Building the Body and the Mind In 2015

By John A. Mays, MSEd

Living a healthy lifestyle is not just about being physically fit, but also being mentally strong. The same energy and attention you put into building your body's strength, endurance, and flexibility should also be applied to having a positive attitude and perspective on life. It takes combining mental and physical strength with solid nutritional habits to build a body and mind that can successfully work together to accomplish your fitness and life goals.

Mind Over Matter

Living a well-balanced healthy lifestyle starts with focusing on your mental, physical, and nutritional health during your daily life activities One of the first steps to obtaining a strong body and healthy mind is to have solid, attainable goals before beginning the journey of health and fitness.

Without a goal, or at least a vision in mind, you will most likely end up spinning your wheels or finding yourself working toward the impossible. Set your sights high, but be aware of the fine line between being realistic and completely impractical.

An example of a realistic and challenging goal might be to add 20 pushups to your existing maximum set of 10 within eight weeks. This type of approach gives you a clear-cut goal that can be broken down into smaller increments, making the challenge both mentally and physically achievable.

Setting goals this way is much easier to manage and keep track of, and it allows you to make little tweaks along the way. Strengthening the mind and the body will follow.

Active Lifestyles

Breed Healthy Habits

Proper nutrition and exercise go hand in hand for achieving mental and physical health. While illness, stress, depression and other outside influences can take their toll on mental and physical health, each of these conditions has been shown to be diminished, or even eliminated, with the right diet and exercise plan. The hormonal response the body puts out when undergoing these activities has been proven by science time and time again to illicit happy thoughts and less stress.

To accomplish total body health and fitness, it's important to incorporate strength training, cardio, and mobility into your fitness regimen. A consistent cardio routine is key to keeping the heart healthy, enhancing your body's recovery and improving longevity, while lifting weights is an integral component to building strength, burning calories and accelerating fat loss.

Weight training builds lean muscle, which in turn burns more calories because your body must use energy to build and maintain your muscles. More calories burned can lead to an increase in fat loss, making for a healthier and happier you.