A community program reports that participants increased weekly steps but did not show improvements in standardized fitness tests. Which analysis best explains this outcome given the definitions of physical activity and exercise?

• A. Increasing steps (physical activity) may not have provided sufficient intensity, duration, or progressive overload required to qualify as exercise that produces measurable improvements in standard fitness tests; thus the increase in incidental movement didn’t translate to improved fitness metrics.
• B. Steps count is unrelated to energy expenditure and therefore cannot produce physiological adaptation under any circumstance, which contradicts the concept of physical activity entirely.
• C. Participants’ genetics solely determine responsiveness to any activity change; therefore program content and intensity are irrelevant and always fail to influence fitness in community settings.
• D. Any increase in physical activity necessarily improves all fitness tests, so the program must have used invalid or poorly administered testing protocols and not because the activity lacked appropriate stimulus.

Answer: (A)