Good reasons to exercise [closed]

Question

I'm in high school.

I want to get better at gymnastics because I'm jealous of a kid in my class. So far I've made solid gymnastics-wise progress for ~5 weeks.

I wanted to run a 1500 in ~5 minutes becuase it was something most of my friends couldn't do. I joined the athletics club and got injured ~

Lots of people want to exercise to get bigger muscles, lose weight, six-pack abs popping, impress their friends, impress girls/boys, etc.

Something in me tells me this is stupid and unsustainable, that this is silly and will end badly. If these reasons weren't mine, I would laugh. It's really unglamorous when it's boiled down. Since I don't know how to phrase this, this voicing of insecurities, into a question, I will end with

thoughts, anyone? What's a good reason to want to exercise?

Ps. Please add good tags.

EDIT: What are some good motives to exercise. Looking big and beating your classmates, I know they are not good reasons.

Answer 1

Here are some reasons I go to the gym and am also working on starting to run regularly:

1. Well being. From my experience, and with several studies backing this up, in general you feel better. Having a goal like yours of getting faster and working towards it and eventually achieving that goal gives you a big sense of purpose in life. Not only this, but at some point in Intense excercise endorphins/dopamine (I am mixing these up I know it) get released in the brain and give a feeling of what some have described as a drug "high" or excitement. A specific example: working out helped me defeat my depression in high school. I kept up the hard work and eventually my mind was rid of the constant negativity eating at me.

2. Health is a big reason. I have struggled with asthma for my entire life, and exercising actually strengthens my lungs. Other problems like heart disease can be prevented from ever happening when exercising regularly. I tie this in with a big interest in cooking good food and nutrition and how it can affect the body.

3. Mental benefits. I have read on more than one occasion that excercise helps improve memory for people of all ages. One study specific to school: Studying and then performing rigorous excercise increases your memory of what you just studied. I wish that I had known this on the day before finals!

4. Stress reduction. When I'm felling a little stress, going to the gym or running can be a way to work it off. From personal experience it takes me from worrying about one thing into doing something with a goal. This not only puts me in a "solution" mindset, it also gives me something else to think about for awhile.

Of course there will always be people that workout to look better or boost the number of random instagram followers that they will never meet. Big whoop.

Get yourself to the gym or the track and focus on improving. You will have plenty of benefits yourself and unlike the people obsessed with their image, you don't have much to worry about.