Exercise Can Advance Your Mental Health

Everyone knows that exercise comes with many physical benefits. It will improve your physique, slim your waistline, and improve your chances of living longer. But did you know that it is also one of the most successful ways to advance your mental health? Exercising constantly can positively help with depression, anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, and trauma. It reduces stress, improves your memory, helps you sleep well, and enhances your general mood. You don’t need to do insane workouts for long periods of time to get these benefits. Going on a simple walk or just doing a short 10-minute workout can make a difference. If you exercise daily, you will feel more energetic and become more positive. No matter your age or fitness ability, you can use exercise to your benefits as a way to feel better mentally, physically, and live a better life.

Exercising in the Water Benefits

Exercising in water 2 to 3 times a week has many benefits, particularly if you are recovering, or have an injury. Do to the buoyancy water provides you with ability to do exercises that otherwise would hurt your knees and joints on land. Do to this you can stay in shape without pounding or irritating your joints. Water also provides a consistent resistance to every movement. About 12%-14% more resistance is added to your actions than when you workout on land. Water workouts will improve flexibility and strength, while building up endurance.  It will increase muscular flexibility and balance. Exercising in water can also improve your ability to control and maintain a good, healthy weight, while improving your physique. Especially if it is hot outside, exercising in water will cool the body continuously so you don’t get overheated.

Increase Your Speed

Speed is valuable at any level of competitive athletics. Improving your agility and quickness can be done with a few drills and exercises. Sprints are the best way to improve speed.  The start is the most crucial part of a sprint. To practice your starting position, you can do wall dives. To do a wall dive, stand in front of the wall in a two-point stance. Explode into the wall driving your front knee up to the hip height. Another exercise you can preform is the sled drag. For this exercise the weight of the sled should be close to your max squat weight. When doing this drill, be sure to drive your knees up and keep your body weight forward. Lastly, you should develop the isometric and eccentric hamstring strength by doing bent-knee hip thrusts on a ball or bench. This exercise will help your quickness by keeping the knee joints stable as force transports from the hips. Do these exercises consistently for a couple of weeks and you will see great improvements in your speed.

Ladder

The agility ladder is an inexpensive piece of exercise equipment that you can use on any flat surface. This ladder helps you improve your agility and speed. Using the quick, short movements that the ladder enables you to do, you can strengthen your joints, ligaments, and tendons. It also strengthens your heart and lungs due to the HIIT workout it provides. Not only does the ladder help you physically, but also it helps you mentally by improving your focus and coordination. When it comes to the ladder, you can be creative and make up your own movements. You can start off with running through the ladder using high knees, side shuffling, and doing one-legged jumps. If you are more advanced, you can do moves like the icky shuffle. To do this move, stand at the bottom left corner of the ladder, facing the direction of the ladder, then step your right foot into the first square and bring your left foot into the same square. Once the left foot touches the ground, bring the right foot out of the square and move the left foot forward. Next, move the right foot into the same square as the left foot. Once the right foot touches the ground you will step the left foot out of the square. Continue this pattern until you reach the end of the ladder. This move is tricky, so start slow and increase your speed as you become more familiar with the drill.

Vertical Jump

People always ask themselves, “How can I jump higher?” Many might think it has to do with footwear, genetics, or you just simply need years of training. But, with a few simple exercises, you can get a higher jump within a few weeks. First, you must loosen up all the leg muscles by rolling them on a foam roller. This will get rid of all the tight knots you might have in your muscle and it will lengthen them. You should roll the muscles slowly for about 30 to 40 seconds and stop when you hit a tender spot. You should manly work on the calves, hip and quads. Next, you want to do the Bulgarian split squats. This squat will give your legs power and balance to improve your jumping ability. Lastly, you should practice depth jumps. They will improve your explosiveness and will help your lower body muscles stimulate when you need to catch air. To preform this exercise you start by stepping off a box and then bursting up the second you land on the ground. Start on a box 6 to 8 inches of the ground and increase the height of the box as you become stronger. Do these exercises constantly for a couple of weeks and you will see huge improvements in your jumping ability.

Smoothies

You just finished your workout. You are exhausted. Your body is aching and your dripping sweat. Now, you must refuel the body and smoothies are the perfect snack to consume after a workout. They offer a simple way to get protein, carbs, and antioxidants into the body to help build muscles, restore glycogen, and fight inflammation and cell damage. Your smoothie should consist of 15 to 20 grams of protein, blended with greens, veggies, or fruit. You should consume the smoothie 30 to 60 minutes after the workout to get maximum benefits.  A smoothie you can try at home is, ½ a cup of almond milk, a tablespoon of creamy peanut butter, a cup of frozen berries, one banana, a teaspoon of honey and cinnamon, and a scoop of protein powder. This is my all time favorite after workout smoothie, because it tastes great and gives my body all the essential nutrients it needs after a tough workout.