May is Mental Health Awareness Month and I’ll be posting content to reflect movement’s role in mental health.

Happy Tuesday Friends! It’s no secret that I believe exercise and movement play a key role in Mental Health. The research will absolutely back me up. Seriously, Google exercise and depression for yourself. The catch, though, is that there aren’t any guidelines to follow. Unlike diabetes or arthritis or any of the other conditions I’ll cover this year, there are no rules. So how do we help people or ourselves?

It, unfortunately, makes sense if you think about it. Depression and anxiety show up very differently for each individual who suffers. And they can show up differently at different times, too. Often that means that what worked three years ago, may not this time around. It really does feel like Hercules fighting Cerberus.

So, while we trainers love to talk about 150 minutes most days of the week and volume versus recovery, none of that works here. Especially in the realm of clinical diagnoses where an individual might not feel safe or able to get out of the house (much less bed) for days at a time. All the research in the world means nothing when your brain just. Won’t. Cooperate.

Working through these issues underlies the mind-body connection that all exercise has. When someone has strong mental health, we refer to it as motivation or determination. In short, it’s much easier to get your body moving when the blocks are mostly external. When mental health isn’t so strong, though, and the blocks are internal and not easily budged, getting moving is much harder.

Your first job is to make sure the person is safe. Refer them to mental health practitioners. As trainers we may feel like therapists sometimes, but mental illness is nowhere near the same as listening to a client complain about their job. Support their need (and choice) for medication and different therapeutic modalities. When they are stable and able to get through caring for themselves, then you can move to step two.

It’s a baby step, but something is better than nothing and that’s really the gist of things here. I’ve found that the best thing to do is identify one or two easy exercises or movements. And it is important to note that in this case, easy means exercise that doesn’t make symptoms worse or place a huge burden of recovery on the body. Then lean hard into those.

Whether it’s your own movement you are trying to manage, or you have clients you are working with, celebrate the small wins. Walked to the mailbox today? Amazing! Did a quick 10 minute yoga video in jammies? You rock. Threw a set of push ups or body weight squats in during a commercial? Excellent!

It will feel tedious and frustrating for longer than you want. And then, all of a sudden, it won’t be quite as much. Walking to the mailbox will become a quick jaunt around the block. Push ups and squats during commercial breaks will become short at home workouts. There will most likely be relapses, but that’s okay.

Encourage each and every miniscule action. Understand that it will feel like doing a polka with random steps missing, but people in this state don’t need to hear criticism. Trust me, their own brains are overloading them here. Your only job is to be their biggest cheerleader, especially when it is tough. Eventually, action will beget action. It is Newton’s First Law of Motion after all.

The biggest take away here is that slow and steady wins the race. Be supportive when things work and be curious when things aren’t going smoothly.

Until next time, move well friends!

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