Many people don’t like to exercise. I know some friends who think exercising is conforming to society. In fact, you do not need to conform to society or become a stick with two eyes when you exercise.
The best way to exercise is to enjoy it. The reason I exercise is to be healthy. What does being healthy mean? It means you’re able to move better and have more energy in life. Your happiness increases because exercise raises chemicals like serotonin and dopamine in your body. Exercise improves your overall mental health and helps alleviate or prevent diseases.
Another reason people don’t exercise is that they think it’s hard and they have better things to do. Exercise does not need to be hard. You only need thirty minutes and an activity you enjoy which you can sustain for your whole life. Pick an exercise you like and you will stick with it and have fun with it. There are also trainers or coaches who will help you if you have trouble. They are trained to make exercise easier for you. Use them.
What are bad attitudes in exercising?
I know many people who exercise to be thin. It’s okay to want to have a great body, but it’s not okay to starve yourself and exercise to the point of being obsessed with it. This can cause eating disorders and stress, which will in turn affect your body negatively. Excessive exercise may also cause injuries and eventually your daily gym routines will become a source of mental stress, causing you unhappiness. You do not have to spend six hours in the gym unless you’re thinking of becoming a Youtube trainer or your job is exercising.
Another point to consider is time. Many people say they do not have time to exercise. But do you have time moping around and complaining how out of shape you are? Do you have time to watch TV like a zombie for 24 hours and not get up? Do you have time working in a shit job for twenty years and then getting cancer? Do you have time scrolling through social media for hours and hours?
A lot of people think exercises need to be intense and take a long time. Even as a person who has exercised for a long time, I still have this idea that exercise needs to be this whole big thing to work. One hour of intense exercise which means no stopping for more than 5minutes will take you further than three hours of exercise which will cause your body to get bored.
Actually, only 30 minutes of intense exercise is great.
If you haven’t built your cardio yet, this might be impossible so I suggest walking first. Just walk for thirty minutes a day to get your body moving. If you want to increase the intensity, then try jogging after you’re used to walking. After jogging for a while, you can increase the intensity and go on to running. If you don’t like jogging you can pick other exercises and do them for thirty minutes:
- Jump roping
- hula hooping
- swimming
- vacuum cleaning
- Take your pick
Trust me, it will be worth it.
Points to remember when exercising:
- I exercise because I want to be healthy
- I exercise because I love my body and want to maintain it
- I do not have to conform to a certain size. When I exercise, I only want to have a healthy weight that I am comfortable with.
- I will only exercise when I am choosing to, no one is forcing me to exercise.
- I can take a rest day when I am tired.
- Exercising may be tough for me, but I will reap great benefits afterward
- Exercising will improve my mental and physical health
- Society does not force me to exercise, I choose what I want to do when I exercise, and I choose the types of exercises that make me happy.
- I make time for my health and take care of my body, the place I live in.
Now, let’s get off your couch and start doing it!
About me: My journey with exercise started out with going to the gym. After I got bored of it I learned salsa, pole dancing, belly dancing, ballet, and contemporary dance. I was dancing for around three to six years, when I got bored again and then started doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and boxing.
All the transitions of exercise help develop my confidence and helped me work my body in ways I never imagined I could. It has been such a wonderful experience and I will tell you more about what I learned in each class.
