Exercise And Dieting Guide For People Who Rarely Move From Their PCs - Step 7

How to start your journey with exercises and find the right activity for yourself.

Those posts are fragments from my book “Short Practical Guide to Mental Health“, therefore they're, exceptionally, behind the paywall. You can purchase the book here.

Photo by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash

“Action isn’t just the effect of motivation; it’s also the cause of it.” — Mark Manson

I fell in love with the gym when I was in high school. The concept of changing the shape of your body through hard labor is still very appealing to me even now, when I'm not such a gym freak as I used to be. But I stay in shape, and I hope to continue this passion to the end of my days. 

The journey of building your body is an incredible experience that brings insane amounts of satisfaction once you see the first results. The vision of lifting iron might not be very encouraging right now, but once you start seeing progress, you may find yourself eagerly planning your next visit to the gym. The journey can also help you shift your mindset. Seeing yourself getting stronger and bigger, carving your body, getting compliments on how you changed - all those things may make you feel that you can do more than you ever imagined. 

However, if you are starting with little or no background in physical activity, it's wise to begin with small, manageable steps. Physical activity is well known and scientifically proven to boost your mood - that's a fact. And it’s not necessary that you run a marathon every day, just move your body and get your heart pumping.

The phrase "go run or something", while being the object of jokes and memes, actually makes much more sense than you might have thought. Obviously, I'm not saying that all your problems will vanish after you sweat on the treadmill for an hour, but physical activity is a must-have in your "fight feeling down" inventory. 

Want to try out bodybuilding? Go for it, a great journey awaits. If you decide to give it a try, remember about performing exercises correctly, you want to improve your health, not get an injury. It would be best if you could start with a personal trainer.

But if that's not your thing, don't worry; there are plenty of other ways to get active. Just engage in an activity that gets your heart pumping; you don’t need to run a few miles every day. The more energy you spend, the more energy you will have the next day. 

If you haven't had much experience with physical activity, it's not only good to start small, but to try out different things first. Think back to your school days. Did you enjoy playing any sports? Try to recall only the act of playing the sport itself, without connecting it to the school. Would you enjoy playing this sport with people with whom you feel comfortable with? Or perhaps you had thoughts about trying something new, but never took the leap? Now is the perfect time to give it a shot. Head out for a quick run. You don’t feel like running? Take a long, refreshing walk. 

I find walks to be a pleasant break from daily life. You don’t have to focus on anything, you just walk. You can listen to music or audiobooks and relax. For the best visual experience, go out in the morning when the sun rises or in the evening when it’s going down. 

But what if the possibility of performing exercises in your own home is a necessary factor for you? No problem! Even now,