The rewards of exercise go far beyond just “looking fit.”

Physical activity triggers a cascade of biological and psychological changes that affect everything from your DNA to your daily mood.

However, when you hit a new Personal Record (PR) or conquer a grueling cycling goal—like finishing your first century ride or shaving time off a local Strava segment—the rewards go far beyond strong legs and a high VO2 max. These milestones act as a powerful form of “psychological currency.”

Achieving a PR triggers a significant release of dopamine in the brain’s mesolimbic pathway. This isn’t just about feeling “happy”; it’s the brain’s way of rewarding mastery.

Enter Strava, the social, motivating, tracking ,and training app. If you have not tried Strava AND you wish to improve your running, cycling, rowing, swimming performance or just get into a regular exercise habit I highly recommend it. I won’t go into the details of the Strava app, I’ll just say how I use it to stay motivated.

Strava lets me see my prior history of any cycling routes or segments I may have ridden previously. When I intentionally or accidentally set a new segment record I get an emotional reward. A segment is a short gps tracked section of road or trail that a prior Strava user created. I get another emotional reward when I obtain other acknowledgements from the app such as a Kudos from one of my acquaintances who I follows me on Strava (social rewards). I get another reward when I get a local legend award (Strava rewards you for riding a segment more than anyone else), plus it sounds impressive. Getting instant feedback feels great.

Once you get into seeing improvements in your fitness or losing weight and Strava is filling you with “well dons”, “you set a new record”, or “you logged a new longest ride” or “your third best worldwide” exercise becomes a lot more interesting. I call Strava my greatest motivator because it measures key data that I just can’t produce in the same way any other way. Comparing my bike rides to others makes me feel good esp. when I’m improving. When I can track what training zone I’m in, my average speed, and watts used it’s neat and rewarding. I also feel like I’m part of some larger external community, even though I almost always ride alone.