Last week we reviewed the crucial role exercise plays in our life beyond the gym and how we utilize the skills in the gym (squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling, core work and carrying) into movement and our everyday life.
Exercise elevates our quality of life beyond building strength by positively influencing our mental health, emotional well-being, social connections, and our cognitive function. Exercise is a holistic practice we can use to enrich our lives.
How can we look to exercise and physical activity to improve our life beyond the function of being strong?
If you participate in exercise or physical activity…
You will reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and be able to regulate your mood better.
Have you ever left the gym after a session where you had to focus, work hard, increase your heart rate, sweat a lot, and thought afterward, “I feel worse than when I arrived?” Unless burpees were involved, it’s unlikely.
You likely felt more clear-headed and relaxed afterward.
Contradicting what you might believe – you will also feel more energized, not just for the hour after you exercised, but for the rest of your day. Exercise does not drain your energy, it super-charges it.
Because of the enhanced energy you benefit from exercise, your sleep will be better regulated and you’ll enjoy more deep sleep, reducing symptoms of insomnia, and you’ll maintain a regular sleep cycle. Improving your sleep is the greatest supplement in your arsenal to drive performance and it’s free.
Boosting your cognitive function is one more non-strength-based bonus from exercise. Better short and long-term memory, focus, and the ability to be mentally sharp and quick-witted is an outcome of your physical activity. Dad and dirty jokes galore!
Participating in an exercise regimen provides you a sense of accomplishment, increases your self-esteem, develops a greater sense of meaningfulness and purposefulness, strengthening your resiliency or anti-fragility, and when done in a small group training format builds a support system within a community and you develop a sense of belonging.
This sense of belonging and community support that comes from small group training programs, and many other physical activities outside of a gym like pickleball, soccer, field or ice hockey recreational leagues, and jiu jitsu adds another layer to your well-being by reducing sensations of loneliness or isolation (especially critical post-pandemic) and creates a third place (home, work, 3rd place) to connect with like-minded people, developing relationships and friendships that make us feel happier.
We can talk about moving well, improving our mobility and strength and how that’s beneficial to our long-term health.
Above and beyond the benefits of getting strong through exercise and improving our cardiovascular system through physical activity, we want to reinforce an amazing life that is balanced in strength and our greatest well-being.