Reasons Why Fitness and Mental Health Go Hand in Hand

Reasons Why Fitness and Mental Health Go Hand in Hand

You’ve heard that regular exercise is important for your physical health, but what about the effects that it can have on your *mental* health? Maybe you’ve heard about the correlation between the two, but never understood the ‘why’ of it all. Regular physical activity has been shown to have a profoundly positive effect on anxiety, depression, and ADHD.

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Strengthening the Mind: Resistance Training and Mental Health

Strengthening the Mind: Resistance Training and Mental Health

A good friend of mine, who is a long-time collegiate strength and conditioning coach, talks about “neck down training” and “neck up coaching.” What he means is that we often focus on training the body from the neck down – arms, legs, core–for physiological adaptations like strength, power and aerobic fitness, but need to coach the athlete through motivation, confidence, self-esteem, positive self-talk, leadership, etc.

This neck up coaching alludes to sport psychology and behavior change–and again, how can we, as coaches, make athletes, clients, etc. believe in themselves, motivate them, etc. I think you see the point here. The mind is a powerful “muscle.”

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