5 reasons to stay motivated with your workout plan
If you could do just one thing to help you avoid holiday weight gain, boost your energy, protect your immune system, improve your sleep, and leave you feeling happier, would you do it? We thought so. After all, who wouldn’t, especially during this busy season? Well, that one thing is regular exercise. A mere 30 minutes of activity delivers all these benefits of exercise, and more. So, as the holidays approach, here are five reasons to stay motivated and on track with your Curves full body workout plan.
1. Avoid holiday weight gain.
You already know that your Curves whole body workout burns calories and helps build metabolism-boosting muscle, but did you know those benefits of exercise last long after you walk out the Curves front door? Even after you stop exercising, your body keeps working and burning calories as it restores itself to its pre-exercise state.
And here’s a bonus: After-burn gets a boost with high-intensity interval training or HIIT. As little as 30 seconds of high intensity exercise (at 80 to 95 percent of maximum heart rate) performed at intervals throughout a full body workout will do the trick. If you are working hard during each interval during your Curves workout – congrats! – you are already doing HIIT. So be sure to make each 30 seconds count. Go for the burn and the after-burn at Curves three or four times a week and you’ll be more likely to stave off those extra holiday pounds.
2. Get an energy boost.
When your busy life wears you down, sure, you’d rather lie down on the couch than exert yourself with a Curves workout. But remember: regular physical activity gives back more energy than it takes. Researches at the University of Georgia1 examined 70 studies involving a total of 6,702 men and women and found that in 90 percent of those studies, sedentary people who took up and completed an exercise program reported feeling more energetic and less tired than those who remained inactive. Why? The researchers think it’s because exercise increases the production of the feel-good brain chemicals dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, which boost energy and mood. Got a lot on your to-do list? (Who doesn’t). Engaging in your Curves full body workout three or four times a week will give you the fuel you need to get everything accomplished—with energy to spare!
3. Bolster your immunity.
Getting sick can really slow you down and put a damper on your festivity and joy. To avoid sickness, stay committed to your whole-body workout routine. Research2 shows that regular physical activity a few times a week helps strengthen your immune response. More specifically:
- Exercise may help flush cold-causing bacteria out of your lungs
- Engaging in a regular workout plan like the Curves workout may speed the delivery of antibodies and white blood cells throughout your body for a pre-emptive strike on invading bacteria and viruses.
- Faster blood circulation may prompt the release of hormones that signal to your immune cells that germs are approaching.
- As you exercise, your body temperature rises, which may inhibit the growth of bacteria as a fever does when you are ill.
- Performing a regular full body workout helps lower circulating stress hormones, which can put your body at a higher risk of getting sick.
4. Sleep tight.
Women and men who report regular physical activity enjoy significantly better quality sleep and more alertness during the day than those who are less active, says the National Sleep Foundation.3 And when you get a good night’s sleep, you are less likely to put on extra pounds. Researches at the University of Helsinki in Finland 4 studied the sleep habits of more than 7,000 adults age 40 to 60 over seven years. They found that among the women who frequently reported poor sleep, one in three gained 11 pounds or more during those seven years compared with only one in five who said they regularly got a good night’s sleep.
5. Be merry.
For years, doctors and psychologists have prescribed regular physical activity to help prevent and alleviate depression. Fitness and mental health are linked in that exercise stimulates the production of the mood-lifting brain chemicals dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, and can lower levels of stress hormones. In a study done at Karolinksa Institute in Sweden 5, researchers discovered that exercise prompts muscle to produce an enzyme that cleanses the bloodstream of substances that accumulate during stress and may harm the brains of mice. Whether or not this holds true for humans is still to be determined, however.
Body chemistry aside, regularly engaging in a whole body workout gives you a sense of accomplishment, strengthens you mentally and physically, and boosts your confidence and self-esteem, all of which make you happier. Add to that better weight control, more energy, fewer illnesses and a good night’s sleep, and a very happy holiday can be yours for only 30 minutes a day.
Now that you know some of these additional benefits of exercise, what are you waiting for? Find your nearest Curves Gym and begin your fitness journey today!
Sources:
- Regular Exercise Plays A Consistent And Significant Role In Reducing Fatigue
- Exercise and immunity
- 2013 Exercise and Sleep
- Sleep and obesity
- Can Exercise Protect Your Brain From Depression?
