Power of Fitness | Vincent Lam | TEDxRanneySchool

so good afternoon everyone so i want to start today off with a question but i show hands who here exercises for at least 30 minutes a day five times a week that's pretty impressive awesome so according to the american heart association that is actually the recommended amount of exercise per week so nearly 80 percent of adult americans don't meet this recommendation which can potentially set themselves up for years of health problems later down the road so as a fitness professional one of the most common things i hear is i don't have time so let me

tell you guys something about time every single one of you has 168 hours in a week and i'm only asking for two and a half hours out of your week and for what to live a better life a healthier life or even a longer life these are all benefits that come with exercise fitness is a lifestyle this is not a quick fix this is something you have to incorporate into your daily regimen just like brushing your teeth or taking a shower my name is vincent lamb and i started exercising as a hobby i went on

to school and majored it in college and now i'm doing it as a career this is how the power fitness changed my life so i have five main points i want to share with you guys today we all know that exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle but what you may not know is just how important it is so these benefits may include reducing serious health problems such as chronic diseases it may boost your brain functions so in a sense it can make you smarter it can improve your mental and as well as

emotional health and make you more disciplined as a person whether you're in school or even at work and lastly it will make you more confident inside and out so most people exercise because either a they want to lose weight they want to look better or they have health issues one of the reasons why i started working out was because i wanted to impress the girls but i then found out that the only people that i really impressed were the other dudes in the gym so over the years that changed now i exercise because i love

the challenge i love the sense of accomplishment it gives me i love watching my body transform but most importantly i love inspiring and helping others so my first main point i want to talk to you guys today is how exercise can actually reduce health problems such as these chronic diseases listed above obesity heart diseases diabetes hypertension osteoporosis and the list goes on so by showing hands who here knows or has someone with one of these diseases i just mentioned it's a lot so without proper cam prevention all of these diseases can actually be lethal over

one third of the population are actually considered obese which can lead to many of these diseases that i just mentioned before however this can all be prevented through proper nutrition and exercise so when you make so when you exercise and make healthy food choices what happens to your body you will put on muscle making your joints and ligaments stronger you will be less prone to injuries and you'll look ten times better you will also lose fat in places that you don't want like your arms your stomach your legs your love handles so not only do

you lose fat on the outside you will lose fat on the inside this is the fat that surrounds our organs and this is called visceral fat visceral fat can cause many of these chronic diseases listed above which can be lethal so i want to share with you guys a perfect example my father was actually kind of overweight he was very unhealthy he had a very poor diet which led to diabetes high blood pressure high cholesterol and the list goes on so over the years he's made better food choices however in these last two months he

wanted to change his life around for the better he started incorporating vegetables into his every meal he started eating good sources of healthy fats he got good sources of protein in one thing he did take out were carbs he took out bread he took out rice he took out pasta he even took out most fruits and the results were actually staggering he lost over 20 pounds he stopped taking a lot of his medication and even stopped taking his insulin shots so by incorporating exercise and proper nutrition it can reverse something as serious as diabetes so

he took out carbs because he was a diabetic so i'm not trying to say carbs are a bad thing you just have to make sure that you're eating it in moderation and making smart food choices so my second point i want to talk to you guys today is how exercise can actually make you smarter so when you exercise your heart is going to pump more oxygen into your brain and throughout your body so from experience a lot of the clients that i work with always forget how to breathe when they exercise so in order to

reap these benefits you have to make sure you are breathing in through your nose and exhaling through your mouth so when you do that your brain and body release tons of hormones which will provide a nourishing environment for the growth of new brain cells it may also act as a first aid kit on damaged brain cells so in a sense it's kind of healing your mind if you incorporate exercise into your daily regimen it will prepare you for mental stresses that you encounter for the rest of the day it will also increase the retention of

your of new information improving your memory and also giving better reactions to complex situations so not only does exercise make you look better make you healthier and may also make you more productive whether you're at work or at school so the third point i want to cover today is how exercise can actually improve your mental health so it's not just about how far you can run or how much you can lift exercise can improve you mentally as well it is vital for maintaining mental fitness so studies show that exercise can actually treat depression anxiety and

stress just as well as medication without the side effects of course so here's why exercise is so effective when it comes to these types of problems changes will start to happen in your body you will produce more endorphins which are hormones that make you feel good it may also act as a natural painkiller it can improve your alertness and concentration it will also improve your ability to sleep so in a sense it will help you relieve stress it can decrease overall levels of tension whether it's in your mind on your body it may help elevate

your mood making you happier and lastly it'll give you plenty of energy for you to use throughout the day so your mind and body works hand in hand when one feels better so the other so my next point i want to cover today is discipline with exercise comes all of those intrinsic health benefits that i mentioned earlier however in order to reap all these benefits you have to make sure that you are consistent as well as discipline so most people want to be healthy and they want to live a long life right so this doesn't

happen by accident most of the healthiest and happiest people in the world all probably have one thing in common and that is discipline living a healthy lifestyle takes consistency and discipline so first of all you will have to plan your day accordingly you got to make sure you have enough time to incorporate exercise into your daily regimen whether it's in the morning in the afternoon or even at night when you're really tired and this doesn't always have to be boring it could be something that you like it could be go out and playing sports going

for a hike going for a walk or even taking a dance class with someone you like second you have to make sure that you're you are making healthy food choices you got to make sure you're eating good sources of protein so that your muscles can build and repair itself you got to make sure you're incorporating healthy fats into your diet so your hormones are functioning properly you got to make sure you're having good sources of carbs so that you have enough energy for you to use throughout the day and also your micronutrients which are your

vitamins and minerals so all of this takes discipline however this doesn't happen overnight it's a journey learn to love the things that are good for you discipline is a decision a decision that says i will constantly do the things that i need to do in order to reach my goals sometimes this is easier said than done the good news is is that discipline is like a muscle the more you strive to use it the easier it will be discipline becomes habitual so this brings me to my last point confidence so there's nothing better than seeing

your hard work pay off when you exercise and you eat well you will start to see physical and mental changes happen throughout your body being happy with how you look is essential for confidence when you feel good when you look good you will feel good you want to be happy with yourself no matter where you are on your journey your mindset will become healthier as well as more positive it's going to be easier for you to socialize with new people make new friends and possibly open doors to new opportunities new opportunities and new connections may

lead to new friendships new relationships or even new careers when you're confident this becomes contagious people would want to be around you they can feel this when more people around you this is the opportunity for you to inspire and motivate others so i'm so passionate when it comes to fitness that my friends and family see the changes that i inspired within myself and they want the same for themselves so speaking of friends and family this is a picture of my mom and i taken at the gym a few weeks ago so she's actually the embodiment

of all of these principles that i covered she's my inspiration many years ago she decided to make fitness a part of her lifestyle and ever since i think i followed her footsteps so she works 40 hours a week but yet she still makes time to exercise make healthy food choices and also take care of her family she's actually 50 years old she's turning 51 in june so age is not a number age is not a factor it doesn't matter how old you are you can start wherever whenever so i just want to say thank you

mom for being such a great role model inspiration and a loving mother [Applause] so this was my journey i started working out as a sophomore in high school around eight years ago so there were three main reasons why i started working out a i had low self-esteem and i lacked confidence b i wasn't the brightest kid in school and i also wasn't the most athletic kid in school and c my best friend was doing it so was my mom so they were people who i looked up to so when i first started i didn't really

know what i was doing i basically did bicep curls every day i didn't know nutrition was important sometimes i would starve myself just those so my abs would show however i was there consistently i was there five to six times a week and i saw progress the more progress i saw the more i fell in love with fitness so i realized that this was something that i wanted to do for the rest of my life so i went to penn state university i studied kinesiology for those of you who don't know what kinesiology is it

is the study of body movements i realized that this was my passion not only was it just exercise i love to help others whether it's helping people reach their goals such as losing weight building muscle or even just being happy so i'm extremely grateful that i have the opportunity to turn my passion into cur into a career doing something that i love i know this is taking fitness to an extreme however you don't have to follow my footsteps this is just one example of how i incorporated fitness into my life but if there's one thing

i want you guys to take home today is that as long as you incorporate fitness into your life your future self will thank you fitness is not just about helping yourself but about helping others as well i'm actually terrified of public speaking if you guys can tell already but here i am speaking in front of all of you today about something that i love and that i think you can benefit from change your habits and you will change your lifestyle working out isn't a punishment it's a blessing nutrition isn't restrictive it's healing health isn't a

one-size-fits-all it may not look the same for everyone but it is something worth fighting for so thank you all for coming and taking the time to come listen today again my name is vincent lam and i hope you can benefit from fitness [Applause] you