I
was recently told by a rather unpleasant individual that only people with
issues went to the gym to work out.
The
chap claimed that going to the gym was an utter waste of time as all people
wanted to do there was to ‘buff- up’, become ‘more muscular’ and, thus,
eradicate their insecurity by making those around feel more insignificant and
insecure.
He
further said that he would much rather sit down and read a book as that, he
claimed, would, at least, be intellectually stimulating and would enhance his
brain activity.
Well,
judging by the above, reading books has not worked out very well for the said
person as his brain activity seems to have somehow deteriorated.
Leaving aside the warped and somewhat infantile reasoning above, I would now like to briefly
note the benefits of working out and going to the gym.
Yes,
apparently I am a person with some serious issues and rather severe mental
scaring, mainly because I have been working- out for almost six months now.
Let
us, then, examine, from a purely common- sense point of view, why working out
works out:
It teaches how to be disciplined
I
go to the gym three times a week; usually at 21:30 on Monday, Wednesday and
Friday.
In
the beginning, it was rather difficult to stick to that routine because of the
myriad of issues that I had (ha!).
I did not, at the time, enjoy going to the
gym when it was pouring outside.
In
time, however, I got used to it and got into a frame of mind that going to the
gym at the exact time, on the exact day was the normal thing to do.
It teaches you how to
set realistic goals
The
above is of immense importance.
It is quite true that anything is possible;
however, it is equally true that some things are better left for a later stage.
For
instance, everyone wants to start doing bench- press with 1.5 times his own
bodyweight but it will, in most cases, take at least a year before he can do
that.
Further,
the only way to do so is to systematically increase the weight so that your
body can get used to the routine.
You
can apply the above strategy to pretty much everything you do in your everyday
life.
It teaches you how to
be patient
Being
patient can be incredibly difficult sometimes (especially for me; patience is
definitely not one of my best virtues...).
Knowing
that you are working towards a greater goal, however, helps you become more
composed and realise that patience is, sometimes, the only way around.
It teaches you how to
appreciate other people’s efforts
When
you first walk in to the gym, you often see guys who are having quite a tough
time in, say, doing squats with 100kg.
You
smile, maybe even laugh, and walk past them.
You
then come out of the dressing room and try to do a squat yourself...with 30kg.
You
put down the weights, look around for a second, and, rather ashamed, nod in
appreciation to all the people around you, acknowledging their efforts.
It
helps you improve your brain activity
No
science here; I shall adopt a simple logical approach.
Working
out:
- relieves your stress
- helps you become healthier
- helps you become stronger
- helps you become more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes
- helps you feel useful
- helps you take your mind off any problems/ hurdles that you might have
- helps you realise that anything is possible and that you can do it if you try hard enough
Healthy
body, healthy mind. If working out does all of the above, it leaves your brain
in a relaxed state of mind (as it is no longer thinking of solutions to any of
the above) which, in turn, helps you think more clearly and logically.
To
sum up, working out DOES work out and helps you become a better and more efficient
person.
And,
trust me, you needn’t have that many issues to start working out...
No comments:
Post a Comment