You might think that exercise is just a way to keep our body in shape or lose weight, but that’s not actually true. There can be a lot of hidden benefits that you may not be aware of. To understand this, we need to look at the advantages of a certain type of exercise and even different sports. There is a huge variety of ways to workout your body and each choice you make can include unique benefits. Let’s look at a few so we can see just how powerful exercising can be for reshaping your body and your mind.
Yoga
A lot of people have become interested in yoga recently as it has become popular in the mainstream media and Hollywood. Often described as a blend of meditation and exercise, yoga is beneficial for both the body and the mind. But why is this?
An important part of yoga is to make sure that you are controlling your breathing through exercises. By doing this, you are controlling how and in what form your brain receives oxygen. As such, you can ensure that your brain receives high pushes of oxygen and this gives people a sense of clarity that is often associated with the practice of both yoga and meditation. This is why yoga is often popular with individuals who are seeking enlightenment or even those who just wish to control their level of stress.
Research studies have shown that yoga will reduce levels of stress that people feel substantial if they practice the exercise almost every day.
Fighting
Taekwondo, Judo, MMA, Karate and wrestling are all different types of fighting sports and to train you need to learn various exercises and techniques. Many people are interested in fighting sports like this due to a desire to be able to defend themselves. It does give someone a certain level of security to know that if they are cornered in a dark alleyway, that they could escape and beat their opponent.
There’s also the benefit that, most of these sports don’t require you to be the strongest or largest fighter to win. In many cases, it’s about perfecting your technique and using their weight against them. As such, these are sports that anyone can learn.
But there are other benefits of these sports as well. A Taekwondo trainer won’t just teach you how to fight. They will teach you how to be courteous to your opponents and respect those around you. That is one of the most important aspects of this art.
As for wrestling, you will learn to be able to take a hit and keep fighting. Mentally, this may prepare you to fight back in other circumstances in life from a dispute at work to pursuing your dreams after you have been knocked down. It teaches you that you are strong enough to endure.
Other forms of fighting do allow you to perfect your physique but also your stance and posture. For many martial arts, it’s crucial to begin in a perfectly upright position with the right stance before moving into the fight.
Team Sports
Team sports are a great way to work up some sweat and burn those calories. If you are engaged in the activities of the game, you will be running around the pitch dropping those pounds by the minute. But, it’s not just about getting a good workout. Team-based skills have other benefits as well.
Many people think that colleges seek out football players, soccer players and other athletes because of the level of achievement they could bring as a student. While this may be partially true, schools are also keen to recruit these players because of leadership skills and the proven ability to work well as a team. Indeed, experience on a sports team may one day give you the skill that a future employer is searching for.
Running, Swimming And Cycling For Gold
Of course, sometimes we’re competing in sports against everyone else. We want to win. We push ourselves forward, drive ourselves to reach the finish line first. Aside from the glory of being a champion, this type of sports activity teaches us that we can reach our goals both on the field or track and in our lives. You might, for instance, decide to run a marathon. You shouldn’t do this because it will burn calories because training for a marathon will take care of that. Run the race because once you have finished it and endured those miles, you will feel like you can accomplish anything.
You see, there are plenty of advantages to sports beyond losing weight and getting in shape. They are a fundamental part of society that we should embrace to better ourselves.
