Get Your Body Moving!
Science has told us for years that exercise is beneficial for our life, but what does exercise really do to our body and mind?
The benefits of exercise go far beyond this list, but here are some of the positive effects of exercising the body.
- Helps maintain a healthy weight
- Increase happiness
- It strengthens your muscles and bones, preventing injury
- Exercise reduces your risk of chronic disease
- It keeps your skin and other organs healthy
- Improves brain function and memory
- Improves your sleep quality and the ability to relax
- Decreases stress levels on the body
- Reduces pain levels
- Improves sex life
Now that you know the benefits, how do you implement an exercise routine?
It will benefit you to be active everyday! At least walk daily. Even better, get your heart pounding and break a sweat!
It’s NOT necessary to be in the gym two or more hours per day, six days per week, unless you are training for an athletic event.
So how much do we need?
Here is what fitness expert Ben Greenfield suggests:
“So it turns out that you can exercise as little as 15 minutes a day to stay healthy, as little as 30 minutes a day to stay fit and lean, and that you don’t get any extra benefit once you exceed 90 minutes per day!”
Do you loathe exercise and struggle to implement it into your life?
Here are helpful tips to make it easier ~
Implement these to make exercise easier, improve your health now and stay healthy in your later years.
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WHY?? Write down 25 benefits that exercise will have for you, and carry those reasons around with you. Any time you begin to talk yourself out of exercising, look at that list, and remember why! Your kids, to feel good, to look good. To reduce depression/sadness etc.
Once you know why you need to exercise, COMMIT!!
Make it a ‘must’, not a ‘should’ or ‘would’. You MUST workout to fulfill those 25 reasons you wrote down. -
Next step is to book exercise in your calendar. Think of it like a daily meeting, you must show up everyday for your scheduled appointments, make your exercise a priority and show up for you!
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Don’t be hard on yourself. It’s a marathon., not a sprint. Start slow…
Start with a half hour once per week. Easy right?
Listen to this Ted Talk to help you take that first step.
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Once you feel comfortable with once per week, increase to twice per week, then three times per week etc. Ideally you move everyday, and at least 4-5 times per week. It does not need to be vigorous intense exercise, just get your heart pounding, sweat a bit and apply resistance to your muscles.
It can be as simple as some body weight exercises that you do at home, pushups, plank, core exercises etc.
There are tons of free workouts online. One of our favorite online yoga class resource is Yogiapproved.com.
Sometimes it can be intimidating to start your exercise journey at the gym, that is why we love that there are high quality options for a home practice. You can go at your own pace in the comfort of your home.
Try different activities… If you don’t like gyms, go swimming, go hiking, go dancing. Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Feeling stuck and unmotivated? Here is the 5 second rule to help you get started.
It sounds too simple to be effective, but can easily become a habit.
5,4,3,2,1 GO!!
Involve your friends and family to exercise with you! Find an accountability buddy, someone you can work out with, so that neither one of you quit or become uncommitted.
If you get sore after working out, don’t let that inhibit you from working out again.
The best way to get over the soreness is to workout again the next day! (Different body parts that are not as sore)
Journal about what you like to do for exercise, and also journal how you feel after working out! Despite some soreness, most of the time, you should feel charged and energized! Use that as your motivation.
Once again, I want to emphasize how important exercise is. Me trying to motivate you is not nearly as important nor powerful as the motivation that comes from within you.
So write down your 25+ reasons, and keep that as your motivating factor!!
Those are the benefits of exercise and some tools you can use to implement it into your life. Exercise is maintenance of your body, meditation is maintenance of your mind. Click here to learn about meditation and how it can help you live a healthier and happier life.
For more helpful guidance and referrals to our trusted personal trainers, contact the clinic (720) 722-3016 or by email info@healthynewvibes.com