The 5 Different Ways Exercising Gives You More Satisfaction in Life
When people hear that I’ve been exercising on a regular basis for over 10 years now, most are impressed.
Then, they either ask me how to do it or say, they wouldn’t be able to do it. But the latter is wrong. It’s nothing special or crazy to exercise multiple times a week over a long period of time if you understand how beneficial working out can be. Why?
Because you’ll feel great.
Therefore, see this article as a small reminder about the 5 different ways working out gives you more satisfaction in life.
Improving your physical health
Do you know how many people I met had back issues when I worked 9 to 5?
Far too many. Going to the gym and knowing how easy it can be to strengthen your back, I couldn’t believe how many people would rather suffer and buy a fancy chair. Instead of working out only twice a week.
Besides making you look better, working out improves your physical health, too. When my father started working out on a regular basis again, it helped him to support his demolished knee.
He became more agile, had more fun while moving, and he felt overall better. He isn’t a special case. You can be him.
It’s a no-brainer. If not for anything else, start working out to feel better in your body. It doesn’t matter what sport you do if you do it on a regular basis.
Exercising will improve your physical health.
Improving your psychological health
Besides boosting your physical appearance, exercising can become a form of therapy.
At multiple times in my life, I reached a point, where I hit rock bottom. But because I had a good exercising habit in place, I worked myself out of it, literally.
When my second GF broke up with me and I realized how much of a stubborn, militant eco-warrior I had become, I was grounded. I felt as horrible as I’ve treated others before, call it karma.
But while everything else seemed to change, I had one thing I could hold on to exercising. But it wasn’t about lifting heavy weights only. It was about healing, too.
The same happened last year, when my GF went to Finland for a semester abroad, my business declined, and my baggage was lost, while I was traveling to the other side of the world.
Exercising helped me to overcome the biggest psychological obstacles.
Exercising is a form of therapy.
Enhancing your self-confidence
This shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Most men and many women start exercising to enhance their self-confidence. I get it because I’ve been there, too.
And you know what? It works.
Exercising will make you more confident. In a two-fold way:
- You’ll look better.
- You’ll be able to overcome (physical) struggles, which helps you to tackle challenges in other areas of your life.
But there’s a ceiling to it. If you don’t realize that these two aspects are only two factors of many influencing your confidence, you’ll get trapped.
And then, it’ll become the opposite: your regular exercising will make you more insecure because you feel like you’ll never be able to love your body.
That’s why you shouldn’t exercise to make others fall in love with you in the first place. Although a sporty body is a good starting point, it can’t and won’t be the only factor defining your confidence or appeal.
Exercise to look better and to tackle more challenges but don’t forget that there’s more to life. Otherwise, you’ll waste a lot of precious time and ruin your sanity.
Exercising will improve your confidence, if you see it for what it is: one factor of many.
Improving sleep patterns
Reminder: we humans are physical beings.
Although we’ve become awesome in easing our lives, we’re made to move. We’re made to manipulate the physical world.
In today’s societies, this gets more and more forgotten. We’re working in front of a panel of glass, clicking and typing around, to earn money. In our spare time, we use a different panel of glass, clicking and typing around, to have fun.
That’s nice (and convenient), but there’s more to life.
What?
You, moving your body.
We’re made to move around, try new things, and: exhaust ourselves.
I already hear you saying: “Shut up. My daily life is exhausting.” Yes, but for the wrong reasons.
It’s exhausting because we’re looking too much at blue light screens. Because we need to think in abstract ways. And because we can’t stop looking at other people selling us their best lives, although they aren’t feeling much better than us.
Exercising has the power to give you back your physical exhaustion. And this will improve your sleep.
When I played football (soccer), I hated winters. As a goalie, I had to stand around in the cold after the warm-up, save a ball here and there, and then stand even more in the cold.
My biggest enemy? Puddles of icy water, I’d get soaked in, as soon as I had to dip to save a ball. It was cruel.
But after all the standing and freezing and after taking a hot shower and hitting my bed, I had the best sleep I ever had.
Not because of the hot shower.
But because I’d exhausted myself during the whole training session, I was ready for bed.
It’s one of the best feelings: going physically exhausted to bed and sleeping like a rock.
Exercising will improve your sleep.
Increasing energy levels
Regular exercise will increase your energy levels.
It’s simple: the more you move, the more energy your body needs to provide. This will force your body to create more microenergy plants called mitochondria.
But their energy production isn’t limited to sports alone.
Which comes in handy in your daily life.
It means you can profit twofold from the effort you put in while working out:
- You build muscles and mitochondria and get a mood boost.
- With more muscles and mitochondria, your daily life will become less exhausting.
The more you exhaust yourself, the harder you can be exhausted. Your body builds a resistance towards exhaustion, which can benefit your entire life. Try it and you’ll feel like a superhero.
Exercising improves your energy levels.
Now, you’re convinced and want to do something?
But you don’t know where to start?
Don’t worry because, in the beginning, it doesn’t matter.
- Do a couple of pushups
- Go walking
- Maybe go for a run
See how you feel. If you’re exhausted, great, that’s the right sign. Give your body time to recover, repeat. If you need more advanced tips, take a look at simple workout advice.
Exercising has the power to change your life for the better, by:
- improving your physical health
- benefitting your psychological health
- enhancing your self-confidence
- improving your sleep
- increasing your energy levels
Thanks for reading.
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