Why Should I Train Anyways?
Let’s be honest for a second.
We all know we should be exercising.
But do we really know why?
Or is it something we’ve just accepted as knowledge without questioning it?
Because I don’t know about you, but when I was a child, if an adult told me not to do something, for example “Stop throwing raisins from across the room into your sister’s mouth”, then I’d be more likely to want to do it.
But if the adult took the time to explain “Hey, if you keep doing that there’s a good chance your sister will choke and die”, then you better believe I’d find another, non-life-threatening way to keep myself amused.
It’s hard to get motivated if we don’t really understand why we should be doing something.
So, in this blog I want to do exactly that.
I want to inform you, simply and concisely, why you should commit to training a few days a week.
Because trust me, once you really understand the risks of not? You’ll be way more motivated to find your training shoes, and book yourself in for that PT session you’ve been avoiding for months.
Firstly- What Do I Mean When I Say ‘Train’?
We should probably clarify what exactly I’m referring to, before delving into how it’s going to save your life.
Now ‘training’ could mean many, many things.
Anything from jogging, Zumba, to lifting weights would all be considered as such.
And I feel like I should make this quite clear: Any extra movement is good movement.
If you’re taking a brisk, 15-minute walk to work instead of driving? That’s a step in the right direction. If you’re playing footie with your mates at the weekend? That contributes to your health and wellbeing. If the only thing that motivates you to move right now if the local Pole-Fit class? Who am I to tell you otherwise- go and get your exercise on.
But…
As a culture, we’re becoming more and more time-sparse.
That is to say- when we aren’t rushing from meeting to meeting, we’re picking up our kids from school, completing our work reports on the train, or just generally being exhausted from busy working life.
So, it’s probably best that when we do have time to train, we exercise with the methods that have been proven to provide the greatest benefits in the shortest amount of time.
That is intelligent resistance training, and HIIT sessions.
I’ll give you an overview, on the multitude of benefits you’ll be receiving by partaking in each.
(Some of) The Benefits of Resistance Training:
- Increased amount of lean muscle
This decreases your chance of injury, improves your mobility and joint strength, and will ensure you stay mobile and active (especially as you age).
- Decreased body fat percentage
The lower body fat your hold, the lower your chance of various diseases and illnesses (and usually, the higher your self-image and confidence).
- Lower risk of diabetes
Resistance training has been proven to improve your insulin sensitivity and increase your metabolic rate – both factors in avoiding developing diabetes amongst other illnesses.
- Increased bone density
As we age our bones decrease in strength and density- making them more brittle and prone to breaking (hence why older generations can easily break a hip by falling); by resistance training you’re massively reducing this risk.
- Improved posture/ less aches & pains
By resistance training you’ll increase your joint health, and help balance out your body’s structure (for example, people often get sore shoulders and necks due to long hours of desk work, a good resistance training programme can counteract this by strengthening and keeping neck, back shoulder and chest muscle groups mobilised).
- Reduced risk of depression
Exercise helps by releasing ‘happy hormones’- even if you aren’t ‘depressed’, if you’ve had a bad day, go and lift some weights, and watch those stresses fade away.
- Makes you smarter
It’s true- the term ‘meathead’ is dead; exercises and resistance training has been proven to provide a cognitive boost- there’s a reason world powers such as Richard Branson always starts his day with a workout!
(Some of) The Benefits of HIIT:
Firstly, what do I mean by ‘HIIT’?
It stands for High Intensity Interval Training, and it entails performing an exercise intensely for a short period of time, elevating our heart rates, then resting and allowing your heart rate to come back to a certain level, and repeating the process.
This style of training is highly effective due to the heart and lungs working very hard, having a chance to recover, and then working very hard again.
A few benefits of this style of training are:
- Lower risk of cardiovascular disease
HIIT training has been proven to greatly reduce your risk of heart diseases and issues.
- Lower risk of diabetes
(Again, for similar reason to resistance training, so we won’t go over it again)
- Increased metabolic rate
Meaning you’ll burn a greater number of calories whilst you’re sitting down watching re-runs of House of Cards than if you hadn’t had a HIIT session, contributing to…
- Lower body fat Levels
Yes, once again HIIT training boasts a similar benefit to our resistance training, imagine how effective they’ll be when combined.
Plus my favourite benefit of HIIT?
It can be done in as little as 4 minutes.
So tagging a quick HIIT session onto the end of a 20-40-minute resistance workout? now you’re getting the best possible results you can – in the smallest amount of time.
So, just in case you’re not yet convinced that lacing up your trainers and getting to the gym a few times a week is worth it, let’s really drill home the most motivating point of all:
Exercise will reduce the effects of ageing
That’s right ladies and gentlemen we’ve finally figured out the secret to looking young.
I’m going to get just a teeny bit sciencey here- but bear with me, as it all ties in with you ageing like George Clooney/Halle Berry.
Recently, clever, clever scientists discovered that your telomere length (the protein caps on the ends of human chromosomes) were directly linked to ageing and overall health.
The shorter your telomere length, the greater chance you have of ageing poorly, and not making it to a ripe old age.
If your telomere’s are longer however? Then you’re far more likely to age like a fine whiskey or wine, and have improve energy and vitality later on in (your longer) life.
Any guesses as to what might result in you having longer telomeres?
You guessed it- regular exercise.
So, to summarise:
Exercise results in you; having a reduced risk of heart diseases, diabetes and a large number of other less-than pleasant diseases & illnesses, improves your mobility, contributes to having less aches & pains, having lower body fat, more muscle, reduces your risk of depression, improves cognitive function AND you’ll age gracefully and live longer?
Explain to me again why anybody wouldn’t want to exercise?
So what are you waiting for?
As I stated before- any increase in movement is a good thing.
Something as simple as taking the stairs at work every day instead of the lift, or at least a a few floors by stairs if you work in a 10 floor building, will have a positive impact on your health, wellness and weight-loss.
If you’re ready to take it to the next step however, and fully reap the benefits a well-planned personalized training programme…
Book your FREE CONSULTATION* today, and Figr8Fitness will get you started on the right path.