AlexShalman.comPractical Personal Development

This is a guest post by Diggy.

Do you think that exercise is just unpleasant hard work and lots of effort, just designed to make us tired and lose weight?

There are,in fact, many benefits of exercise that go beyond getting the physical body into a great shape. If you aren’t doing any form of exercise in your life, then I hope this post will change your mind and get you into gear

It is easy to get caught up in your studies, or your job, or be content with the fact that you are young and don’t need to exercise because you still have a good 20 years before you’re middle-aged and before you start getting problems with cholesterol. You start to get a little chubby, and when you have to run up 3 flights of stairs you find yourself gasping for air…familliar?

What I found after not doing any form of exercise for a few months is that my body feels unfit and unhealthy, stress from life creeps in, I start to get a little cranky, and I get bad moods far more often, and just have less energy in general.

The body is the temple of your soul.

Exercise has so many benefits besides the obvious of keeping your body fit and healthy.
Your body is your vessel through which you navigate life. It is a sophisticated machine, and for the longest and best quality life, you must keep that machine well-oiled and maintained. For the physical body, exercise strengthens muscles, strengthens bones, circulates the blood flow delivering oxygen to all the organs, strengthens the lungs and heart, flushes the toxins out your body through perspiration and conditions the body to be able to withstand some hard work.

After exercise, endorphins get released into your bloodstream. Endorphins are a “feel-good” hormone, and this is why after a heavy workout, you will often feel more energetic than before, and you will have a smile on your face and be in a good mood.

You may be asking yourself what exercise and a healthy body and mind have to do with personal development?

I think that it has a massive impact on your life and everything you do and accomplish. If you have a strong healthy body, and in turn a good mood and happy spirit, you will go through life a lot more positively, have more ideas, be more creative and in turn attract like minded people.

Another benefit of exercise is that you venture out. I work from home and spend a lot of time in front of the computer, so I see going to gym as a break to get out of the house. For those of you who are on a tight budget, you do not need to pay money to exercise. You can get incredible workouts for free, training at home. It’s easy to do pushups,pullups, situps, crunches, squats and more. You can buy a few free weights and a pullup bar for $100 or less and have all the equipment you need to get a full body workout.

Get a punching bag and hang it on a tree outside or from a strudy point in your ceiling. There’s nothing as tiring as going full out and punching that bag and hard as you can with all the energy you have. I bet you’re exhausted under 2 minutes

Personally I like being signed up to the gym and various classes like hiphop dancing and martial arts, because not only can you learn from an experienced instructor, you also get to meet and connect with like-minded people. The fact that I am paying money every month for these classes also acts as a good stimulant for me to actually go to them and exercise. If you’re training at home then you need a tad more discipline, because nothing happens if you ignore your exercise. If I ignore it while I’m paying for membership, it’s costing me $50 a month and would be a waste if I didn’t use it.

Did you think that the gym was the only way of getting exercise?

Here are 5 Fun ways of getting exercise that you will LOVE doing:

1-)Dancing.

I love dancing, moving my body to the beat of the music, whether it be hiphop, rock, reggae or even classical dancing. However, for the best exercise while dancing, I have to say hiphop classes or breakdancing classes are the way to go. It’s almost like gymnastics and you get to learn choreographies to your favourite songs.

2-) Martial Arts.

I wish I started when I was 5.
Muay Thai, Taekwando, Aikido, Karate, Wushu and many others. Martial arts don’t only strengthen and train your body, they also train your mind and spirit. The discipline and sense of freedom you get from martial arts is amazing! Besides exercise, you’ll also learn to defend yourself.

3-)Aerobics.

Initially I thought this was always a more girly thing until one day I just joined a class because I had nothing to do. It’s pretty fun! You’re in a group and you follow the instructor doing a series of fast-paced moves, steps, situps, jumps and more. This is for people of all ages, both men and women.

4-)Swimming.

Bet ya didn’t think of swimming as good exercise?!
Swimming is something we can all enjoy, provided the water is not too cold and shark-free. It’s a full body workout for arms,legs and abs, burns a lot of calories and gets the heart rate up nice and high. Take the plunge today!

5-) Mountain Biking.

This is crazy fun, especially if you go with a friend or two.
It’s better if there are mountains, but parks or flat forests will do too. Pack a small backpack with water, some fruit and a jersey and go on a 2 or 3 hour cycling expedition. Find a target that you have to go to and once you get there you stop and rest, enjoy the scenery , have some water and then get back on that bike and cycle back as fast as you can.

Did I convince you to get out there more and exercise?

I promise that once you start exercising more, you will start to feel much happier and you will have much more energy to go through life. Healthy body, healthy mind.

Enjoy ALL the benefits of exercise.

Diggy is author of Upgradereality.com, a blog about self improvement.

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