There are plenty of benefits of workouts that we don’t get right away. None of us is going to lose twenty pounds in one workout or go from couch to marathon after one visit to the treadmill. However, there are some instant rewards from working out.
One of those is an increase in energy. This may be counterintuitive to someone who is feeling the fatigue right after finishing, but it’s real. Our bodies like to move and give us more energy when we do it.
Another is a boost to our cognitive function. Anybody who has taken a walk around the block to clear their head intuitively gets this. We all can use more brain power!
Then there is the metabolism boost. When we lift weights, our bodies burn more calories both right away and for the rest of the day. This can increase our weight loss or allow more cookies, depending on our goals.
A slightly less instantaneous, but still swift benefit is that working out helps us get better sleep. With about a third of Americans getting inadequate sleep on a daily basis, this is definitely useful.
These little instant-gratifications can help motivate us to stick out the workouts until the longer-term benefits show up.
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