For years now I’ve been saying that it’s very important that you enjoy the exercise you do.
When you enjoy your workout you evoke massive advantages:
– You can put much more power and effort into your training.
– You’re more motivated to keep your workouts consistent and on track
– You’re also far more likely to seek ways to progress how you’re doing the exercise as opposed to just getting through the exercise.
But recently I came across an article suggesting that enjoyable workouts might be linked to greater weight loss. The basic idea was that if someone was working out and perceiving the activity as something to endure then they feel a mental or emotional stress which caused them to seek relief through food or relaxation afterward. However, if they saw it as a form of fun and recreation there is significantly less stress and thus far less desire to reward themselves with food.
I can attest to this in my past. I used to go skiing or riding in conditions that made the activity really tough mentally as well as physically. Afterward it just seemed like I couldn’t get enough to eat and all I wanted to do was sit around and watch movies.
Recently I moved to Colorado and the biking and skiing conditions are much more mild than they were in Vermont. I really do believe this is one of the biggest reasons why I can ride and ski for a much longer period of time yet don’t feel nearly as drained.
Of course I do feel a bit more hungry but it’s nowhere near to the level I did back in Vermont.
So what do you think? Do you feel less beat up or hungry after a workout if you enjoy it more?
