Your brain and your body both require a good workout. You rely on your brain for making important business and creative decisions. Brain health is intimately connected to physical health, and exercising your body also feeds your mind.
A 2012 study by the Montreal Heart Institute showed aerobic exercise increases cognitive function. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs often skip the exercise in favor of long hours and endless tasks. You need to maintain your health because your business won’t survive without you.
Here’s how to do it:
If you’ve thought about joining a gym but haven’t, you’re probably not going to do it. If that’s the case, going to the gym would eat up precious time you probably don’t have to spare. That’s fine because you don’t need a gym to exercise. All you need is one cardio machine, like a treadmill.
Treadmills have been around for hundreds of years in various forms. Oddly, dogs, sheep, and goats pioneered some of the first modern treadmills in America. Though, at the time, treadmills were used as working tools rather than fitness. Fido may have gotten in a good workout, but it was all in the name of work. Apparently, today’s dogs haven’t forgotten this fun pastime.
In 1952, Dr. Robert Bruce, a cardiologist from the University of Washington, utilized the first modern medical treadmill to diagnose heart conditions and diseases. Thanks to the entrepreneurial efforts of Dr. Kenneth Cooper from Aerobics Inc., treadmills made their debut in American homes and gyms during the 1960s and 1970s.
There’s no doubt treadmills are the most popular cardio machine, but the treadmill has a competitor: the stationary bicycle.
Both machines can fit in your spare bedroom, sun room, or even your living room if you have an empty corner. Both provide cardio workouts that will make you sweat and get your heartrate up, but one is healthier than the other.
According to iCliniq, research has proven that using a treadmill consistently oxidizes more fat than a stationary cycle. This finding applied to men, women, children, athletes, and obese adolescent study participants. Other benefits to using a treadmill over a stationary cycle include:
That doesn’t mean stationary cycles are bad. If you’ve got problems balancing, cycling would be the optimal choice.
If you’re into lifting free weights, by all means, go for it. If you’re not sure about lifting weights, start using exercise bands instead. Bands are easy to use during a workout because you can buy different strengths and switching is easy. Hang them on a doorknob or a set of hooks near your workout area, and you’re good to go. Personal trainer Jill Rodriguez demonstrates several band workouts you can try out at home.
You can get a great full body workout with bands; you just won’t be able to build significant muscle mass. You can build muscle mass later on when you have time to hire a personal trainer and hit the gym.
You’re going to have sore muscles no matter what kind of workout you do. Athletes get massages often because it keeps their muscles in top shape. You probably don’t have the time or money to get a daily massage, but using a foam roller is the next best thing.
Time.com reported on a study that found foam rolling combined with stretching had the ability to increase range of hip motion more than stretching alone. Professor Blaine Long, one of the study’s authors, told Time, “Foam rolling may decrease a muscle’s ‘viscosity’, making the muscle less resistant to motion, and therefore more flexible.”
Other studies confirm the same benefits: greater flexibility and relief from soreness – something every business owner needs.
It’s difficult to concentrate on your business when you’re in pain, sore, or suffering from health problems. Keep your brain performing optimally by taking care of your body with daily exercise. The success of your business depends on it.
