There’s nothing like a good workout to make you feel better. Indeed, it is well documented what exercise does for the body as well as the brain. In addition to all the physical health benefits, there is one important mental benefit keeping active provides: confidence. When we push our own mental limits and physical barriers, we seek to push through other aspects in our lives. What happens when we get too confident though?
Before I offer my insight to that question, it is important to understand what exercise does. When you work your body to its limits, you grow. Doing twenty push-ups a day isn’t what works your muscles; the last repetitions where you slow down and struggle is what works your muscles. This is when microscopic damage is done to your muscles. While this sounds bad, it is actually how your body responds in order to grow. Once your body is aware of the damage, your affected muscle cells go through a fusion process to form new muscle strands that are thicker. This is to withstand future damage. Thicker muscles need more oxygen though. The more you workout, the more your body learns to use oxygen efficiently. While at first your breathing is heavy, time teaches your body how to breathe during activity to optimize oxygen dispersion. As a result, all cells in your body receive higher amounts of oxygen. This is how exercise benefits you. Higher levels of oxygen are nutrition for your cells. Therefore, all your systems benefit. Your immune system is stronger; your blood pressure is lowered, your skin heals faster and of course, your brain functions properly. In particular, cell growth in the brain is increased. This allows for better memory storage and learning retention. In addition, your hormones become regulated. This explains how working out gives you a better attitude for the rest of the day. How often do we partake in this health regulator though? It seems our lifestyles now have changed that.
The more technology makes our lives convenient, the lazier we are. Before the industrial revolution, we did everything by hand, from scratch. Fast forward to today, where machines do most of these labour intensive and time consuming tasks. As a result, we have more time to ourselves to relax. Relaxation is important, as we live in a demanding, stressful, western society. However, it is just as important to exercise; to exercise properly. There are those who strongly believe that life must be devoted to fitness. Unfortunately, these people are also extreme narcissists. This makes it harder for those of us trying to maintain or lose weight in a balanced fashion, since we are openly judged by them. It is exactly this attitude that turns me away from the whole thing. Why is it that a person devoted to kids, or devoted to cars can be an insightful teacher, yet a person devoted to fitness is so arrogant and narcissistic?
Perhaps the answer is a lot simpler than we think. I propose that it’s due to all the confidence that grows with a person on their limit-pushing journey. Working to become stronger physically also helps you to become stronger mentally. This connection fosters self-confidence, a great side effect of exercise. However, this confidence becomes bloated among fitness devotees it seems. Operating in your own little world of working out makes you forget about the real world; about real people. This is simply childish selfishness. Maybe it is time to work out on toning your attitude down.
We live in a society of judgement. Even when we try to better our bodies as well as ourselves with some healthy exercise, we are still looked down upon. Enjoy exercise in your own way, and don’t let those fitness Nazis tell you otherwise. You know what your body likes, and what your body needs. It seems that the fitter these devotees get, the fatter their ego gets.
