Why Exercise?

Ah the age-old question…why bother? Why get up at 6am to train? Why, after a hard day’s work go push yourself for another hour instead of going home to relax? Why sweat, curse and sometimes nearly get sick all in the name of exercise?

The answer to these questions often differs from individual to individual but the results are the same… you feel better mentally, physically or both. For some people it’s an escape, their little haven away from the hustle and bustle of work or life. For others it’s working towards a goal such as an upcoming wedding or holiday and for some more, it’s part of who they are, an athlete or coach.

Whatever the reason people exercise, very few will use the excuse of exercising for health and longevity, yet it seems logical that it should be the main reason to do it. Below I will discuss the physical and mental benefits to exercise, some you may be aware of and some less so, but they all contribute to you living your best life.

Heart health

Let’s start off with one of the main ones. The little ticker inside our chest. You know the one that beats on average of 60-100 beats a minute (resting heart rate) and pumps that important liquid (blood) around the body? Yeah, the heart that’s it, well it turns out exercise has a direct impact on that important organ. Exercise makes the heart, which is a muscle, work harder to pump blood around the body. The heart becomes stronger through exercise which in turns means that when the body is at rest it doesn’t have to work as hard to do its job. The lower the resting heart rate the healthier the individual
(unless you have an underlying heart condition). You also have a much lower chance of developing cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure with exercise.

Some scientists reckon the heart has a finite number of beats in its lifetime. If that is true, doesn’t it make sense to lower the number of beats right now to extend that lifespan a few more weeks/months even years?

Bone density

A huge benefit of exercise is its effect on your bones. It makes them thicker and denser which in turn makes them stronger. The stronger your bones are, the less risk you have of fracturing those bones and the less susceptible you are to Osteoporosis (a disease characterized by severe loss of bone density) later in life. Strength & conditioning is the best method to develop these strong bones and the earlier you start the better.

Body Composition

Body composition is the percentage of muscle, fat, bone and water in the body. In relation to muscle and fat, training will increase the former and decrease the latter alongside a healthy, balance diet. Having too high body fat percentage will increase your risk of developing any number of health problems including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. On the other hand, increasing your muscle percentage will decrease your fat percentage and you will lower your chances of these risks.

Unfortunately, as we age our body composition slowly starts to turn against us. Our muscle mass & bone density starts to decline, our fat mass increases, our skin starts to sag, and several changes happen inside our body and organs. Thankfully exercise helps slow down these negative changes. By increasing your activity levels and joining a gym or hiring a personal trainer you can achieve your desired body composition level whatever that is to you, keep it from declining and look damn good
doing it. A knock-on effect here is you are happier with the way you look; you feel more confident and thus have more positive thoughts about yourself.

Anxiety, Depression and Mental Well-being

This one, for me, is one of the most important benefits you get from training & exercise. Exercise has been proven to help decrease anxiety & depression and to boost mood and increase energy levels. During and after a workout your body releases chemicals known as Endorphins. The Endorphins trigger a
positive feeling in the brain and increases mood. Along with the Endorphins, exercise helps you sleep better, feel more relaxed (maybe not during a high int workout but definitely after) and because you burn off energy it gives you less energy to focus on negative thoughts. I have only listed a few of the many benefits of exercise. You could write a book on all of them (and many people have). At the end of the day it’s all about living a long healthy life where you have as few illnesses and injuries as possible, where you can grow old independently and still have the energy to play with the grandkids. These are the reasons I train and hopefully they might start being the reason you start or stay training too.