We all know exercising is a good thing. Most of us relate to exercising in the context of losing weight or staying fit. Of course, exercise helps with those. And you can add building muscles to that list too!
But in this post I am going to talk about the unconventional benefits of doing exercise – unconventional as in opposed to our conventional thought that exercising is only to lose weight or to stay fit.
In fact I love to do exercising for these benefits. I am not very concerned about losing weight; and I certainly am not interested in building muscles. So I (mostly) do exercise only for these other benefits.
#1 Treating yourself with some “me” time
Let’s be honest here. How many of us truly remember to take some personal time? We all do get lost in the sea of every day activities. We all have lots of commitments. In short, we all are quite busy.
In this super chaotic situation, we totally forget ourselves. In particular, this applies to stay at home ladies who give to families, kids, household, shopping etc. but totally forget to give it to themselves!
If you are working you might get some time to have lunch with colleagues and delegates – but still, the “me” time doesn’t come into the equation.
Exercising is a great way to bring that “me” time into the picture. And it is not only important for your physical well being but also boosts confidence, gives you peace of mind and gives you satisfaction that you are treating yourself well.
Also giving yourself that alone time helps you to improve your focus (more on that below). You can certainly improve your productivity by improving your concentration.
#2 A replacement for sloppy habits
When you have some leisure time or a chunk of free time to spend, you might get into sloppy habits if you don’t put that time to good use.
And it is actually a trap. Most people *think* that they are rewarding themselves by spending that time on inappropriate things that might lead to bad habits.
For some people smoking a cigarette could be a relaxing and soothing thing to do. But that is not only a sloppy habit, but also a dangerous (as in “fatal” coz you initiate death process quite before it is supposed to happen naturally) bad habit.
For some, spending the rest of the evening after work in front of the TV could be relaxing. Again that is a bad habit that will soon take its toll on physical as well as mental health. Plus it is a total waste of time.
Now if you spend a portion of that leisure time on exercising you are doing a LOT of good to yourself!
#3 You become physically fit
Of course you do, right? Exercising is a great way to keep yourself fit. By fit, I don’t mean staying skinny – you know that’s not our mindset at this blog. We are focused on well being and staying fit rather than staying skinny.
Exercise makes you beautiful from the inside, and makes you physically and mentally strong. I can talk from experience here.
Whenever I exercise, I see that there is a total change from within in me. This is very important to me for both my personal and business life.
#4 It is a great stress reliever
Oh the coolest bit for me. Stress management is one of the most challenging things for people in these hectic times.
We are always bombarded by all sorts of things and it is easy to get stressed when things build up. We are in an overloaded space where there is every possible reason to get stressed out.
And stress ain’t good, baby.
I get it. There are tons of stress-relieving medications and systems out there to help you on that.
But before you swallow a pill to clear out stress, keep in mind you are going to have serious side effects because of stress relief medications.
Why put a foreign material inside you while you can simply take the stress from your inside and throw it away? – yes, just exercise.
Again, I can certainly talk from experience here. Whenever my day is hectic and if I am overloaded with client consultations or if I am working on a book or a launch, I always find exercising to be a great option to bring myself back to “normal”.
When my mind is overloaded and overflowing with the millions of things, I just simply jump on my treadmill and start walking. After 20 or 30 minutes, I’m cool, calm, relaxed and focused.
You gotta try this yourself to believe me.
#5 You can better focus on your projects
Exercising improves focus. Exercising is a way of meditation (at least according to me) where you get to improve on your “focus” muscles.
When you give yourself some “alone” time, it is easier for you to train your brain to stay away from the noise.
While you are exercising you are essentially cutting off from the external world.
You can use this time to plan bigger things or merely meditate and follow your body, breathing and the movement of your muscles.
Whenever I take up an exercising session, I enjoy this particular benefit more than the sweating factor. I believe that I get some real quite time where
- The phone isn’t ringing,
- I don’t get email notifications,
- I am not connected to the internet so I cannot be distracted.
Don’t you think this is an awesome opportunity to tune into my body and my mind? Yes it is!
So make sure you use your exercising time to get the maximum of these unconventional benefits.
You will not only be burning some calories but will also be building a strong inner you – you can also improve on your mental abilities like super focus and creativity – that certainly sounds like many birds on one stone.
Everything is true above! Actually, regular workout has strengthen my willpower. As a result, I’m far better at my work as well.