Let’s be honest, most people don’t love to exercise. Yes, there are some who exercise every day, and wouldn’t have it any other way, but overall, if people could be healthy, both physically and mentally without exercise, they would be thrilled! However, medical research has proven that exercise is the key to staying healthy. I am a fitness instructor and I do exercise every day, but I, also, need to be motivated. The following tips may help motivate you.
There is no question when you are listening to music that you enjoy while you are exercising, it improves your workout. You stay pumped up and motivated. Research shows that listening to music while you workout improves your performance by 15%.
Another motivating factor to keep in mind is that exercise improves brain performance. Cardiovascular exercise helps create new brain cells. This enhances brain power and brain activity. Working out sharpens your memory. When your body is moving, brain cells are at work. Exercising increases the production of cells that are responsible for learning and memory. Let’s add that running burns calories! If you run at a 10 minute per mile pace, you can burn 104.3 calories per mile. This does all depend on size, height, and weight, but on an average, you will burn 104.3 calories per mile.
This should be a real motivator. The more muscle mass you have, the more fat you burn, even while you are resting. Doing weight training or resisting training activates muscle. When muscles are activated they continue to burn fat after the workout is over. Cardio is great because it is the only way to work your heart muscle, but cardio exercise only burns fat, while you are doing the cardio workout. Again, weight training and resistance training continue to burn fat. A pound of muscle burns three times more calories than a pound of fat. Having more muscle than fat means you can consume more calories. So, lift your weights!
Exercise helps prevent the signs of aging. You should be exercising at least three times per week, for 45 minutes per session.
Major motivator, you stay healthy. You get sick less often. Exercising regularly helps boost your immune system. This means you’ll get sick less often than people who don’t exercise.
Increases productivity. Exercising increases the number of endorphins that are released into your body and that increases productivity. Endorphins are also known as the happy hormone, so the more you increase them the happier you will be!
Workouts can improve the look of your skin. Sweat releases dirt through your pores, which reduces acne and breakouts. Workouts improve the overall look of your skin.
Most importantly, exercising boosts self-confidence. Exercising can help ease your mind and rejuvenate your body. Working out, will make you feel great and boost your confidence.
One of the best ways to stay motivated is to have a workout partner. When you have a workout partner, you are not only more motivated to workout, it also holds you accountable. You can also be each other’s support and push each other to go a little bit further. If you work out in the morning and are alone, it’s a lot easier to go back to sleep, but if someone is counting on you to meet them at the gym, it’s much more likely that you will force yourself to get up and kick start your day with a workout. Same holds true at the end of the day. The last thing I, or most of us want to do after work, is go to a gym to workout. Again, if you are alone, it’s a lot easier to just call it a night and go home. If someone is counting on you, you are likely to not bypass the gym, take that class, or go walking or running. You will always feel 100% better that you did it. No one ever regrets a workout.
I don’t know what it’s going to take to make people understand that exercise improves your life and your lifestyle. I say lifestyle because once you start exercising, you feel better. When you feel better, you start doing things and enjoying life. When people don’t feel good physically, they definitely don’t feel good mentally, and they have no incentive to get out and enjoy life.
I know it takes a lot to want to get up and exercise, but once you start, you will realize your energy level goes up, you lose a few pounds, you gain muscle, which makes everyday tasks easier, your mood changes for the better, your blood pressure is lower, etc. In a nutshell you are healthier, both physically and mentally. Exercise is the natural medicine we should all be taking.
Quotes:
“Your body can do it. It’s time to convince your mind.”
“Stop wishing for a good body. Work for it. You earn your body.”
Susan Gazerro