do exercise versus do exercises (2025)

Hi,

Do the following two sentences work?

(As part of my self-introduction)
(1) I enjoy doing exercise.
(2) I enjoy doing exercises.

Maybe we can't say "I enjoy doing an exercise," right?

Even if I actually do more than one exercise, can I say "I enjoy doing exercise"? Or should I say "I enjoy doing exercises"?

If I say "I enjoy doing exercises," will the listener expect me to pick out the names of several specific workouts subsequently?

Thanks in advance.

If you name the kind of exercise, you can use the singular: I'm going to do the first exercise on irregular verbs.

If you are speaking in general, you would use the plural: I enjoy doing exercises in my English textbook.

From the word "workouts", I get the impression that you are talking about physical exercise.

Exercise is uncountable when it refers to the action or state of doing exercises, which are countable.
* Are you getting enough exercise to stay in shape?
* Ron does three exercises every morning: push-ups, sit-ups and waist bends.

Back to your example, you might want to say:
* I enjoy exercising.
* I enjoy doing exercises.

Thank you very much, Joelline and Nunty!
Yes, I was talking about physical exercise. I'm sorry for my poor explanation.
Nunty, I'm still confused by when I have to use "exercise" in the singular form. If I choose "do" as a verb for "exercise," is "exercise" always plural?

Thanks again!

Chunan said:

Thank you very much, Joelline and Nunty!
Yes, I was talking about physical exercise. I'm sorry for my poor explanation.
Nunty, I'm still confused by when I have to use "exercise" in the singular form. If I choose "do" as a verb for "exercise," is "exercise" always plural?

Thanks again!

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I'm not very good at explaining grammar, but I'll try.

The choice of "exercise" or "excercises" depends first of all on what you mean, and not on the verb you choose.

If you mean a certain routine of movements, like jumping jacks, touching your toes, sit-ups and so on, then each of those movements is an exercise and it is countable. It is very idiomatic to say "I do my exercises every morning". "My exercises" means the exercises that I habitually do.

This usage is also for non-physical exercises: "Listening to the old man tell the same jokes over and over is an exercise in patience" or "Do you know the answer to exercise number 3 in our English book?"

If you are talking more generally, without referring to specific exercises, then you use other verb forms. "I enjoy exercising" and "I like to exercise" are both idiomatic statements, as is "I exercise every morning". This is not usually used for non-physical exercises, though.

You can also use the noncount noun exercise. "A certain amount of exercise is good for the heart".

Does that help any more?

Hi Nunty,

Thank you for giving the additional comment.
Your comment has helped me understand the mechanism of "exercise."
If we say "exercise" as countable noun, it will show a movement or a set of movements. Whereas the noncount noun exercise shows general physical activities that make us stay healthy. Maybe?

I really appreciate your putting a lot of effort into giving an explanation to me, an English learner!!

Chunan

I think it's fine to say "do exercise" when "exercise" is used as a general term for physical activities. In this meaning, I think "exercise" is uncountable.

However, I recently came across the following line written by a non-native teacher:

In this workshop, you will learn simple exercise that can be done at home every day.

Is it correct in this case to use the uncountable "exercise", or is it more correct to use "exercises"?

EdisonBhola said:

Is it correct in this case to use the uncountable "exercise", or is it more correct to use "exercises"?

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Exercises sounds more likely and natural to me. If I used it in that sentence, I would be thinking of different exercises that people can do: push-ups, sit-ups, squats, etc.

Hello, everyone.

Instead of doing, can I use "taking"? I enjoy taking exercises. (Meaning I like to do push-ups, sit-ups, squats, etc.)

Thank you.

Kenny Chang said:

Instead of doing, can I use "taking"? I enjoy taking exercises. (Meaning I like to do push-ups, sit-ups, squats, etc.)

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I'm sorry, but taking doesn't sound natural with exercises. People sometimes use take with the uncounted word exercise: He tries to take some exercise every morning.

owlman5 said:

I'm sorry, but taking doesn't sound natural with exercises. People sometimes use take with the uncounted word exercise: He tries to take some exercise every morning.

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Thank you for your help.

Can I just make it uncountable so it sound natural?
→ I enjoy taking exercise.

Kenny Chang said:

Thank you for your help.

Can I just make it uncountable so it sound natural?
→ I enjoy taking exercise.

Click to expand...

Yes, but that would normally mean going for walks, not doing push-ups.

Kenny Chang said:

Can I just make it uncountable so it sound natural?
→ I enjoy taking exercise.

Click to expand...

This strikes me as

weird in AE and seems to be another instance of learners concocting a statement and avoiding a perfectly appropriate verb.
I'd just say, "I enjoy exercising."

I enjoy taking exercise.

I'd understand dit as Loob does, and it's good BE English. All the same, it isn't very idiomatic in everyday speech. It sounds a bit old-fashioned or literary to me.

My kids would say to me, "You need to get more exercise, Mum." And I would reply, "You enjoy exercising; I don't."