55 Reasons to Workout

1. Gets you moving!
2. Increases productivity. Working out has been proven to increase your productivity in the work place by providing more energy to your brain, therefore boosting your mental output. (Check out this research article)
3. Feel strong! 
4. Increases metabolism. Muscle cells need a lot of energy, they burn more calories than fat cells. So by working out and increasing your muscle mass, your body will become a more efficient calorie-burning machine. (Read this article to learn more)
5. Boosts your mood.
6. Have a clear mind.
7. Lowers risk of heart disease. Heart Disease is the #1 cause of death in the United States. You can lower your risk of heart disease by engaging in physical activity. (Check out this article for more information)
8. Allows you to do activities that you love.
9. Lowers depression. Research has shown that exercise is an effective, but often underused, treatment for mild to moderate depression. (Read more about the Psychological Benefits of Exercise with Depression here)
10. Increases muscle mass. 
11. Lowers risk of some types of cancers. Studies have found that people who are more active tend to have lower rates of colon, breast, and endometrial cancer. (Click here to read the journal article)
12. Improves your quality of life.
13. Boosts your confidence.
14. Natural stress reliever. Stress is impossible to eliminate, but you can learn to manage it. Scientists have found that regular aerobic (or cardio) exercise has been shown to decrease overall levels of tension, elevate and stabilize mood, improve sleep, and improve self-esteem. (Check out this article)
15. Inspires you to be better in other areas of your life.
16. Releases endorphins (which make you happy). When you exercise, your body releases endorphins to the brain. Endorphins diminish the perception of pain and they also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine. (Read more from this article)
17. Allows you to challenge yourself. 
18. Reduces risk of osteoporosis. 55% of the United States population aged 50 and older are affected by osteoporosis. Weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises are important for building and maintaining bone density. (Learn more on this website)
19. Burns calories.
20. Helps to lose weight and keep it off. 90% of people who have lost 30 pounds or more, exercise, on average, one hour per day. (Learn more about what you can do to lose weight and keep it off)
21. Teaches you to set goals and adhere to them.
22. Better sleep quality.  A study found that 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week, which is the national guideline, provided a 65% improvement in sleep quality. People in this study say they felt less tired during the day compared to those with less physical activity. (Read the study)
23. Increases motivation.
24. Top performers workout and take care of their body. The one habit that nearly all highly successful people have in common is exercise. Successful people such as Barack Obama (former President of the United States), Mark Zuckerberg (co-founder and CEO of Facebook), Anna Wintour (Vogue editor-in-chief), Tim Cook (CEO of Apple), and many others workout daily and also workout first thing in the morning. (Read more in this article)
25. Reduces risk of injury (when done correctly).
26. Improves balance and coordination.
27. Decreases risk of Type 2 Diabetes. More than 29 million people in the United States have diabetes. Another 86 million adults (more than one in three adults) have pre-diabetes, where their blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as type 2 diabetes. Without weight loss and moderate physical activity, 15-30% of people with pre-diabetes will develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years. (CDC, Learn more by reading this article)
28. Decrease body fat.
29. Improves your brain health. Many studies have suggested that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory have greater volume in people who exercise versus people who don't. (Read this article to learn more)
30. Healthy way of connecting with your spouse, friends, kids, etc.
31. Increases alertness. Exercise improves mental alertness by reducing feelings of tiredness while increasing stamina and energy levels. (Read more in this article)
32. It's fun!!
33. Lowers blood pressure. Regular physical activity makes your heart stronger. A stronger heart can pump more blood with less effort. If your heart can work less to pump, the force on your arteries decreases, lowering your blood pressure. (Learn more by reading this article)
34. Helps to maintain a healthy weight.
35. Lowers risk of stroke. The exercise recommendation for average adults in the United States is at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week. By doubling this recommendation, there is an even greater reduction in stroke risk for that individual. (Read more in this article)
36. Improves sport performance and athleticism. 
37. More energy. New research suggests that regular exercise can increase energy levels even among people suffering from chronic medical conditions associated with fatigue, like cancer and heart disease. (Read more about the research here)
38. Make new friends. 
39. Reduces loss of muscle mass. Resistance or strength training is incredibly important especially for the elderly. The American College of Sports Medicine, the American Heart Association, and the US Department of Health and Human Services recommend engaging in muscle strengthening activities targeting all major muscle groups at least two days per week. (Learn about what else you can do to prevent muscle mass in this article)
40. Reduces aging symptoms. 
41. Lowers anxiety. According to some studies, regular exercise works as well as medication for some people to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and the effects can be long lasting. One intense exercise session can alleviate symptoms for hours, and a regular workout schedule may significantly reduce them over time. (ADA, Learn more in this article)
42. Increases functional movement and mobility.
43. Reduces waist circumference (which is an important health marker). A healthy waist size for a man is less than 40 inches and for a woman is less than 35 inches. You can reduce your waist circumference by controlling the food portions you consume, exercising, eating the good fat, consuming a low-carb diet, and drinking more water. (Read this article to learn more)
44. Better beach body.
45. Reduces back pain. Engaging in exercise and fitness activities helps to keep the back healthy by allowing discs to exchange fluids which is how the disc receives its nutrition. A healthy disc will swell with water and squeeze it out like a sponge, and this action distributes nutrients to the disc so they don't become malnourished and degenerated. (Read more about how exercise helps the back in this article)
46. Allows you to keep up with your kids.
47. Trains your discipline muscle. 
48. Lowers cholesterol. Exercise helps you to lose (or maintain) weight which, in turn, lowers cholesterol. Being overweight increases the amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL--bad cholesterol) in your blood. (Learn about how else exercise can lower cholesterol)
49. Your butt looks better in jeans.
50. More likely to have higher income. A study recently published in Social Science and Medicine found that being physically active positively influenced long-term (15 year) income, with physically active males receiving incomes some 14-17% more than less active males. (Read more about this study here)
51. Look better naked.
52. More focused. Exercise elevates neurotransmitters in the brain helping us to focus, feel better, and release tension. (Read this article to learn more)
53. Keeps you feeling young.
54. Boosts your immune system. Doctors have found that exercise can boost your immune system by providing a boost to the cells in your body that are assigned to attack bacteria. These cells work more slowly in people who don't exercise than in those that do. (Read the rest of the article here)
55. Empowers you!