Exercise is a truly important ingredient of a great life. It’s fantastic for our bodies, and even more importantly, wonderful for our minds. Exercise strengthens our muscles and bones, releases important chemicals and hormones throughout our brain and bodies and can relieve stress. I’ve found that the disciplines I learn from persisting with exercise can help me to be more successful in other areas of my life. Team sports have also helped me establish friendships and develop skills like teamwork and co-operation.
When planning my exercise, I try to focus on a mix of:
- Aerobic exercises, like running, swimming, brisk walking and cycling (I’m good at making time for this category)
- Strengthening exercises, like doing weights (I’m ok at this)
- Flexibility exercises: (I’m not so good at this, but am trying to improve).
Although there are many great reasons for exercising, it can be an easy thing to put off. Maybe the weather is cold (or even raining), maybe I just don’t feel like it, maybe I’m feeling a bit flat or down.
Through experience, I’ve discovered that when I am feeling down, this is the time when I most need to exercise. Whenever I find myself having an internal debate about whether or not to do some exercise, I always try to tell myself that “You’ll never feel worse after exercising”. Over the course of my life I have found this statement to be absolutely true one hundred percent of the time*. As a result, I have always found that by the time I finish, my mood has significantly improved and I have a strong sense of gratitude for having started.
So what are you waiting for? Grab your sneakers and get going. I promise you’ll feel better for it.
*The only exception to this that I can imagine is if you injure yourself during the process.
