How Do You Get Motivated To Exercise When You Are Depressed?

I understand that knowing this is one thing - being able to execute a whole other - and if you ar in the midst of an Mental Health Episode then its even harder.

Aside from making love, fitness is one of the most personal experiences you will probably have. Not only your physical ability and skill, your genetics, but also your emotional resonance with what fitness is in your life.

The number one joy out of fitness is the fact that you get to explore it, the fact that is your personal journey and the fact that you are the only person you should be doing it for.

So as easy as it is for me to say don’t compare yourself to others, the only way in which you can do that is to focus on the self - focus on your productivity, focus on what you are able to do, focus on what you can achieve and focus on what wins you are picking up along the way.

And I’m not talking about Squatting 100kgs.

I’m simply talking about the real world wins each day. The real world wins that can so often elude you at periods of time in your life when you feel this way.

Then you begin to build a foundation. A foundation of strength, a foundation of habit, a foundation of persistence - and it is from that foundation, from the feedback loop of what you are achieving, no matter what it is compared to others, that you can then build other behaviours that you want to see yourself doing.

This foundation is your insulation from these episodes of poorer mental health being more severe the next time they come around.

Expectation 2: Endorphins “being the answer”

Exercise has the ability to make you feel better about yourself.

But it doesn't necessarily mean that it is the only answer.

Exercise improves your sense of well-being, and releases these things known as endorphins, which help alleviate pain in the Brian similar to Morphine.

But you shouldn't put all of your eggs in one basket - despite what Resse Witherspoon thinks.

When I hear something like:

“Exercise makes you happy and releases endorphins and therefore helps with depression”

Although Scientifically I know it to be true, if I was going through a bout of low mood, | would then expect the high of exercise to be so good - because it’s all anyone seems to bang on about all the damn day long.

And that’s not really what happens.

Of course, I believe in the power of movement to help all people - I am an award-winning Online Coach and Personal Trainer.

But I know that what happens after a workout is certainly not as big a high as the marketing would make you believe. It’s subtle, but a very real sense of accomplishment. It’s a little tick in your day that makes you say to yourself - good job - what’s next?

And the more you repeat the cycle, the more good jobs you get done. The more ticks you put in your wins column, the more you build that strong foundation that insulates you from your future self.

Expectation 3: Your definition of a Workout

What is a workout?

Well, I chose to show you, Mike - because who doesn't love Monsters Inc - it is the greatest Disney Pixar film there is.

But also - when searching “workout” on Giphy I saw far too many toxic images of what a workout is - and I didn’t want to perpetuate that stigma.

When you look at the origin of where the word comes from, you have to break it into two sections:

Section 1: Work - As a noun, it is thus [3]:

“Activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result”

“A task or tasks to be undertaken”

When I first read this definition I was worried about the words “purpose or result”. As in, it would take you towards thinking about “losing 5kgs” or behaviours that perpetuate negative body image and procrastination towards yourself.

But in truth, a purpose or result can simply be - to move, to walk, to enjoy. A result can be a process-driven result, nay, it shouldbe a process-driven result.

Not a goal-based result.

Section 2: Out - As an adverb, it is thus [4]:

“Moving or appearing to move away from a particular place, especially one that is enclosed or hidden”

Therefore, if you look at a workout as a physical effort to move you away from a place that is enclosed or hidden you can quantify a workout as anything that achieves that.

As in, it doesn’t have to be lifting heavy weights and slaying yourself in a gym packed with mirrors that make you feel even worse about yourself.

It can simply be the physical act of moving from Point A to Point B.

A common dialogue in the conversation about depression is that those who are suffering find it hard enough to even shower, let alone do much else. Well moving from Point A (your bed) to Point B (your shower) can be viewed as a workout.

And when you can reframe it thus, you can begin to build momentum.

You can begin to build those strong foundations I keep discussing with regards to putting ticks in your win column.

Added to this the term workout has only been around 100 years or so. It is also thought that the “out” part of the word comes from the meaning of “outside” [5].

Hence going for a walk…is a workout; It produces a physical effort towards a goal.

That goal being, to go outside.

What I am trying to do here is lower the barrier of entry for you. Help you reframe the mammoth task right now of finding the motivation to exercise. Making the leap from a low mood to a Gym is huge.

Making the leap from a low mood to getting outside for a walk, might be less huge.

And actually going outside has been shown many times over to have huge benefits on mood [6].