Posted on February 24, 2018 by Jenny Cromack
We all know exercise can help you lose fat, get fitter, tone up, help you become stronger, etc. But is that it? Absolutely not, doing any exercise, sport and physical activity goes far beyond the gym, getting fitter and losing weight.
A lot of the below will be abit ‘left field thinking’ or ‘thinking slightly outside the box’, but all are well researched benefits of exercise – that you wouldn’t necessarily think of when starting on your exercise journey.
So, here we go….
The Benefits of Exercise
1. In a world were comfort is king, vigorous physical activity provides a rare opportunity to practice suffering. A point that will be re-visited later, but great for mental toughness.
2. Pushing yourself physically helps you learn how to embrace uncomfortable situations – applicable in many walks of life.
3. It also improves self-control and willpower. Something all of us need, from time to time. Exercise teaches us to keep going even when brain may be telling you to stop.
4. Research shows that’s people who cope and keep going through the tough parts of exercise tend to perform better in hard, challenging areas of their lives such as quitting smoking or remaining calm during final exams.
5. Moreover, exercise has been called the key for generating thoughts and habits that spill over into everyday life. People who start exercising decrease stress, smoking, alcohol and caffeine consumption, increase eating healthily and do a better job at managing their finances.
6. Pushing yourself physically also helps you learn how to view stress as a challenge and strengthens your social ties. This will mean you can foster the inner resource needed to efficiently confront stressful and anxiety inducing situation in life – resulting in becoming a more resilient person in the process.
7. Endurance sports, can mean you learn to see yourself as someone who can choose to engage in difficult things, get through them and evolve in consequential ways.
8. This does not mean you need to compete at an elevated level to feel these benefits. Only do something that was physically challenging for you.
9. Finally, when you are developing physical fitness, you are developing life fitness also.
…see exercise is AMAZING!! It’s not just the aesthetic and physical benefits you should think about but also the benefits of exercise and how these impact other areas of your live. And all that leaves us to say is…..
