Exercise is one of the most important habits! Our body moves thanks to hundreds of muscles. Isn’t it obvious that we should keep them alive and moving??
Our ancestors had to use their muscles everyday because they hunted their food or fought for their survival.
We…
On the other hand human kind improved and developed industries so that we don’t have to hunt our food or fight for our survival everyday. We still improve and develop more and more systems. That means we use our muscles less and less everyday.
Most of us move our body only when waking to home, during work or just taking a walk at the park or whatever. Thus we need to take care of our body muscles.
Exercising
There are many ways these days for someone to exercise. Although we need to overcome obstacles, it is possible to form/build a habit towards exercise.
Asking a professional or a personal trainer is a great way to start. They will create an exercise plan aka training plan for your body type and body condition.
Another great way to start is home workout. There are exercise or training programs made for many levels of exercising/training. Exercising at home can be done with or without equipment.
The ways we can train varies a lot! If you are a beginner, I will recommend an exercise plan (click to read or download now!) – to start with – about exercise to do at home. The recommended plan is at the bottom of this post.
Ok! We started our exercise routine! Now what? What’s next?
The next goal is to build a habit towards exercise. Although I won’t go into details of habits , how they work and how to build them,.I will tho talk only about the habit of exercise and how important it is in general. It is so important that it will help you build other habits too.!
Another important thing to do is to make improvements setting greater goals in terms of exercise difficulty!
Enough said about the basics of exercise-workout-training. Let’s move on to the benefits of exercise and why we should definitely put it in our every day life/program.
Below are listed the 7 benefits of exercise. Of course there are not only these, but I consider them the most important of all!
7 Proven Benefits of Exercise.
As i said above I believe that these 7 benefits of exercise are the most important. We can you them as informations and even more as motivation. They are a great motivation to keep you going.
Great body health and function.
Like healthy eating/lifestyle, exercise will provide great body health and function.
A moving body is a healthy body! The more we care about our body the more it will care about us.! Sometimes it is obvious, sometimes it is not.
Reduces stress levels.
Researches have shown that regular exercise aka physical activity lowers levels of stress hormones in your body like cortisol.
As Meg Furstoss, CSCS, says “Exercise clears your mind from the day’s hustle”.
This one is more clear when you actually feel it yourself. Especially if you are someone who use to be stressed a lot, you will notice really quickly the benefit of physical activity to stress reduction.
Exercise along with meditation are the keys to reduce stress!!
Motivates for more good habits.
In his book “The power of habit” Charles Duhigg breaks down everything about habits!
There are some habits that are keystone habits. Keystone is the habit that triggers more good habits. Although , as he points out, there isn’t a list of keystone habits but it varies from person to person; there are some habits that act like keystone habits in many people.
Exercise, as you already guessed, is one of them. I will mention two more and stop here: reading books and meditation.
Lets get back to exercise as a keystone habit. It will be easier to understand with an example :
Lets say I decide to begin exercising. First, I go to a gym get a program and start. I exercise for stomach, flat stomach, and exercise for back fat, mostly for these two!
There is a high possibility after 2-3 weeks that I try to fix my diet, either healthy eating or a simple fat loss diet. I probably will start reading things online first about diet. As time goes on I would try some other exercising types. I would try some intermittent fasting to test it.
Probably I would avoid sitting on couch and get myself moving more. And so on…
That’s how a keystone habit works! Makes you feel you need to do more about yourself.
This is a simple example to understand why exercise may motivate us for more good habits.
Exercise can help prevent heart diseases and other chronic illnesses in the long-term.
Researchers have found that: Exercise helps combat inflammation and many chronic diseases, like heart diseases and cancer, which are rooted in inflammation in the body. As a result physical activity lowers the risks of these diseases!
Exercise is like an injection of energy and mood.
Exercise, something that consumes energy, will give us energy! That definitely sounds weird, isn’t it?!
Many studies, according to American Council on Exercise, have shown that exercise can reduce fatigue and increase energy levels. I will add to this, that this energy shot comes a bit after the physical activity is done.
So it means after the gym and the meal we will begin to feel energized! Thus that’s why many people suggest and do go for an early morning walk/run or whatever physical activity. The energy you get in the rest of the day is better than just having a cup of coffee.
Similarly same goes for mood. Just try going for a simple walk for 20 minutes breathing some fresh air. As a result it will be like an injection of mood.
I heard it from many people before i I gave it a shot. There isn’t something like the magic pill but it definitely helps a lot.
It is like clearing your head!! Scientifically speaking our body releases good-feel hormones during physical activity, like serotonin.
You should definitely try it and enjoy the energy and mood injection!
Better sleep and overall relaxation.
Physical activity during the day will improve your sleep quality.
First of all from a very simple point of view exercising during the day means we are more tired and in natural need of rest/sleep.
Furthermore researchers have found that people who exercise for at least 15 minutes per day, no matter the activity, will show a reduce to sleep issues. Sleep issues such as apnea and restless leg syndrome.
At last when are body made his work for a day, it will feel more worthy of a good relaxation. Most of the times I don’t move at all, all day, my body – mind finds no meaning in relaxation.!
It can make you feel happier and more alive!!
I probably should have made a blog about 7 surprising benefits of exercise to include this one but I think it can be consider from every aspect as a benefit!
All of the above benefits like mood and energy injection, good night sleep, great body function, reduced stress and the ability to build more good habits is like the essentials to make us feel more alive.
When is we take care of our body we take action towards self-improvement aka personal development. Seeing ourselves accomplishing things, getting more things done and have that energy – motivation to do it is a form of happiness.
Don’t misunderstand me, I am not talking about watching ourselves in mirror or wear different clothes,which is ok.
I am more into the feeling you get when exercising. It takes some time tho to really get it. At least a month.
As a result exercise is a form of happiness in the long run!
Eating healthy .
Although Exercising is important , eating properly is also important. I am not gonna provide you magic diet or w/e. Despite the fact that diet do work, I am myself a supporter of Healthy Eating/Lifestyle – a long-term “solution”.
Whatever you pick, just keep in mind that exercise cannot do miracles alone!
Conclusion
We are made to move! We are made to use our body!
Despite the fact that it is obvious, we may need some motivation to start and to keep going.
Despite the fact that we need discipline, willpower and motivation to keep going, we will be able to need less and less of those as we are making exercise a habit.
The benefits of exercise (Physical Activity) is not only informational but also motivational.
We should try exercising for at least a month before we can see the benefits. The more we engage with exercise the more we get in return!
After all it is our body and our responsibility to keep it healthy, furthermore keeping us healthy!
From my perspective once exercise, physical activity is a habit, it is here to stay!
Bonus
Exercise plan. Exercise to do at home! Beginners Guide.
If you want to save it or open it later you can always download it here :
The plan I give you down below is mostly for beginners. Although if you used to exercise in the past and you left it for a long period, i would recommend starting of with this plan and scaling.
Warm up! Start up!
The warm in this video of Fitness Blender is great. 5 minutes of warm up before the main exercise plan is totally ok!
Main exercise Plan!
Repeat the below exercises 3-5 times depending on your fitness level. Once you do the 5 times kinda easily ask me for a more difficult one.!
If you are a beginner, it will be more than enough 20 minutes of workout. The full 20 minutes plan i recommend is:
10 lunges. (5 each leg)
Rest for 30 secs.
10 push-ups (a beginner may struggle on this,do as many as possible to reach 10)
Rest 30 secs.
10 squats ( there is a proper way to do them)
Straight back. The knee shouldn’t pass the toe line. And the knee in vertical angle.
Rest 30 secs.
Plank
Straight forward exercise. Stay in the given position for 30-60 secs. At the beginning aim for 30 secs without breaking the position. And add 5secs till 60,when you make it twice on the same time. So it like in the image below.
Last and most difficult:
Burpees
A bit of cardio exercise. Very hard one, especially for a beginner. 5 full reps are totally fine. Add 1 rep, when 5 reps done twice clearly. Add till 10 reps.
How to burpee.: stay in push-up position before starting one. Jump with your feet forward your arms and then release the hands from the ground and jump in the air straight up. Return to the starting position the same way, jumping. As seen in the images bellow.
Tip: if you can’t do even 3 in a row. Switch to no jump in the end.
Cool Down. Last but not least. Don’t skip cool down. 5 minutes are enough.
Once again Fitness Blender has a video with a great cool down routine.
How many days per week.
I would recommend to go for 3-4 days max in a week, depending on your weekly plan. Although most of the exercises are not weight lifting related exercises, except body weight, an every day routine wouldn’t be recommended.
Habitual information.
Do Not skip a day of programmed exercise/workout, unless you are sick or busy doing something more important than your health.
There is a trap in “it is only one day i will skip, what gonna happen”! Your habit gonna happen. It is better to exercise for 10-15 minutes instead of 30 minutes than not at all.!! That way we build the habit of exercise! Keep going!
Conclusion
We are made to move! We are made to use our body!
Despite the fact that it is obvious, we may need some motivation to start and to keep going.
Despite the fact that we need discipline, willpower and motivation to keep going, we will be able to need less and less of those as we are making exercise a habit.
The benefits of exercise (Physical Activity) is not only informational but also motivational.
We should try exercising for at least a month before we can see the benefits. The more we engage with exercise the more we get in return!
After all it is our body and our responsibility to keep it healthy, furthermore keeping us healthy!
From my perspective once exercise, physical activity is a habit, it is here to stay!