There is a more interesting article in Scientific American and other places that humans evolved requiring an hour of vigorous exercise a day to avoid metabolic diseases like diabetes and dementia. Our closest relatives chimps and gorillas dont require vigorous exercise.
This article talks about this - it's the common hypothesis that switching to bipedal movement several million years ago is linked to the branching from our closest primate relatives, our diets changed to include hunting and a wider foraging range, hand in hand with changes in physiology for more movement and brain structure.
