Exercise is about more than just aerobic capacity and muscle mass. Yes, exercise can improve your physical and mental health, help you lose weight, improve your sexual experience, and even add years to your lifespan. However, that is not what motivates the majority of people to stay active.
Could your actual training be the key to becoming motivated to train? Discover how working out affects your mental and physical health.
Do you do specific exercises because your coach told you to, or do you switch them up when you want to try something to get physical and mental health? There are numerous reasons to select specific types of workouts and exercises, and all of them are perfectly valid.
However, it is valuable to reflect on why you exercise in order to better understand where your motivation comes from and how this may affect your training, which in turn may affect your physical and mental health.
The Multiple Regular Exercise Benefits
Everyone talks about the obvious benefits of physical activity, such as increased caloric expenditure, which can help us maintain or achieve a healthy weight, as well as protect against and even treat chronic diseases. We can improve our strength, endurance, muscle size, and other characteristics through various types of physical activity. However, physical activity can improve other measures as well.
Physical Exercise and Work have the following benefits:
- Exercise on a regular basis can have a positive effect on depression, anxiety, and ADHD.
- It also reduces stress, improves memory, improves sleep, and improves your overall mood.
- Lower your risk of heart and lung disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, cancer, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.
- Help people recover from a stroke and many other illnesses and conditions.
- Help you lose weight if you want to, which is good for your overall health and may improve your self-esteem.
- Improved cognitive function and brain health.
- When you exercise, the levels of chemicals in your brain such as serotonin, stress hormones, and endorphins change.
How much exercise do you Need?
Adults should engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity on most or all days of the week, according to Safa Fitness Club certified professional trainers. You can make up 30 minutes by combining shorter 10 to 15 minutes sessions throughout the day. Practicing mindfulness while exercising reduces stress and improves mental health.
If money is an issue, consider local community centers, which frequently offer low-cost exercise classes. If you have private health insurance, you may be able to get assistance with gym membership as part of a mental health care plan.
You may struggle to find or maintain motivation for exercise. Consider how you can incorporate exercise into your daily routine and lifestyle. Choose what is best for you. If you have a dog take them to the local area walk.
Training Motivation
Motivation can be derived from both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic motivation is solely motivated by pleasure. Whatever makes you happy, what happens when you “listen to your heart” or “follow your heart” – this provides intrinsic motivation.
Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, stems from any outside source. Extrinsic motivation comes from wanting to win a prize, make someone else happy, gain strength or muscle, or beat your previous time.
Many people get these terms mixed up and believe that doing something for YOU makes it intrinsic, but this is not true. You can be intrinsically motivated while also doing something for yourself. Intrinsic motivation exists solely for the purpose of pure pleasure. Everything else is extraneous.
According to research, both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can be beneficial in achieving fitness-related goals such as going to the gym and adhering to general diet and exercise guidelines.
Training Types
After considering motivation. Let’s discuss what type of exercises you might be motivated to perform and what has an impact on your mental health.
1. Weight Lifting
Resistance training is widely recognized as the most useful way to increase strength and muscle mass, but it also has other health benefits. One-rep max training has been shown to start reducing anxiety and insomnia, as well as risk factors for falls, fractures, and lifestyle diseases.
2. Cardio
Cardio has the most obvious benefit of improving cardiovascular health, but, like weightlifting, it can also increase brain health and body composition. Given the link between positive psychosocial well-being (e.g., optimism) and heart health, cardio exercise makes sense.
Surprisingly, when it comes to cardio and mental health, it may not matter how far, how often, or how well you run, but rather that you do it at all!
3. Flexibility & Gymnastic
For thousands of years, various forms of movement and balance, such as yoga, tai chi, stretching, walking, and martial arts, have been used to help focus and enter altered states of consciousness.
Some of these advantages have also been proven by research. Yoga, for example, has been shown to improve overall wellness, fatigue, and stress. These types of exercise are frequently performed outside, which can provide additional mental health benefits.
4. Team Activities
In addition to the inherent health benefits of physical activity, team sports, and exercise classes provide socialization and group benefits.
Social support and social relationships can improve psychological and physical well-being by fostering feelings of belonging, purpose, control, and self-esteem.
Recommended Adjustable Training Split for Physical & Mental Fitness
- Day 1: Upper Body Strength
- Day 2: Lower Body Strength
- Day 3: Outdoor Walk
- Day 4: Upper Body Hypertrophy
- Day 5: Lower Body Hypertrophy
- Day 6: Outdoor Run
- Day 7: Group Exercise Class
*Adjust as needed based on how you are feeling each day
Of course, it’s crucial to always remember that we are all unique. The key message is that there are numerous advantages to exercising (improving physical health). Consider your own motivations and advantages so that you can decide what will really help you achieve your goals.
Location: 5th floor Safa Gold mall, College Road, F-7 Markaz, Jinnah Super, Islamabad, 46000, Islamabad, 44000
Contact: 0311-5156949
Website: Safa Fitness Club
Facebook: safafitnessclub
