Monday, August 5, 2013

3 Reasons to LOVE Your Workout: Confessions of a Fitness Addict

I sometimes get strange stares when I tell people I love to workout. But it's true! I look forward to that time of day when I can step away from everything else and just concentrate on my body. I have truly become an addict. I get cranky when I miss a workout and my day somehow feels incomplete. I absolutely love the feeling I get from working out.
You, too can love your workout. The longer you stick with it, the more engrained it will be in your habits and the more results you'll see. Even in 6 weeks, the results can be dramatic.
What are 3 things you can love about your workout?
1-Relieves stress
Exercise lowers cortisol, a stress hormone. You can take what could be a negative emotion like anger, frustration or anger and use it as fuel for your workout. You can successfully redirect that negative emotion into a positive outcome.
Exercise is also a great distraction to get your mind off problems and put you in a better state to be able to deal with them. If nothing else, it can get you out of the four walls you normally stare at, giving you a fresh perspective.
That deep breath and sense of calm you get while doing cardio is hard to replace with anything else. Everything feels clear - your lungs, your skin, your thoughts. It's a great time to think as you're pounding away the miles.
2-Feels great
Have you ever heard anyone say, "Man, I sure do regret that I worked out today." Probably not! But you most likely have heard someone talk about how proud she was that she DID workout today or three times this week.
It just plain feels good to workout. Exercise increases endorphins which are your body's "feel-good" chemicals. There is often a feeling of euphoria with working out; a "high." Who can't use some of that? There is a sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with it. It's what keeps people coming back time after time... and the fact that they like the way their clothes are fitting and the positive comments they are receiving from people who are noticing a change in them.
Besides, when else do you get to listen to obnoxiously loud music in the middle of the day? Playlists make great workout buddies. You can adjust your music to the type of activity you're doing, the speed at which you want to do it and your overall mood or the mood you want to have. Music is a great pick-me-up. At the end of a workout, not only will you feel good from the workout, but from the music as well.
3-See progress & succeed at something
When you work out consistently, you will see progress. You'll see progress towards your goals whether that be fat loss or muscle gain. You'll also notice that you can do things today that you couldn't do last month. You'll notice you can go longer, faster and at a higher resistance doing cardio and that it becomes easier. Maybe last week you couldn't walk on the treadmill and carry on a conversation without being winded but now you can talk with ease. Maybe you started out doing a chest press with 10 pounds and now you use 20. Progress means success. And we all like the feeling of success. If you succeed in one area, it gives you confidence to succeed in another.
Did anything of those sound familiar? You've probably heard or experienced some or all of these things already.
And here's a bonus reason to love your workout:
When you workout, it gives you added incentive to stay on your meal plan. If you go to the gym an hour a day, there are still twenty three hours in a day to screw up your results. Who wants to work that hard in the gym just to blow it with her diet? Working out regularly adds some incentive to eat right.


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