Increase Exercise Routine Benefits

4 Easy Ways

There are several ways you can increase the benefits you gain during your exercise routine. You do it my adding constructive passive activities on top of certain exercises. These work best with repetitive aerobic exercises like power walking, jogging, working out on simulation machines, and swimming. Water eliminates one of them, however.

I do not recommended doing the first three (3) while you are doing resistance exercises like those you’d do using free weights or machines. These particular exercises require your full concentration in order to avoid injury and get maximum results.

Here are four (4) ways you can increase the benefits you gain during your exercise routine.

1. Hook up a Personal Development IV

Listen to self-improvement audio books and programs while you’re working out. Doing both of these activities together is a natural. They go hand in hand.

Since all the systems in your body are active and stimulated your ability to comprehend and absorb the material is greater than if you were sitting or laying in a stationary position.

I’ve listened to dozens of personal development programs during my power walks. I’ve listened to certain audio books like "The Secret" more times than I can count. I find that listening to them repeatedly gets the information into every cell of my body. It’s very inspiring. If I were listening to the morning news each day instead, I’d be depressed and exhausted by the end of my exercise routine.

2. Review Your Affirmations & Goals

I just discovered this one. I used to go through my affirmations and goals before or after I mediated each morning. It struck me one day that I should do this while I’m doing my daily walk or swim.

The repetitive rhythm of these exercises makes it an ideal time to review your affirmations and goals. If you have affirmations and goals for the fitness and appearance of your body, you might find as I did that your exercise speed and power increases significantly as you review them. It’s really pretty cool.

Here are a few examples of the body affirmations that I go through.

• Every cell in my body is healthy and strong.

• Every artery and vein in my body is completely clear and strong.

• Every organ in my body is healthy, strong, and operating perfectly.

• My body is lean and my muscles are well defined.

• My abdominal area is fat free and the muscles are well defined.

I also go through my other affirmations and goals during my exercise routine.  

3. Conduct Turbo-Charged Brainstorming

Because your brain is getting a high concentration of oxygen and nutrients during aerobic exercise, this makes it a perfect time to brainstorm. It’s like adding a turbo-charger to your brain.

I first discovered this secret when I switch my morning aerobic exercise from power walking to swimming laps during the hot summer months. Here’s what did.

First, I would select which issue(s) I wanted to brainstorm. Next, I’d allow my mind to relax by letting my thoughts drift while I continued to exercise. Then before long, so many great ideas were popping up at such a fast rate that I wanted to write them down. I of course could not because I was in the pool! When I power walk, I take a few slips of paper and a pencil with me for this purpose.

To compensate for not being able to write these ideas down while I was in the pool, I devised a memory system. I do this by attaching single words or phases of the idea to a numbered list. I sometimes add images to the ideas when it’s possible to do so. It works pretty well, but I would still prefer to write these ideas down. They’re too valuable to risk losing. Maybe I’ll look into getting one of those underwater writing boards that I’ve seen scuba divers use on television.

4. Super-Hydrate & Flush Your Body

Having a bottle of water handy during exercise is a common practice. What I am talking about is having a medium to large bottle of water (or 2 small bottles) available in order to thoroughly hydrate your body and flush your system.

If you are not drinking water during exercise, I strongly recommend that you take up this practice. If you are drinking something else, I suggest that you consider switching to what your body truly wants most –- pure, natural H20.

Although I don’t know a lot about sports drinks, I would not recommend them for this purpose. Every brand that I’ve tasted is sweet, which is not good regardless of how it is sweetened. It’s best to use a high quality water from bottled water products or your home purification system. Buying expensive bottled water products is not necessary. The generic brands are just as good in most cases.

I drink cold refrigerated water during Spring and Summer and warm room temperature water during Fall and Winter. On especially cold Winter days, I sometimes heat up the water in a microwave, add a few drops of lemon juice, and pour it into a stainless steel bottle. Warning: Putting hot water into a plastic bottle or heating it in one can cause the release of potentially harmful chemicals.

Since roughly 70 percent of the human body is made up of water, giving it a plentiful supply during strenuous activity is a healthy practice that pays dividends. Not only will you be super hydrating your body, but you’ll also flush all the systems in your body that rely heavily on water for purification processes.

If you consider that the fluids in your body are flowing at maximum rates during exercise, providing a stream of what it uses most -– WATER –- makes a lot of sense.

Update: 8-2-11 - I gave up bottled water after I watched a documentary entitled, "Tapped."  I highly recommend it.  I now use a water filter system for all my drinking and cooking needs and a refillable stainless steel bottle for when I exercise and travel.

The whole point of exercise is to increase the quality of your life. If you add these things to your exercise routine, you can further enhance that quality and it won’t require any extra time.

Brad Paul

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