By J.D. EDDY, Editorial Editor
Exercising for physical well-being also plays into your mental health. It is an important part of taking care of yourself, and eating right is a major key in that as well.
Working out is something that I have done since I was around 14 years old.
It is something that has been a part of my life for 8 years; I couldn’t imagine not being physically fit.
When I was a freshman in college, I did not play football, and I got extremely lazy. This led to me being a bit overweight, and I developed depression. I barely left my room during this time in my life. My grades suffered, and I had little to no social life.
When I began working out again in the spring of my freshman year, I noticed that my energy increased.
My social life began to come back, compared to how it had been. I got out of my rut, which had put me in a depressed state. And I lost all of the weight I had gained over a three-month span.
Not eating right, not having physical activity and being generally unhealthy lead to constant fatigue and adverse health.
If that is not the case for you, then more power to you. But to me, being active is one of the most important things for one’s health.
I’m not saying that you have to become a bodybuilder or anything like that. All I’m saying is that any physical activity is better than none.
Walking for 30 minutes at a five-degree incline can burn almost 300 calories; no running or weightlifting is involved. This is for anyone who thinks exercise is incredibly difficult. I don’t like to run at all, so instead of that, I walk for cardio.
Now weight training is a little bit different compared to cardio or yoga. Anything along that line is something that does not require as much physical strength.
Weight training is misconstrued as something for meatheads, or people who just lift all the time. For me, it is a way to make myself look as good as possible.
The motivation behind what you are doing really pushes you forward. The thing that pushed me to start lifting on my own was a bad relationship I had. I was cheated on a few years ago. This sense that I needed to be in better shape so that didn’t happen again is what inspired me to go on.
Some people I know have had a girl break their heart or had something negative happen in their family.
Using that anger and pain while channeling it into something productive was healthy for them.
Using intrinsic motivation allows you to get the best kind of gains, knowing that you did it yourself with your own will.
As I said before, working out will help you get the gains you want to see. But eating right is also a major part of seeing some improvements in the weight room.
Exercise is a topic that I know a lot about. When I go home, I train people to try to share some of my knowledge about the subject.
I’m not going to go into a full nutrition plan because it’s different for everyone. Something that works for me might not work for you.
These are just a few of the things I want to point out about fitness. Sure, it is not for everyone. The hardest part is breaking through that mental barrier and making it a habit.
I think physical fitness is one of the most important things for mental and physical health, but being positive in yourself is something that also raises confidence. If you don’t feel as if you need to, that’s perfectly fine. It is all about what works best for you.
