If you’re low on energy, feeling down on your luck, or in a foul mood, exercise is usually an excellent pick-me-up due to the feel-good hormones it helps produce. When battling depression, exercise, alongside professional medical treatment, can work wonders for you and go a long way to brighten your day. According to our research involving consultation with some of the best gyms in San Diego, exercise for depression is a super viable option. Aerobic exercises, in particular, are most effective, with exercise overall essential to improving mood, reducing anxiety, cultivating healthy eating habits, and bolstering physical health. So what is the best exercise for anxiety and depression? Here are 7 routines to help you take your life back
- Running
Is running the best exercise for depression? It’s certainly among the best. Running catalyzes the surge of hormones such as endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, all of which can quickly turn around anxiety and a poor mood.
So how much running is good for depression? Having a physical fitness trainer can be beneficial for many reasons. They can provide guidance, support, and motivation to help individuals reach their fitness goals. Finding the right trainer for an individual’s specific needs and goals is important. With the right trainer, individuals can be well on their way to achieving their fitness goals.
Here’s our recommendation for your running routine:
- Set three running days each week
- Run for at least 20 minutes per session
- If hard to achieve, try to run and walk alternatingly for 5 minutes each
- Try to cross-train during your off days
You may need to work with a personal trainer San Diego to find your ideal running routine.
- Weightlifting
Aerobic exercises are heralded as the most effective form of exercise when fighting depression. But do not look past the benefits of strength training as well, which can revitalize your appetite and influence a preference for healthier food options.
Here’s a personal trainer San Diego guide on how to lift weights to crush your depression:
- Schedule 3 workout days a week
- Incorporate at least one day of rest between sessions
- Do squats, rows, and bench presses on your 1st day
- Perform overhead shoulder presses, pull-ups, and deadlifts for your 2nd day
- On your 3rd session of the weak, repeat either workout session for day 1 or 2
- Alternate the order of your workouts from week to week
Your personal trainer may recommend a different weightlifting routine in line with your physical condition and experience level.
- Walking
For most people, a long walk is a go-to for clearing a troubled mind. Research by HelpGuide.org finds that even just a quarter-an-hour of brisk walking can rejuvenate your body and improve your mood.
Walking can also be a great step towards improving your aerobic endurance before getting into more vigorous fitness routines such as running.
Here’s a sample walking routine you could go with:
- Set 5 days of working out weekly
- Perform at least 5 minutes of warm-up each session
- Start slow and progressively increase your pace
- Walk at the fastest speed you can maintain
Most adults in America walk for about 1.8 miles daily. However, recommendations by the CDC suggest that you should aim to cover about 5 miles or more per day.
- Swimming
Back in 2018, one study found out that swimming can provide powerful antidepressant therapy. It established that this favorite American pastime can ease anxiety, anger, fatigue, and many other depression-linked symptoms. In addition, the shock of cold water has been linked with making your body more tolerant to anxiety and stress.
Here’s a beginner-friendly routine to swim your way out of depression:
- Warm up with a 2x50m pull, kick, or front crawl freestyle
- Follow it up with a rest interval of 1 minute
- Swim freestyle at an average pace for 40 seconds
- Rest for 2 minutes then swim freestyle at a faster pace for 60 seconds
- Cool down with a 1x100m slow swim
Going by the word of a San Diego fitness guru, a good rule of thumb is to just shoot for about 1,000 to 1,500 yards per session. For most people, this means about 30 minutes of swimming.
- Yoga
Subtle yet effective, you’d be surprised just how effective yoga can be for containing depression. In fact, yoga therapy is today heavily used by many professionals to manage a breadth of emotional and mental disorders. Yoga can improve your mental focus, and stress tolerance, and further tone down many other symptoms of depression.
When fighting depression, one personal fitness trainer especially vouches for these five yoga poses:
- Bridge pose
- Corpse pose
- Child’s pose
- Downward-facing dog
- Plow pose
If yoga is your primary source of fitness, you should incorporate 6 workout days weekly, of about 20-minute sessions each. If that seems a little over the top, start with just 3 yoga days.
- Jump rope
Jump rope is a high-intensity cardio workout that can help skip your way to a more peaceful existence. It is a fun workout that engages your entire body, improves blood circulation to your brain, and eventually eases anxiety and depression.
Here’s a jump rope routine for depression, going by the word of an experienced personal trainer:
- Perform 15 jumps then rest for 20 seconds to complete your first set
- Perform 30 jumps then rest for 30 seconds to complete your 2nd set
- For your 3rd set, jump 40 times and rest for 40 seconds
- For your 4th set, jump 20 times, and rest for 20 seconds
- Finish with 15 jumps and a 20-second rest interval for your final set
- Burpees
Another cardio exercise with full-body benefits, burpees also come highly recommended if you’re dealing with a bout of seasonal depression. Burpees can enhance your reflexes, concentration abilities, and recollection skills. They can further alleviate depression and other neurodegenerative disorders as well.
Now that we’ve established your brain likes burpees (although your body may beg to differ at first), here’s how to set up your burpee routine for depression:
- Start with about 15 reps daily
- Once you get the hang of it, amp up to 2 sets of 30 reps per day
- Eventually, shoot for at least 7 minutes of burpees daily
Find more depression-busting exercises at IronOrrFitness
Running, yoga, weightlifting, swimming, burpees, and brisk walking are great exercise options to stave off depression. Your fitness partner may have a lot else up his sleeve beyond our list. It’s best to work with a personal trainer for knowledge-fueled workouts in line with your mind and body’s unique requirements. Check out the Iron Orr Fitness website for amazing personal trainer prices and to get a new gym buddy to help you on the journey to a healthier mind.
