As a Personal Trainer and Lifestyle Coach, I’ve worked with so many clients over the years whose goals vary from weight loss to stress management to six packs and everywhere in between.
Once they made a decision to commit to exercise, they found there was an added benefit: achieving goals in the gym or working out with a team or trainer helped them to achieve goals outside the gym: in their relationships; while job seeking and in their career. They quickly learned the importance of exercise as a tool to help them achieve physical, mental and emotional confidence and strength.
Here are just some of the ways exercise can boost your confidence outside the gym.
It helps you fight off colds: exercise enhances your immune system, helping to reduce infection. Maintaining your exercise habit and health consistently therefore allows you to get more out of life.
It’s a mood & brain booster: hello endorphins! These feel-good hormones are produced during physical activity. Stressed out? Can’t seem to find a solution to that problem? Lacking confidence or motivation? Get some exercise for 20 minutes and come back to the problem. The hormones released will change your chemistry and literally boost your brainpower! Physical exercise has also been found to be as effective, or more effective, than medication for mild depression.
It helps us form social bonds: research shows that people who have close relationships live longer happier lives. Taking those trips to the gym, your Pilates class, your sports club, cycling group, swimming team or walking around the park with a friend all provide positive environments for socialising and sharing!
It provides a platform to network without the pressure: you would be surprised to find out how many self starters, start up business professionals and captains of industries (large & small) attend to regular exercise and team sport to inject their daily routine with a dose of healthy lifestyle and balance for their mind. Sports connect people and create relationships without the typical work pressures.
It provides a sense of achievement: sometimes we don’t feel in control of our lives, whether we are out of work, in a job we don’t like or having problems in a relationship. Exercise allows us to achieve goals and overcome obstacles regardless of what is happening in other areas of your life. Increasing the time you can jog on the treadmill, lifting a personal best or finally touching your toes, practicing with your team for the next sports carnival – nothing beats a sense of achievement for confidence.
It can help you look good: exercise improves our appearance, not just by toning up and reducing body fat, but also by improving our posture. When we walk tall, we radiate and we send an unspoken message to others saying, “I feel good about myself”. Being in touch with your body and enjoying it for what it can achieve as well as how it looks is key to self-esteem.
You can see there are many benefits to exercise. We can often get caught up in what is the right type (cardio, weights, Pilates, …), how long should I do it for, what is the perfect time, alone or with a team… Forget the details! It’s all good! For boosting confidence all you have to do is MOVE!
So give it a try – literally ANYTIME!
Melony
