Exercise has been made into something that most people despise, a chore that we feel that we have to do. Gruelling classes which push you to your limit are some people’s idea of heaven and other person’s of hell, but the unfortunate fact is that people feel that they have to exercise to excess, or not at all.
Expecting all people to exercise the same way is akin to expecting us to all listen to the same music. We are all unique and need to move our bodies in different ways and for different reasons. Some people exercise to lose weight, some to gain weight, some to increase their fitness and others just because they like the way it feels or they have a goal to reach (like running a marathon). It doesn’t matter why you exercise, but it needs to be for you, because you want to.
Exercise is important, that is a fact. But you don’t have to force yourself to go to a spinning class or to a boot camp just because you feel under pressure to burn a certain number of calories per session. Exercise is about moving your body and getting your heart rate up, not losing weight necessarily. There are lots of different ways you can exercise and every little helps — research has shown that even a modest increase in exercise can improve mood, improve memory and relieve stress.