I have been consistently working out for almost 3 years now. I never imagined that lifting weights would not only be my favorite hobby but what guides many of my life decisions. I never thought that lifting weights would make such a difference in my life both physically and mentally. I workout 4-5 times every week where I have a trainer once a week as well in order to improve current movements and learn new movements.
I'm astonished by the benefits of working has on my mental health specifically. Here are some of the many benefits: Increase in confidence, goal planning, discipline / perseverance and developing an open mind.
Confidence:
Prior to working out, I wasn’t very confident and never had the confidence I have today and I believe it is because of the mentality of working out. I was very unfit, lazy and had no motivation to do anything other than gaming. However, after going to the gym I would feel some sort of satisfaction that I was able to do something which is benefitting my overall health. Since then, as I was able to develop my strenght the skills I learnt allowed me to believe in myself more as what I thought I couldn’t do; I was able to do. Because of that, I am not afraid to voice my opinion as I have more confidence in myself.
Goal Planning:
Prior to working out, I never knew the importance of planning as I thought doing everything last minute would work. However, after working out; I understood that in order to make progress and achieve something; some sort of planning is required. For instance, my goal in the past few months was to work toward breaking new personal records such as dumbell pressing with the heaviest weight in the gym. But for me to get there, I had to track my progress; remember how heavy I went the prior week and make a plan to slowly and steadily reach my goal. (Which I currently almost reached!).Moreover, I was able to use this goal driven mindset to help my plan my school work; by organizing what day I want to achieve what and setting small goals in order to achieve a bigger goal.
Discipline / Perseverance: These two things have played the biggest role in both my physical strength and mental well being. I started working out in hopes to be and look healthier, stronger and leaner. After working out I was able to see the importance of consistency as I have seen so many people start working out but was never able to keep the motivation. Luckily, for me I was able to find ways to ensure that I continue to keep my discipline and persevere even though as the weight increases and the movements gets harder that I have a clear mindset and work smart in order to reach the goal. When it comes to working out, having a strict diet and following it (having the discipline) allowed me to transfer the discipline into my work ethic which has been constantly quite good in the past few years. Physically, currently I am at the best shape of my life which has taken hundreds and even hours of work but I believe every minute put into working out has benefited me to become a stronger person both physically and mentally.
Open mind: After lifting weights, I was able to develop an open mind as before I would be quite close minded and was not aware how many different ways to accomplish a goal or task. In context, after exploring the different workouts I was able to realize how they are so many ways to work out a body part but it really just depends on the person and what works the best for them. That mindset has allowed me to develop my math skills as I was able to understand that I approach maths in a different way compared to others; however prior to this I would be shy and thought I was bad at math. But after working out, I was able to understand that a different approach is not necessarily a bad approach which allowed me to have a healthier mental well being.
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