Jeff Bezos has gained some serious muscle during his time as CEO of Amazon. Despite his 100 hour work week, Elon Musk makes it a point to squeeze in two workout sessions a week. Nicolas Cole works out 6 to 7 times per week despite being a CEO of Digital Press and a 4x Top Writer on Quora.

The disproportionate number of successful people who workout is an indicator of the magical association between working out and success.

Working out has been linked with physical fitness for time, immemorial. Yes, we do achieve physical fitness, but it merely a beneficial by-product. The most important things that we achieve thanks to working out are —

Discipline

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When we force our lazy ass out of the bed and into the gym, for an hour of intense physical exercise, we are teaching ourselves an important lesson of discipline.

This lesson of discipline once learnt can be applied to every other field of life. For example, I applied the discipline I had acquired while working out into my Medium posts. Slowly but surely, my Medium presence is increasing, thanks to discipline.

Focus

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Everything around us is meant to break our focus. From the amazing TV series of Netflix to the tantalizing notifications of Facebook. Amidst all this chaos, working out forces you to Focus on the legendary —

Mind-Muscle connection

The laser sharp focus that we develop during a workout, will inevitably help us focus during the rest of the day. For example, I’m able to focus much better at work on the days that I begin with an intense workout.

Metabolism

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Most of us are stuck to a desk job. If you live in a busy city like me, you are perpetually stuck in traffic. All that sitting around pulls our metabolism to an all time low. As a result —

We feel heavy all day

We rarely feel hungry

Our energy is non-existent

The quickest fix to the metabolism problem is working out. As little as one week of intense workout improves your metabolism. (To keep that improved metabolism, you need to keep working out.)

Sleep

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We often tend to disregard the importance of sleep, but we all need to understand that sound sleep (on most days) is an important determinant of good health. Because our days require us to spend very little energy, we aren’t really tired by the time we get to bed. The sleep that follows is unfulfilling, unpleasant and unwanted!

Have you ever been to bed tired? Can you imagine the sleep that you had after?

Working out will drain you by the end of the day and the sleep that follows will be the best you’ve had in years!

In Summary

The benefits of working out aren’t just limited to big biceps and toned abs. Working out will help you —

Inculcate discipline

Develop focus

Improve your body’s metabolism

Sleep well

Enough with the excuses! Put on some gym clothes, hit the gym and transform your life.