Think of the benefits of exercise you hear about most often.

Chances are, they're focused on what exercise might do for you in the long run - whether it's:

• Living longer or reducing your risk of chronic disease
• Preserving your muscle or physical function as you age
• Improving your long-term cardiovascular or metabolic health

All of these are hugely important, albeit not guaranteed of course (though staying active probably stacks the odds in your favour).

That aside, there are a few challenges with using these benefits as motivation for you to exercise.

First, many take months, years, or even decades to eventuate.

Second, they’re often difficult to measure or appreciate personally. What does a 20% reduction in disease risk actually mean for you?

And third, many involve preventing something that might not happen anyway - or we might not believe will happen to us.

In other words, the benefits feel pretty distant and abstract.

And the problem is when you’re deciding whether to exercise today, these benefits struggle to compete with more immediate demands on your time and energy. Let alone the various far less healthy choices that offer instant rewards in return for almost zero effort.

This begs the question:

What if we paid more attention to what exercise may do for us in the hours and days after a workout, rather than sometime in the future?

What happens after just one workout?

A newly published narrative review article (Fisher, 2026) caught my eye this week.

Because instead of focusing on the usual longer-term suspects when it comes to resistance training benefits - like increased strength or muscle mass - it summarised what happens during and after a workout.

And the list included a surprisingly broad range of outcomes, both physiological and psychological, such as:

Mood and anxiety: A single resistance training session can reduce feelings of anxiety, with some studies reporting changes within minutes of finishing.

Brain function: Improvements in certain aspects of cognitive performance, particularly executive functions such as inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility.

Blood glucose: A single workout can increase glucose uptake by muscles and improve aspects of blood glucose regulation, with some effects lasting into the following day.

Blood pressure: Just one session can lead to a temporary reduction in resting blood pressure during recovery, sometimes lasting several hours.

Sleep: Some evidence suggests a single bout can improve aspects of sleep that night, although findings are less consistent.

What’s interesting is the sheer number of body systems that can be impacted by just a single bout of exercise, and how some of these responses persist for hours or even into the next day.

Some of these changes might be noticeable, like better mood or reduced anxiety, while others (like blood glucose or blood pressure) can fly under the radar without you even being aware of them.

Although this review focused on resistance training, other research suggests aerobic exercise can also produce short-term benefits across several of these domains.

It’s important to keep in mind these effects likely vary between people, as do the size of the changes and what they might mean practically. We need to be mindful a short-term physiological response does not necessarily translate to a meaningful health improvement over time, either.

But keeping these more rapid benefits front-of-mind may be another useful way to think about why we exercise.

Why short-term benefits might matter for motivation

The usual thinking on motivation and exercise goes something like:

“If people know exercise is good for them, they’ll probably just do it.”

The problem is knowledge and good intentions alone often do not translate to behaviour.

One possible reason is we tend to value immediate rewards more than those we may get in the distant future. This is particularly relevant when we consider the more immediate costs of exercise - time, effort, discomfort - are very obvious, while the benefits often seem months or years away.

Consider these two reasons to exercise:

“I should exercise because it will reduce my risk of cardiovascular disease in 20 years.”

“I want to exercise because I know it often helps me feel less stressed and more energised afterwards.”

Both are completely valid - but the second one may provide a more immediate and meaningful nudge to act now.

When you also consider that how we feel during exercise can help predict how physically active we are in future, it becomes even more clear why long-term health benefits aren’t necessarily the best motivator for you to exercise today.

Give yourself more reasons to move today

Don’t get me wrong - none of this makes the long-term benefits of exercise any less important.

But it highlights you can expand the list of reasons why exercise matters to include what it can do for you today.

So over the next week or so, I’d encourage you to try a little experiment.

When you do go for a walk, run, ride, or lift weights, pay more attention to how you feel before and after exercise. See if you notice any changes in your stress levels, your mood, energy levels, focus, or your sleep.

Also, consider if there are any ways to make your exercise more rewarding in the short-term. Do you like being outdoors, socialising, or having some time to yourself? Bringing in other elements you enjoy can help make exercise a far more attractive proposition.

Notice any positive changes you experience, however small they may be, and consider whether these could be another reason to exercise when you’re not feeling motivated or are more tired than usual.

Not every workout has to (or will) feel good - but often there are more ways than we think to make the experience more positive.

A different way to think about exercise

Exercise is often positioned as an investment in our future health.

And that’s absolutely true. But as this new review highlights, just a single bout of exercise can trigger a wide array of responses in our bodies and brains - some of which you may notice almost instantly.

So rather than just thinking about what exercise might do for you months or years from now, consider what it can do for you today.

Because recognising more reasons to value exercise right now might just help you keep coming back for those longer-term benefits too.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jackson

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If you've got a moment, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this edition of The Weekly Exerciser.

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IMPORTANT:

The information contained herein is of general nature only and does not constitute personal advice. You should not act on any information without considering your personal needs, circumstances, and objectives. Any exercise program may result in injury. We recommend you obtain advice specific to your circumstances from an appropriate health professional before starting any exercise program.