What’s the best exercise you can do? It’s a question that you’ll find debated almost everywhere online, with people extolling the benefits of cardio or weights, telling you to swim or cycle, or just pointing to their own favourite. workout as the best option for everyone.
In my opinion, all of the people recommending a specific exercise regime as the “best” are wrong. Let me explain.
I went for a run today. Personally, I hate running. Unlike other exercises, I find it impossible to turn off my brain while running and think of anything but the exercise itself, which turns the experience into one long, boring, painful slog to the finish line. I’ve tried listening to music, I’ve tried podcasts, and so far nothing has been able to make running anything other than a tediously awful way to burn a few calories.
So why do I do it? Well, that’s pretty simple really - running is very convenient. Unlike most other forms of exercise, it requires almost no preparation, and very little time. You can run with nothing by your house keys, some decent shoes, and a pair of shorts. You can run in the rain, you can run when it’s cold, you can run pretty much anywhere in the world. I once went running once the icy roads of Stockholm in the middle of winter with a friend - it was slippery, but great fun.
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