repetitions, and durations. Repetitive means that the movements are carried out again and again over multiple sessions or within a session to produce training effects. Everyday physical activities like walking to catch a bus are not always planned or structured as exercise, even though they burn energy. Therefore, all three characteristics—repetitive, planned, and structured—together describe exercise as a subset of physical activity.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall the standard definition of exercise as planned, structured, and repetitive physical activity. Step 2: Examine whether exercise is repetitive. Most exercise programmes involve repeating movements, such as sets of push ups or regular jogging sessions. Step 3: Examine whether exercise is planned. People usually decide when, where, and how to exercise, such as scheduling gym sessions. Step 4: Examine whether exercise is structured. Exercise routines often have designed patterns like warm up, main workout, and cool down with specific exercises. Step 5: Conclude that all three characteristics together define exercise, so the correct option is that all of the above are true.

Verification / Alternative check:
Public health guidelines for physical activity often distinguish between total physical activity and exercise. They describe exercise as physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive for the purpose of conditioning parts of the body. Examples include planned walking programmes, gym workouts, yoga classes, and sports training sessions. This wording closely matches the combination of features in the options and confirms that no single characteristic on its own fully defines exercise; it is the combination that matters.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
- It is repetitive movement performed regularly over time is partly correct, but some repetitive activities may not be planned or structured and therefore may not qualify as exercise in the strict sense.
- It is planned in advance with a clear purpose or goal is also true, but planning alone is not enough if the activity is not structured and repetitive for fitness.
- It is structured in terms of type, intensity, and duration is accurate, but the standard definition of exercise emphasises all three features together: planned, structured, and repetitive.

Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes confuse all physical activity with exercise and do not recognise that some activities like casual walking or unplanned housework, while healthy, are not always considered exercise. Others may latch onto only one keyword such as planned and overlook the full definition used in textbooks and health guidelines. A helpful memory phrase is “exercise is planned, structured, repetitive physical activity done for fitness.” Keeping this complete phrase in mind makes it easier to choose the option that includes all of the defining characteristics.

Final Answer:
Exercise is a subset of physical activity that is Repetitive, planned, and structured, so all of the above characteristics together define exercise.