People Exercising in Gymnasium — Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis
Intense training at the gym or at home is a great way to improve your body. It’s hard work and you’ll sweat a lot, but it’s better for relaxation than lying on the couch doing nothing.
Higher levels of practice offer countless benefits for your nervous system and state of mind.
First, we need to define what intense training is and what we mean by relaxation.
How Intense Is Your Training?
By intense workout we mean 30 minutes to an hour of serious workout time. This could mean running through a sprawling hilly environment or a weightlifting session at the gym. Whatever you do, you have to sweat and your muscles have to really feel it.
This doesn’t mean pushing yourself as far as you can. That is, push yourself so that you are tired but not exhausted.
Relaxation
Relaxation is a long term thing, otherwise being lazy would achieve the same thing without effort. It’s about your overall well-being. A person who is obese will find his daily life difficult and the opposite of relaxing because his body is not suited for being active. You have to look at the big picture.
We Are Designed to Move
Every human being is genetically programmed to move, run and jump. We’re designed to be active, so it’s no surprise that healthy people are happier. Whenever we engage in intense exercise, we receive a rush of endorphins in our brains. The melatonin level in our body rises and we feel energized. You don’t get this from sedentary activities.
Relaxation is not about feeling dead. It’s about releasing tension and feeling energized and ready to go.
In the long term our biological makeup begins to benefit from regular, intense exercise. We feel confident in our abilities and less stressed when we let off steam at the start or end of each day. By moving we become more flexible and less hunched over. This alone relaxes you. Sitting down to watch TV does nothing.
Get Rid of Thoughts
The source of many of our problems comes from what is in the mind. We create many of our own problems. As simple as that. We create fear, anxiety, stress and all the other negative emotions associated with stressed humans. Practice involves nothing mentally. You need to know what to do, but it’s in the body.
Maybe for the one time in your day you actually disconnect your mind from everything and let your body take over. It’s amazing how different you feel by taking it.
What’s Wrong With Light Exercise?
Moderate exercise does not kill the mind. You can jog down the street and still think about your day. You are not relaxed because you are still concentrating on the things that are stressing you out.
Intense workouts force you to concentrate on everything from your breathing to how you pump your arms and legs. This is why moderate exercise should never act as a substitute.
