Beat the November blues with some muscle!

Able to lift heavy objects with greater ease, increased bone density, reduced joint pain, toned legs, arms and abs, improved posture…the benefits associated with regular weight/strength training are many but we don’t hear much about the association between strength training and mental health.

What if lifting weights, pulling on elastics bands or doing push-ups had a positive effect on your mood?

Strength training exercises to reduce the symptoms of depression

A meta-analysis, derived from 33 randomized clinical trials involving 1877 participants, has shown that regular resistance exercise training, like lifting weights, significantly reduced some symptoms of depression. Symptoms such as, moodiness, irritability, lack of interest and feelings of hopelessness.

The study showed that these positive results were observed regardless of medical condition, whether strength increased or not and despite the prescribed regimen. Indicating that every little bit helps, regardless of who you are and what shape you’re in!

Furthermore, the World Health Organization and the American College of Sports Medicine endorse 2 to 3 weekly cardiovascular (aerobic) activity sessions to help reduce symptoms of depression.

Hints on how to introduce strength training exercises

So, what do your weekly workouts look like? Do you just do cardio or do you combine it with weight training? Ideally, you should do both.

Here are some hints on how it’s done :

• Watch this video clip featuring Claudia, one of our personal trainers, in which she suggests a program designed to tone those glutes (in French).

• Discover new group exercise classes that last only 30 minutes called « Haut du corps » (upper body) and « Bas du corps » (lower body) and let the instructor guide you and help tone your muscles in a dynamic atmosphere! Click here to consult the schedule of the Nautilus Plus center near you.
• And finally, a meeting with one of our personal trainers can inspire you to include weight/strength training exercises that are designed to fit your needs and objectives into your weekly routine.

Personally, the positive effects of exercise on my mood are immediate! How about you?

Reference:

• Gordon BR et coll. Association of efficacy of resistance exercise training with depressive symptoms: meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis of randomized clinical trials. JAMA Psychiatry 2018; 75: 566-576 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29800984

Beat the November blues with some muscle! is a post from Nautilus Plus. The Nautilus Plus blog aims to help people in their journey to fitness through articles on training, nutrition, motivation, exercise and healthy recipes.
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