Brief, frequent segments of moderate activity can significantly reduce your risk of c oronary artery disease, said Dr. Jere Mitchell, director of the Harry S. Moss Heart Center and the Pauline and Adolph Weinberger Laboratories for Cardiopulmonary Research. Also perform strengthening exercises twice a week. But you can fit enough exercise into your daily life to reduce your risk of coronary-artery disease without ever putting on your gym shorts.
Physical fitness refers to the measurement of maximal oxygen uptake on a treadmill.
You can be very physically active but not attain a high level of physical fitness because of your genetic background. There was a recent study from Copenhagen looking at both. It found that physically inactive men got coronary heart disease even if they were physically fit. Physically active men did not get coronary artery disease even if they were not physically fit. They got all the health benefit just by being physically active.