Practical Practices During Exercise to Manage Emotions: Master Your Body & Mind
Emotions, Disease & Self-talk
Emotional health often connotes privilege and luxury. Minorities especially, or those from older generations were encouraged to ignore our emotions or simply get over them. When we consider the term health, it’s simply not a priority to most. The goal isn’t to become a victim, but rather to build better capacity to manage emotions rather than simply ignore them. Why is this important? Well, It’s critical to your physical health. Not immediately, but chronic stress is scientifically proven to cause mortality like heart disease and cancer. It also plays a crucial part to our recovery from severe illnesses and injury. Confronting our emotional world can resolve cycles of relational turmoils and improve markers of disease. Unfortunately, if you weren’t raised to understand your emotions, they can feel foreign to you as an adult. The key is to first become aware of your internal dialogue.
In the previous blog post, we discussed how self-talk reveals self-belief and is paramount to your mental health. Changing such will impact your actions and feelings. Today’s post will uncover specific practices to apply during your training session, whether your battling anxiety, hypervigilance, depression, or fear. Let’s train your emotional capacity through active learning; quite literally through physical training. Whether through strength training, cardio, or calisthenics, just find whatever mode of exercise works for you. The emotional building principles are the same.
The Physiology: How exercise can help you manage your emotional state
Before we dive into practices, it is important to understand your body’s automatic response to exercise, regardless of you actively working on your emotional state while training. When you know the science, it helps to ground your belief in bettering your emotional world through training, and motivates you to continue.
Stress Distraction:
Whether you step into the gym or work out at home, you’re able to focus on your body and mind. Making that time for yourself gives you a break from all the other stresses going on in your life. When you start exercising at the appropriate intensity, cortisol (a stress hormone) is automatically reduced in your body. The break from thinking of life’s problems and the chemical reactions from exercising brings you into a calmer state of mind, providing a clear mind to make the best decisions.
Hormone Regulation & Neurotransmitters Released:
Through consistent exercise your brain chemistry begins to change. Your hormones balance as cortisol and insulin become regulated, leading to a stable mood and emotional control. Neurotransmitters are the “feel good” chemicals in your brain that get released during exercise — dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Even after a hard training session, most people will still feel better about themselves because of the reward and pleasure effect of serotonin.
Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity is the plasticity of the brain. Think of plastic and how easily it can fold, bend and take shape—saran wrap for example can be manipulated into anything shape you want. The brain has the ability to drastically change as well, and exercise automatically induces these changes. With at least 90 minutes a week at moderate intensity, exercise elicits substantial benefits. Exercise with the same time prescription, is as effective as anti-depressants without the side-effects of fatigue, skin and organ issues. And particularly, exercise with a focus on mind-body connection increases emotional regulation by increasing the density of gray matter in the brain.
Cognitive Restructuring: Change Your Self-talk During Exercise
Cognitive restructuring simply means to change your thought instincts. We all have automatic scripts in our minds, they can be insecurities and doubts that don’t serve us well in our relationships, career, and life pursuits. These negative thoughts don’t go away just because we want them too. You have to constantly train your mind to think otherwise until we replace our automatic thoughts to be positive.
It’s like when you lift, your approach to the bar can make or break you. If you go in unsure of yourself it translates to how you perform in the lift — lighter loads start to feel heavier, the lift might not be as smooth, and the grind feels harder. At the worst you can’t lift what you know you can.
It’s best to take a step back, regroup, and approach the bar knowing you can do it. At times, when you catch yourself automatically thinking negatively about a situation, it’s best to apply the same principle before you go into a downward spiral.
Conclusion
Exercise is a powerful tool to manage stress and emotions, helping you achieve balance mentally and physically. If you’re ready to take control of your emotional health, our virtual personal training programs are designed to build both your physical and emotional resilience.
About the Author:
COACH DEE | CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER ACE—CPT, PPSC, TIWL
Deborah Park, known as Coach Dee, is the owner of Drip Training LLC and an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and Health Coach. With a background in architecture and kinesiology from the University of Virginia, she has extensive experience in personal training and athletic coaching in a clinical (physical therapy) setting. Coach Dee combines her scientific knowledge with years of hands-on experience to create programs that empower clients to regain control over their bodies and minds.
Her journey into personal training was deeply influenced by her personal struggles, including recovering from a life-changing car accident that led to PTSD and pain from scoliosis. This experience gave her a unique understanding of the connection between mental health and physical well-being. Coach Dee is committed to helping clients develop resilience, build strength, and rediscover their confidence—no matter the challenges they face.
