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Fitness Benefits
4 Big Benefits of Exercise
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Beth and I found ourselves locked in a small basement room in our church, and it soon became clear that we had two options: We could either stay trapped in the room for hours until first the service ended and a locksmith could be located on a Sunday, or we could crawl out the small window. We picked the window, which was about four feet off the floor but only a few inches above ground outside. Our only option was to crawl through head first.
Beth went first. I held her legs as she wiggled out the window. I followed, praying my shoes wouldn't fall off as I held my legs parallel with the floor for what seemed like eternity. "No way could I hold balance myself like that," Beth said after we were outside. After thinking about it, I realized I was able to do so thanks to regular strength training, especially all those boring abs exercises. These days, when I don't feel like doing crunches or going to the gym, I remember what it felt like to crawl out that window.
Most of us will probably never need to squeeze through a small window, but there will be days when we need to climb a few flights of stairs because the elevator isn't working, or we need to run to catch a bus or catch a naked toddler who escaped the house.
Regular exercise keeps us healthy and helps us either lose weight or keep the weight off, and for most people who exercise, that's enough. However, there are plenty of hidden benefits to regular exercise, from the ability to do chores without getting winded to improved memory.
