The fitness craze seems to be everywhere now. More than ever, people are looking to get started on their fitness journeys, turn their lives around, and start working out.
The wonderful thing about fitness is you can get started at any age. Starting young (like myself) has allowed me to learn so much about all the benefits that come along with being active, and all it takes is for you to take the leap!
Maybe you reading this will be enough to get you started on a wonderful journey that is truly enjoyable and benefits so many different aspects of life.
Without further ado, below are my top five reasons on why you should take the plunge and get started:
1. Fitness Helps You Lose Weight and Reduce Your Risk of Life-Threatening Diseases
Of course, this is one of the most pivotal reasons. Many of us work desk jobs, and are relatively sedentary throughout the day/week. Over time, this adds up a great deal.
Did you know that the average American walks 1.5-2 miles per day? That equates to roughly 3,500 steps. Now that may sound like a decent amount of steps, right? Well, not necessarily. The CDC recommends around 10,000 steps a day, nearly 3x the average amount! But not to worry—this could be easily obtainable by making a few basic, minor changes that everyone can include in their daily routine! Some of these include:
- Going out for a 30 minute walk during lunch time
- Take the stairs more often
- Parking farther away from your destination than necessary
- Using the bathroom farthest from your desk/location
- Walking your dog
- And, most easily, going for a run outside or on a treadmill
By simply including some (or, better yet, most) of the above, this will allow you to increase blood flow throughout your body, and ultimately minimize the risks of developing obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and even certain cancers.
2. Fitness Helps You Reach Your Goals
Having the proper framework in your fitness routine not only provides you structure in the gym, but allows you to structure your every day life.
When you have a plan, you have a purpose. For example, let’s say you want to be more productive, but have a hard time finding the motivation/time to do so. All too easily, we get caught up in watching the latest Netflix series, scrolling through social media, having a drink with our close friends, etc. Although nothing wrong with any of this, I’m sure we can agree that there comes a point where too much can lead to a waste of time.
Rather than overindulging in these, try limiting time per day for each of these potential “time wasters”. Easier said than done? Sure.
Now let’s say you have an allocation for your workout time each day. “6:30PM-7:15PM will be my time for the gym. After that, I’m going to cook myself a healthy meal, spend time with my family, and whatever else suits my interest!”
Having this mindset is admirable, and allows you to create structure and purpose to your days, while at the same time analyzing what goes on in your day-to-day life so you could limit activities that waste time and reduce your productivity level.
3. Fitness Boosts Your Overall Confidence and Self-esteem
This is arguably the most important point in this list. I’m sure we all heard the cliché saying before: “Look good, feel good”. Well it’s true, and this goes so much deeper than what you would think.
On the surface, this phrase is very straightforward—when you look good (i.e. from working out), you will feel better about yourself. This is not only true physically, but mentally as well. Let’s check out an example of this.
You’ve been working on this project for work for a couple of weeks now with your colleagues, and are getting ready to present it in front of your management team. This is an oral presentation that requires you to stand in front of your peers and present the big project. You’ve been training and dieting over the last few months since your last presentation. This has allowed you to develop confidence in yourself by taking on this new initiative in your life, and apply it to your work life.
I’ll be willing to bet that you’d feel significantly more confident speaking aloud in that nice new figure of yours than you did during the last presentation, right? This is common, and is an excellent by-product of working out!
When you’re eating healthy, your mood changes significantly. According to a recent health study at Harvard University:
…eating a healthy, balanced diet such as the Mediterranean diet and avoiding inflammation-producing foods may be protective against depression.
health.harvard.edu/blog/gut-feelings-how-food-affects-your-mood
I personally know several people (even close friends of mine) that have a poorly constructed diet, and are often “in the blues”. I can tell you first-hand that I was much more irritable and pessimistic before I started eating a clean diet. Now, things don’t bother me as much, and I always see the glass half-full. Take my word for it—eating clean can provide more health benefits than you may think.
4. Fitness Relieves Stress
Is there ever a case where maybe you had a bad day at work, got into a fight with your significant other, or something else bothered you? It happens to all of us. All the time, and it’s completely normal. Life has its ups and downs, but I’m sure you’d feel better about these happenings if there was a way to ease them, right? Well, there are.
According to the NY Times, 55% of Americans feel a great sense of stress every day. This in actuality is a very large percentage of the population, and chances are, you experience tension like this day-to-day.
People have lots of different ways to cope with stress—some good, some not so good. Common ways to cope with stress include hanging out with your close friends, maybe going for a walk, eating, etc. Other not so good ways of coping with stress, which unfortunately are fairly common, include drinking, smoking, doing drugs, gambling, and stress eating—all of which are injurious to your health.
I can tell you firsthand that through the stresses of college (studying to do your best on a big exam, ensuring you perform your best, etc.), previous relationships, jobs, and even transitioning into adulthood, I don’t know how I would have been able to overcome these if fitness was not a part of my life.
Exercise of any kind, whether walking, weight training, cycling, swimming, or what have you, increases your sense of well-being. Working out releases tons of endorphins (your brain’s “feel good” emotions), which can provide a truly euphoric feeling that cannot be explained by writing: it is something that must be experienced! Something like this can really make you forget about the stresses that you are experiencing, and help you realize that they may not be as big as a deal as you’re making them out to be.
Not to mention, exercising can help combat the actual negative effects of stress, such as cardiovascular disease, digestion issues, and even sleep insomnia. You will really see an optimistic side of yourself that you may not have been used to seeing prior.
Whenever I complete a workout, the feeling I experience both physically and mentally is wonderful, and always puts me in a great mood to take on the obstacles in my life and conquer the day with success!
5. Fitness Grants Incomparable Work Ethic
Now this one, in my opinion, is the most critical on this list. Very simple: if you can endure an exhaustive training regimen, you could put yourself through and conquer anything. On the surface, this may be tough to see, but let me shed some light on this subject.
As previously mentioned, life throws obstacles at us all the time, and it is up to us to see through them and push past with confidence.
When you run into a wall, are you going to turn around, or find any way possible to climb over and around this wall?
I sure hope the latter! A great life example of this would be when I was in college, working two jobs, and still found the time, energy, and willpower to include fitness in my life.
I attended a business school in New York City with a very low acceptance rate. With this being said, the curriculum in the business program was very difficult. I struggled at first to see the best ways to study, take initiative in applying for jobs/counseling appointments, and better myself academically. On top of this, I worked an Accounting Internship and at a grocery store, where I had to delegate time everyday to complete pertinent tasks in life. One of these, of course, was making sure I got myself to the gym.
The way I looked at it was that if I was able to consistently and efficiently workout for all these years, it doesn’t matter how much work, schoolwork, or other obstacles life throws at me; I was determined to take it all with pride and prosper to the best of my ability. I can’t tell you how many late nights I spent at my college, studying and trying to stay focused, to ultimately see the bigger picture. Having the confidence of maintaining my fitness regimen through all this has allowed me to thrive and prosper in the high-pressure stages of life.
Moreover, I was able to translate fitness improvements to life improvements. If I was adding more reps to my squat this session as opposed to last, I looked at is as—I can now study and work harder than the last time. Putting accomplishments like this on the same level with each other is how you continuously improve in life, and this is how you truly become the best version of yourself.
Well, that’s it! I really hope you enjoyed reading my first blog post, and that it inspired you to hopefully start a fitness journey of your own! I will be writing on here regularly with more training, nutrition, and life advice, so stay tuned!
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Greatest kid!!! Excellent commentary, advice & reasoning. SONNING the blog world
Greatest kid man!!! Excellent commentary, reasoning and advice. SON the blog world.
GOATED RAY! Thanks as always GFK!
My boy! EXCELLENT EXCELLENT blog post! All your points were spot on and I feel nothing but pride that my BEST FRIEND is out here inspiring others to better themselves! GREATEST KID OF ALL TIME.
Fe
My dude! Thanks so much for the read and opinion! GOAT Fe, that’s all there is to say man!