Do You Even Lift?
The benefits of sports and physical activity on mental health and well-being
Written by Brian Carreira LPC, NCC, May 2024
I tend to get to the gym around 5:30 in the morning. I have been making the 10-minute drive to my gym in the dark of early morning 3 or 4 times a week since joining last year. Over the course of that year, I have changed my routine a couple times as my goals shifted; I have worked through injuries and been laid out by injuries; and most importantly, I have both pushed myself beyond what I thought was possible and been humbled in equal measure.
The physiological impacts of exercise and sports on mental health are well known. Improved blood flow to the brain and increased production of stress relieving hormones are typically attributed to improved capacity to manage mood and response to difficulties. Improved sleep, improved libido, more energy, and better memory have all been linked to regular exercise. And yet there is something more being active does for our sense of well-being.
Moving something heavy less than 2 feet and doing it again, over, and over, may seem to be the definition of a futile activity. Attempting to hit a ball across a field so you can run towards a set of white bags may seem silly. But a few things shift in our experience of the world as we train our bodies regularly that make these pursuits very much worthwhile. Here are a few that I have noticed:
-
Whether your goal is to win the Stanley Cup or to walk a mile, your mind is engaging in a great problem-solving endeavor, and you are being pushed outside of your comfort zone. When we try something new or attempt to achieve something beyond our current capabilities, we inevitably recognize that what we thought was possible for us is less than what we can do. Sports and exercise do not go well when we coast, much like the rest of our lives. Our bodies and minds adapt, so what used to make us stronger now feels like stagnation. In sports, as in our life, we want to consistently be pushing the envelope just a little bit. Trying keeps us tapped into a sense of purpose.
-
There is a concept in weightlifting called “training to failure”. At some point, you will try to lift a weight or get one more rep and you will be unable to do it. There are studies that say that from a muscle growth perspective, training to failure is gold: a person gets their best muscle growth in the last successful effort before they fail. This isn’t a post about weight training, but it is similar in life. Our mind and body learn (perhaps the most) just before we fail. The challenge many of us face is that failure is painful (not getting that job we hoped for, ending a relationship, flunking a class) and we try to avoid that pain by keeping well on the safe side of failure. Unfortunately, that strategy is a losing one in terms of our sense of well-being because we lack a consistent sense of accomplishment or control over our world. Physical activities such as weightlifting or sports, with the obvious caveats that they need to be pursued safely, create a test chamber where you get used to failure and used to even seeking failure to find improvement. Obviously, in lifting as in life, we won’t benefit from constant failure, but pushing ourselves to the point where we can fail has many adaptive benefits for our body and our minds.
-
Building on the last point, a lot of us frame our goals in the negative. “I don’t want to get sick. I don’t want to lose my job. I don’t want to mess up.” These are understandable sentiments, but they are not things we can really move toward. And often our efforts to do so will end up having the opposite intended effect. And sure, you can play a sport or lift in ways that never push you out of your comfort zone, but goals keep things fresh and interesting. And our minds enjoy being engaged. I can recall several conversations with my stepfather about the new golf swing he was working on perfecting. I am confident that these several conversations were shared over him working on at least 3 different swing techniques. I recall one conversation where he was attempting to describe the swing and twisting his empty intertwined hands to show me the power that he imagined could be generated once he got that swing down. He set a goal and went about pursuing it. Did adding 5 or 10 yards to his drive change his life? Maybe not, maybe so. Learning to set continual, incremental goals is a life skill that can have a positive impact on mental health.
-
The 5 AM crew at my gym is always the same. Occasionally, someone new will be added to the mix, other times, someone may disappear for a week or a month. But it is the same dozen or so individuals. I have chatted with a few of them, others I just give a nod to as we go about our routines. There is great comfort in shared purpose and community, even if that community stops and starts with sharing a space and a brief acknowledgement a few mornings a week. And this is incredibly powerful. We connect to others because of a shared sense of purpose. We can learn from one another, share in the joy of personal and team victories, console one another in defeat, and be reminded that there are other people in the world who care about what we do.
-
The Dunning-Kruger effect is the tendency of people with low ability in a specific area to give overly positive assessments of this ability. Sport and physical activity are quick, low risk ways to come up against the reality that we don’t know what we don’t know. Initially, this can be disillusioning as our dreams of grandeur and belief that we can improve in a straight line are quickly humbled. And yet, this is where we learn. That disappointment is a reality check. I remember the first time I played a round of golf after regular trips to the driving range. For one thing, hitting off grass is very different than hitting off wood covered by turf, but also, I realized that even if I could hit the ball a distance (relatively) well, I had no idea how to accurately chip it 15 feet. I didn’t know what I didn’t know until I tried and was disappointed. But a funny thing happens once we’ve gotten through our first naivete, we get a chance to enjoy and grow in our abilities and pursue success in more realistic and ultimately fulfilling ways. I got a chance to recognize where I can grow.
So, when you are considering ways to improve overall mental health, challenge yourself to get out and do something. Not only does it have a great impact on your body with regards to stress and mood, but it helps strengthen the tools we need to remain flexible in facing life’s challenges.
Resources:
Exercise for Mental Health: doi:10.4088/pcc.v08n0208a
Role of Physical Activity on Mental Health and Well-Being: A Review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9902068/
The Mental Health Benefits of Exercise: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/the-mental-health-benefits-of-exercise.htm
