Why workout?

Deadlifts are quite possibly my favorite.

Seriously, why workout? I workout for a number of reasons.  I truly do.  I really, truly don’t workout just to have a nice body.  That being said, a nice body is probably the biggest reason.  Is it vanity?  Hmm… To answer that, lets first define vanity.  Vanity is excessive pride in one’s appearance.  Do I have excessive pride in my appearance?  Definitely not.  It’s more like I’ve wrapped up a significant portion of my self-worth in my ability to take care of myself, and to appear put together.  I suppose, I feel a need to always present myself as a healthy, put together mother, wife, and woman.  While I, like most women want to look my best, the idea of looking completely out of shape actually terrifies me.

Luckily for me, another reason I workout is for pleasure, stress-relief, and relaxation.  I get my boys all settled first.  I do not like to be interrupted while I’m working out.  That is the worst.  If I’m working out at night, I’ll wait until I get them in bed.  If it’s daytime, I’ll set them up with an activity they enjoy.  I have this great workout space I set up in my den.  It’s a pretty outstanding home gym.  It’s my space.  My woman cave.  I go in there and turn on my Pandora.  I block everything out, and I begin my workout.  It’s like I leave the world behind for the duration of my workout.  When I’m doing weights, it’s just me and the iron.  When I’m boxing, it’s me, the gloves, the bag, and the sound of the gloves hitting the bag.  Same thing with the treadmill.  It’s me, the treadmill, and the sound of my feet hitting the belt.  When, I do yoga, it’s me, the soft melodious music, and the movement.

I workout to have energy through my day, and restful sleep through my night.  The boost in energy is amazing.  It seems a little backwards that something that takes so much energy to do actually gives you more energy, but it’s true.  A good workout leaves me feeling, motivated, pumped up, and energized. If I have a lazy day, two things happen.  I feel more and more fatigued as the day goes on.  Then, I can’t sleep at night.  It’s like if I don’t get up and get moving during the day, my body’s natural clock gets confused.   My brain becomes unsure when it should rest, and it decides to work overtime all through the night.  It makes for a long restless night.  You can see how this can become a very vicious cycle!  After a sleepless night, you don’t exactly wake up feeling energized and ready to workout.  The longer you let this vicious cycle go, the harder it becomes to break.

While I’m slightly embarrassed posting this to my blog, I workout because it’s great for my sex life.  I’m definitely not going to get very detailed and personal here.  Here’s what I’ll say–  If you workout, you tend to have a stronger sex drive.  You have the energy to “participate” longer. The muscles in that area tend to be a little tighter/stronger.  Also because fit people tend to have greater strength and flexibility, you can be a little more adventurous with…hmm… well, positions.

I’ve only recently started to really care about how working out benefits my body long-term.  I turned 30 last summer, and I think it started to hit me the that I’m only going to get older.   This is the only body I get, and it’s not going to get any younger.  I’ve started noticing the diseases and injuries that have become more common in the generation ahead of mine, and there are things I really don’t want to experience.  Things like heart health, and bone-density actually matter to me now.  I want to have quality of life as I age.

There are so many reasons I workout.  It’s become a constant, positive thing for me.  It’s addictive.  I feel so good physically and emotionally when I workout.  Just imagining what my life would be like without working out puts a horrible image in my mind.  Starting a regular workout routine was one of the best things I ever did for myself.

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Fit girl, wife, mother, homemaker – time management