I feel the need to first mention an already classical argument which states that reading about the nutritional benefits of a fruit is not going to give you any nutritional benefits at all. It's the eating of the fruit that does the trick.
All I am going to write here is all I have experienced on my own body. There might be even more benefits of training, but I only got so far. I hope that this will inspire and motivate you to train and go through these stages and even further!
I have came across many people who rigorously studied the human anatomy and human mechanics - from books. Usually, they work as doctors or physiotherapists. Unfortunately, most of these people don't directly study the human mechanics and the human anatomy, they study it indirectly. They rarely practice any sport at all because they are too busy studying. They borrow this knowledge from somebody else. And it's ok, up to a point. We don't have to rediscover all our organs once every decade or so, but if we don't put our bodies to work there is no way we can find out how they actually work.
To make another comparison - it would be like somebody studies very well the mechanics of a car and he knows everything about all its parts. Driving the car is something totally different. One can study cars for years, but he can only learn how to drive by driving. Of course, all that knowledge combined with the practical skill might give an advantage over a driver who only studied cars by driving - but this is only in theory.
Also, there are plenty of people who study meditation without meditating. They read Osho, they read Thich Nhat Hanh, they read a lot, but don't meditate and then start arguments and debates on this topic. If you want to study meditation you meditate. Researches only exist to prove the benefits of meditation to those who never had the chance to hear about it or heard about it and didn't try it.
I believe we all share the capacity to study and discover truth autonomously, independently - whether it's about a practical truth (such as how to cook rice, how to build a house, or how to do push ups), or theoretical truth (such as what is right, what is wrong, is there such thing as right and wrong and so on). This doesn't come from an egoistic perspective that offers you the occasion to be proud of your own discoveries, it rather comes from a very practical point of view. The things you find out on your own will always stay there with you! The things you learn from others, from books - they can all be forgotten, they are not yours! On top of that, they can complicate your life even more. Why not give yourself a chance? Maybe you are smarter, maybe you can discover a shortcut.
I would love to inspire people to start training on their own. Of course, training with a group is great! Having a training partner is even greater! But training alone has its own benefits, which are not to be found in any group, at any instructor, at any master. Training by yourself is what will help you not to quit, not to give up. This is the first and most important lesson! If you find your motivation around you, you may quit when everybody's gone. Training may be for you just another social activity - there's nothing wrong with that, it's just that it will only help you as long as you stay social. Once the fashion wave goes away - training is gone too. If you motivate yourself, there is no way you can ever quit. And this will stay with you and help you throughout your life, regardless of the toughness of the challenges you meet!
Training on your own you can see just how far you can push yourself without destroying yourself. When there are people around, there are two dangerous tendencies: to show off or to get shy, nervous. Both these tendencies can put your training and your body at risk and cause accidents. You learn discipline by training on your own, not by regularly going to the gym! And remember, nobody will do the push ups for you, you have to do them yourself! How great a master is or how big of a reputation a gym has - this has no value in relation to your potential, your potential stays the same.
Now I will just make a list with all the good things that can happen to a human body after at least 3 months of training like this:
- regulation of body mass; both loosing weight or gaining weight (transforming weight) can be achieved, it depends on the type of training you do and on the way you take care of your food habbits.
- muscle growth; the joints become stronger, the tendons become more flexible and resistant and slowly slowly muscle mass starts to build up all over the body.
- reduced recovery period after prolonged effort or injuries.
- reduced recovery period after minor internal affections, such as recovering from a cold or recovering from migraines; migraines themselves become less and less frequent.
- improved posture; mainly, the back gets more straight, more flexible and less painful. There might even show up signs of correction of the vertebrae alignment.
- the skin gets cleaner and softer; through sweating all your toxins out the skin starts to clear itself. All the effort will determine you to bring in new liquids, at a higher rate than usually and so the skin cells get hydrated with new water and get re-oxygenated with fresh air. I personally recommend everybody to train as topless as they can and to stay in the sun as much as they can.
We live in a society which puts a censorship on our own bodies - this is ridiculous! Our hips never get sunlight just because it's not polite, or decent, or "normal", to move around more naked. It immediately becomes a sexual thing for many - but that's their very own problem, it's not mine! If you are a girl then... you know better what they say. If you are boy then they will say you are a macho, you look for attention, you show off and so on... I feel a bit sorry for this unfortunate mentality but what I actually do is refreshing my skin with new air and sunlight!
And I never keep a t-shirt on just so others don't say this or that... I know what I do, if they want to judge me, it's their own problem. But I can't skip any opportunity to refresh my skin. And please, it doesn't matter how good or how bad you look! The skin is very important for training - if you have a skin irritation it won't allow you to sweat and if you can't sweat you can't train! Most of the times our bodies stay covered, and what is even worse - they stay covered with artificial fabrics.
It is ok and even recommended to get yourself dirty, get yourself scratched, get yourself some sunburn. You can't keep your body in a plastic protection cover all the time like you keep a new cell phone! All that dirt and all those scratches will stimulate and strengthen your immune system! Train barefoot too once in a while, you can feel a better connection with the earth and massage the acupressure points in your soles - improved quality of sleep and relaxation; you can't relax if you are not tired and if you only work and not train then you reach a level of fatigue where you think you are too tired to train but you can see that you are also too tired to rest. That's how vices are being developed : alcohol, drugs, shopping, sex, and so on. People feel the need to enhance their moods, because their natural moods are just too wasted from too much stress, too much work. In the beginning, there is some pleasure in a vice, but slowly slowly pleasure turns into burden and no matter how much quality or quantity they add to the vice they just can't get enough and can't find any peace, any relaxation, any pleasure whatsoever.
No matter how tired you think you are - you are actually not tired enough! You have to find the last bit of energy and time and put it into some training. Energy is not to be stored in our bodies, energy has to flow. If you don't empty yourself you can't refill yourself. And if you can't refill yourself it means you are not empty. Rest is just as important as training is, but they go hand in glove. You can't have one without the other. You just have to be sensitive enough to find a good balance between the two and less and less mood boosters or sleep pills will be needed in the future. - reduces cravings for sugar, alcohol, chocolate, cigarettes, sex.
- improves blood circulation; diseases like hemorrhoids can be treated and even cured, just with training and right food.
- regulates the heart beat
- strengthens the immune and nervous systems; you get colds less often, you feel weakened and drained less often and you feel irritable less often.
- improves breathing/ respiratory system
- improves focus and memory
- strengthens your resistance to stress or prolonged stress
- improves your sexual performance
- offers you a tool to better know yourself, both physically and psychologically
- improves self-confidence and decreases feelings of regret and emotional stagnation
- eases and facilitates social interaction
- eliminates toxins
- increased energy levels
These are some of the benefits you can experience, but I believe that the biggest benefit comes from what you give to others. Training - although many times criticized as escapism or as a selfish activity - is one of the most selfless activities you can do because it enables you to offer others the best you!
Enjoy your trainings! The level of skill is quite deceiving - I don't want to sound too clicheic and say it is an illusion, but somehow it is. Perseverance is much more important than skill alone!
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