Exercise to Improve Mental Health. Anyone fancy an accountability thread?

[MissKeithsNeice]

I'm promising 100% success guaranteed
Together, we will find the motivation and lo! all our problems will disappear.

Anyone up for joining me? No prior experience needed. All levels of fitness welcome.

I'd love to join! I exercise regularly because if I don't I'm a right miserable knob!

exercise regularly because if I don't I'm a right miserable knob! Is that you, DH?

Thank you for joining me. What is your preferred exercise?

Definitely up for this. I am feeling very anxious and stressed at the moment. I am going to start by trying to do at least 6K steps. Hoping to build up to 10K in a bit. How are you going @MissKeithsNeice?

Well, I came into the Exercise section looking for people’s solutions on how they make sure they do what they plan/want/need to. I have lots of good intentions

I have come to the realization that I do not enjoy or do well in team activities and prefer solo things which can possibly be done as a group, or a group where people meet to do x, y, z. This could be a running group, a yoga class (tailored to own needs), swimming (each to their own). The bottom line I found was - I can do it but I need somebody to be accountable to.

Not in the UK, under stay at home orders and anticipating that nothing is going to open up for at least another month. Outside group activities not permitted, nor meeting up outside.

I would like to do exercise at home or start walking/running. The reality is, quite embarrassingly,, that anything is a vast improvement.

Sorry I didn't see your tag OP!

I enjoy running and HIIT workouts mainly.

Went for a run in the hail and rain today but feel sooooo much better for it.

Sorry for starting a thread then running off. Not literally running, obviously I took the initial lack of interest in the thread as a sign that I don't need to exercise 😉

Welcome @mamakoukla and @Whatisthisarghhh

Mama- its good that you know what works for you but less good that what works for you can't happen in lockdown. Are you going to wait til everything reopens or is there anything you would like to do before then?

Whatisthis - walking is just so good for mental health. Have you been hitting your 6k target? If 6k is a struggle, it makes me think you've got a lot on?

Running in the hail sounds awesome @sittingonacornflake . When I was running, I loved really shitty weather. It made me feel like a superhero

If you all are serious about making this an accountability thread, can I suggest we check in with three micro actions?

I'll start:
Walk to work one day this week
Find my running watch and charger
Try 1km run and 30min stretch/yoga after

@MissKeithsNeice well, later….. would be in keeping with not having someone to be accountable to!

But no, this thread is precisely the point of that.

Since I wrote on here I have been keeping up daily physio therapy exercises and today I did go for a (too short) walk. And yes, it does help how I feel and I know it reaps physical health benefits as well.

So, next step should be a commitment list.

I will be back….

I did actually feel quite empowered running in the hail 😆 I'm slightly concerned my trainers won't be dry and I'm going for a another run this morning!

Ok so my accountability:

3 runs outdoors. Even if they're short I just feel such great mental health benefits when I exercise outdoors.

If all my runs are short then I will do 5 HIITs but if any runs go over 6km then I will ditch a HIIT.

Something I've been meaning to do for ages but never dedicating any time is some mobility sessions so I'm going to do 2 30 minute mobility stretching sessions this week! Again, whilst these will obviously benefit my physically I really want to see if I have good mental health benefits from the time out to stretch and calm down.

Ooohhhh I feel so accountable 😆

So @Whatisthisarghhh how are those steps coming along?

@mamakoukla I exercise mainly at home due to being a single parent and I can only really run outdoors at the moment as I'm working from home. But for exercise at home I really recommend checking out Joe Wicks channel on YouTube - the body coach. He used to really bloody irritate me but actually I started doing PE with Joe in lockdown and just having that routine of a programme of exercises to following meant I really stuck to it. I also really liked that so many others were doing it too. This has progressed for me actually and I've downloaded his app now which is a bit more tailored both for food and exercise. There is a great Facebook support group that runs with it which I find really good for boosting motivation.

@MissKeithsNeice - did you find your running watch? 1km sounds like a good achievable starting run and 1 I imagine you will quickly build up, especially if you're looking after your body with lots of lovely stretching after.

Thank you for starting this thread!!

Walked to work once ✔
Found running watch ✔
Ran 1k and stretched after ✔

Really proud of myself. Especially for the run this morning. I used to run regularly but had done maybe 3 runs in the last year.

Next three goals:

Run 1k and stretch/yoga again
Join local pool
Wear watch 24/7

The watch is really important as I do like the stats and I enjoy tracking sleep etc.

Hi, great idea for a thread! Can I join?

My mental health hit a new low in lockdown but I'm now feeling really motivated to eat the right food and move my body everyday!

I do PT sessions twice a week for 30 mins on zoom which is mainly strength training but not a lot else to be honest. Having an allotted time to do it and someone to talk to really helps. I'm going to aim to do 30 mins of some type of movement everyday! (Keeping the brief quite loose there 😂)

I have kept doing all of my daily physio exercises, which is a reasonable upper body work out as it is aiming to work on stabilizing my shoulder joints and rebuilding arm strength following an injury.

Thanks to the thread I have also completed 3 x 5 km walks in the last week.

Yes, absolutely love the feeling of running in the rain or hail. I finally achieved my wish of running in the falling snow last November and there was one day where it was hailing. Going along with almost closed eyes… it was amazing to find I’d gone further than I’d thought. We were told about our coming out of lockdown plans yesterday. Once permitted, I will join a running group again. Trying to pluck up the courage to go out on my own. I know this is daft. I really do believe it is but can’t figure out what’s at the bottom of whatever is holding me back. Do I even need to know?

Can I join? I was running about 3/4 times a week early mornings (DP goes to work at 6.30am so had to get out by 6am) with my dog but since we've moved house mid April it's all gone to shit.

My 3 micro goals for next week:

Wear fitbit 24/7
Develop habit of waking 5.30am
Get out with the dog early at least 3 times.

Hello to the new joiners. You are really welcome and thank you all for posting and keeping this thread alive.

Awful week here - tough, tough work week after a tough few hard months more generally. Am a bit at breaking point - barely sleeping, struggling to eat, overwhelmed and just lost my mind a bit.

Not done any of my last three goals. Have a massage booked tomo. Just working on getting myself back up again.

Sorry you've had a bad week/few months. Hopefully the massage will help you to sleep. Get a good meal in you

@MissKeithsNeice totally recognise that state so sending you 💐💐💐

I've lost it a bit the last couple of days and my new regime went out the window but going to at least try and spend half an hour in the garden today.