How Do You Benefit from Physical Fitness?

“Physical Fitness is the basis for all other forms of excellence.” – John Fitzgerald Kennedy

There is a lot of truth in this quote by former president John F. Kennedy.  When you make a commitment to personal physical fitness, all aspects of your life improve.  This may sound a bit extreme, but to me, a person cannot achieve excellence in life without dedicating himself or herself to physical fitness.  When you commit to fit, you learn discipline, the value of hard work, self-improvement, the value of achieving goals, and so much more.

You begin to take control of your life by taking control of your body.  In this crazy and ever-changing world, your body is still one of the things that you have complete control over.  You can choose to be fit or sloppy, active or lazy, productive or not.  The choice is yours.

Let’s look at some of the benefits of a physically fit life…

More Energy – There’s no doubt that those who do some sort of physical activity at least a few times per week, whether walking to work or running 5 miles before work, have higher overall energy levels than those who don’t.  To the couch-potato, this sounds counter-intuitive, but if you try it, you’ll see what I mean.

Discipline – When you commit to workout out 3-5 times per week, you schedule those workouts like you would any other meeting or commitment.  You stick to your schedule and you complete your workouts.  Like anything else, this is the development of a new habit, which requires focus and discipline.  Learning this discipline will translate into all other aspects of your life.

Time-Management – When you take a half hour or an hour a day to workout, you’re automatically forced to use the rest of your day more efficiently.  You’ll waste less time throughout the day, you’ll want to make sure you get proper sleep, you won’t sit on the couch and watch television as much, etc.

Healthy Eating – When regular physical fitness is a part of your life, you will want to eat healthier food.  You’ll want that high from workout out to last all day, and you do this by treating your body well throughout the day, not just for the time that you’re working out.

Decreased Healthcare Costs – Don’t worry – this isn’t a political post!  All I’m saying here is that when you’re physically fit and take care of yourself, you will have fewer health issues, you’ll get sick less, you won’t go to the doctor as much, you won’t be on as many, if any, medications.  You get the point.  Invest in yourself, not in your physician’s retirement plan.

Fit Friends – When you start getting active, you’ll engage with so many interesting and like-minded people.  You’ll meet people at the gym, on the running trail, or in your office who share the same values as you.  You’ll get together with these people for workouts or social situations and you naturally feed off each others’ energy.  You become who you surround yourself with, right?

These are just some of the many benefits you will gain when you commit yourself to a life of physical fitness.  What’s that you say?  You don’t have time?  OK, let’s stick with the presidential theme that we started this post with.  JFK was arguably the first modern president who advocated physical fitness.  In recent years, U.S. presidents have been extremely dedicated to their physical fitness – George Bush, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, George W. Bush, and now Barack Obama.  Do you really think you’re busier than the president of the United States?

What are your biggest benefits of an active lifestyle?