When I first started exercising decades ago, my sole motivation was getting thin. Over the years I have found this is the least of the amazing benefits of exercise. Maintaining an exercise routine can certainly be tough. I have found that what keeps me going in my exercise routine is the numerous benefits, many of which are apparent much faster than the changes on the scale.
If you’re like I was the long and short of why you may be considering adding exercise to your routine is to look good in your swimsuit this summer. You might not have much desire beyond that. I get it, when I started with exercise I had pretty much the same motivation behind it. I hadn’t really developed or been consistent with a good workout routine yet, so I had no idea there are so many other benefits to exercise than looking better in your swimsuit!
Now that I’ve had a consistent, solid workout routine for many, many years, I realize it’s not the aesthetics that keep me going day to day; it’s all the other benefits of exercise. There are so many benefits of exercise, I cannot cover all of them in this one episode, so instead I am highlighting the ones that I have found to be the biggest game changers for me.
These are:
- Boosts confidence.
- Increases energy.
- Improves sleep.
- Improves mental health.
- Fountain of youth.
I talk a lot about how I initially started with exercise and dieting. It was all born of my body dysmorphia as a kid growing up that developed from a combination of factors, the most profound being that I was bullied daily about my weight from age ten on. I thought that if I could just get skinny all those things would go away. So, when I started my first diet and exercise routine at the age of fourteen all I cared about was getting skinny. I did not give a flying fig about anything else. In fact, I was oblivious to any other potential benefits of exercise.
I have also talked a lot about how my weight has gone up and down from about this same time and how I cycled through diet after workout program after supplement after fad after fad after fad. It wasn’t until about 6 years ago that this started to change for me, when I started incorporating other elements into my overall “health” routine, like good nutrition, mindset, and paying more attention to my sleep schedule.
So, even six years ago, when I started yet another program, I had a single focus: lose weight. I knew exercise was key in this, but by then I also knew there was a lot more to it than that. Within the first of what is now six years of what I now view as my lifestyle, exercise had become very important to me for reasons completely different than looking good in my swimsuit or “being skinny.” Even better, most of these reasons are evident within the first couple weeks of starting, where the actual weight loss and body change takes much longer. So, what are some of these reasons? Let’s get into them.
- Boosts confidence.
This is the first I noticed when starting an exercise routine. In my experience simply starting and sticking with an exercise routine will boost your confidence. There’s something about just taking action toward what you want for yourself that makes you feel more confident. Another element here is that you are following through on something that is a challenge for you to get started and maintain, which also boosts your confidence. And, of course, over time, as you remain consistent with exercise and good nutrition, you will start to see your body change, and this will boost your confidence as well. You’ll feel better in your clothes. You’ll find you feel more confident wearing clothes you may not have considered before and that feels great. - Increases energy.
This is also among the most immediate changes I noticed in starting an exercise routine. It seems so counterintuitive doesn’t it; that exercise would give you more energy? It is 100 percent true though. As important as having rest days built into your workout routine are, I find these are the days I tend to drag more and feel less energy compared to the days I work out. It moves energy in and out of your body, so rather than that energy getting pent up and bogging you down later in the day, it has the effect of putting pep in your step. This is because exercise basically revs up your system, which makes things work more efficiently. It gets the blood pumping and moving a little faster, delivering more oxygen through the body thereby helping your cardiovascular system. When your body is working more efficiently and effectively, you have more energy and are better able to do all the things you need to do through the day. - Improves sleep.
Sleep is another benefit I noticed early on in my exercise routine. Where I used to lay there for seemingly endless hours at night trying to get my brain to stop rolling through all the things I was stressed about, after establishing an exercise routine, I started to fall asleep much faster, and the never-ending what ifs slowed down and eventually stopped completely. If you research it, you will find that there is plenty of scientific evidence backing this up. Research shows that exercise helps decrease insomnia, helps you get more sleep, and improves the quality of your sleep. - Improves mental health.
Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde said it best when she said exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t go around killing their husbands. They just don’t. The mood boosting aspects of exercise are hands down my favorite. It is absolutely true that exercise boosts your mood and helps you feel happier overall, compared to not exercising. And, yes, this has to do with the release of endorphins during exercise.
I have talked quite a bit about my own struggles with my mental health over my life. I have battled depression and anxiety off and on. At one point in my twenties, I was struggling with it so much I discussed it with my doctor. He literally turned around and opened a cabinet, grabbed a large handful of promotional packets of antidepressant pills, put them in a bag, and told me to take them for two weeks. He went on to say that I needed to consult with him before I stopped taking them. I took these for three days and felt like I was on an acid trip by the third day. I stopped taking them immediately and never looked back. I knew there had to be a better way and it was through exercise.
I recognize that everyone is different and for some antidepressants may have helped tremendously. I am simply sharing my story and my experience and this is not meant to be medical or psychological advice, but in my experience they did not do anything to help. Exercise has been the single most impactful thing for me when it comes to anxiety and depression. I do not experience either anymore. I went from having panic attacks and feeling indifferent and apathetic to most of the time to zero panic attacks few, intermittent, brief episodes of depression over the past six years. - Fountain of youth.
The last but certainly not the least benefit of exercise I’ll share today is that it is the fountain of youth. Coupled with good nutrition and hydration, exercise will improve the look and feel of your skin. Exercise, of course, can tone up your physique, which also makes you look and feel younger. It helps prevent injury, strengthens your joints, improves your posture, and, of course, has numerous health benefits. Exercise reduces risk for chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and cancers, and it can also help mitigate or reduce symptoms of chronic diseases, if you have them. Exercise has also been shown to prevent cognitive decline and have a regenerative effect at a cellular level, quite literally making it the fountain of youth.
So, these are just a few of the amazing benefits of exercise. I hope this helps give a boost to your motivation to keep at it or get started with exercise. It is absolutely a valuable investment in your health with an invaluable return on investment.
I hope this has blessed you. Please share your thoughts in the comments. If you find this helpful and want to continue the pursuit of faith, fitness, and joy with me, please like and subscribe. You can also find Faith Fitness Joy on Facebook and Instagram or check out the podcast at https://faithfitnessjoy.podbean.com. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you in the comments and on the socials!