Spanish- To make exercise?

I am taking classes in Spanish to help me be able to communicate better with my sports students. I have taken classes now for two weeks and three days. It's been an interesting time of learning when the teacher doesn't speak any English. Today, my teacher (Carmen) and I struggle with understanding why exercise needed the verb hacer in front of it. Because in English exercise is a verb but in Spanish it's not used that way. Needless to say it took us a long time just to figure out what each other was saying. Wow!!! I enjoy her very much and she works really hard to help me understand what I need to learn. She is very sweet!
Cute Story: I took her picture the other day and she asked me about why I took the picture. I told her I have a blog and often put pictures up so my friends, family and supporters can see what is going on in my life. She asked if her picture would be on the blog and I explained that it would. The next day she said she told her children; "Mommy has her picture up on the internet in the United States." Her kids screamed "Bravo Mommy Bravo!!"
Carmen's parents died at a young age and she was the youngest of nine brothers and sisters. She said she would get sent from one home to another when she was a child and had to help with her sister's store. They couldn't afford school so it wasn't until she was 30 years old she was able to go to High School because her husband paid for it. She graduated last year from HS at the age of 33. She has two kids and wants me to meet them someday. She has quite the story. Her heart is so precious to the Lord. She is catholic and has been so great to get to know. We talk about religion a lot. Please pray for her family and I can be a good witness to her as we learn about each other more and more.