Five stress-busting exercises

There is more to be had from your weekly exercise routine than physical health and a bod that brings all the girls to the yard – it could also improve mental health. Here are five stress-busting exercises.

By Robert Carry

1. Adopt a fight sport

Kung-fu and karate are best left to ginger-haired bully-victim eight-year-olds , but boxing, Muay Thai or MMA are great ways to blast away the stress of your work and personal life.

The amped up rate of exercise on the go in fight classes means endorphins are blasting around your body, relieveing stress as they go. Having to fight various other members of your class will put the stresses of a missed work deadline or a nagging girlfriend into perspective and will leave you feeling blessed out and rejuvenated afterwards.

Picturing your irritating work colleague’s face on the punch bag you’re murdering doesn’t hurt either.

2. Breath it deep at Yoga class

It may be the polar opposite of smashing the life out of punch bag, but this ancient technique is a great way of bringing the body and mind into sync – banishing stress as you go.

You don’t have to take up tree-hugging or move to a Corrib commune to get something out of it. The basic concept of focusing on your breathing and what is going on internally is a great way of distancing yourself from all the external stuff that triggers stress.

3. Get drafted into Bootcamp

Bootcamps, as you’ve probably heard, get you out of the strip-lit, air-con gym and into the muddy field up the road. They use military style fitness techniques that involve sprints, circuits and motivational games aimed at improving cardio, muscular endurance, muscular strength and flexibility.

The high-intensity level means gushing endorphins; as does being out in natural light at this time of year. Many programs, like the one put together at Bootcamp Ireland, incorporate various games to keep the craic going when you’re hard at it.

Also, the fact that the routines are carried out as part of a group means Bootcamp has a sociable aspect to it that the treadmill waste land doesn’t.

4. Caveman training

Caveman training is a mix of traditional and more modern strength and conditioning exercises. It is designed to get away from the free-weights only regimes that build Jersey Shore-style muscle that in reality, is about as useful as tits on a nun.

You will be whipping battling ropes, man-handling sand bags and kegs, hitting tractor tyres with a sledge hammer, swinging kettle bells and fireman lifting your fellow class members. These classes are a great vent for the aggression anyone with testicles capable of producing a normal level of testosterone builds up.

5. Distance running

By comparison to the rest of the animal kingdom, the physical specimen that is modern man is slow, weak, can’t fly and is crap at swimming. However, there is one area in which our physical prowess towers over the achievements of the beasts – distance running.

Although it can take a toll on your lower joints and isn’t the greatest way in the world of getting fit, we are designed to run.

When it comes to stress busting, pulling on your jogging shoes and pounding pavement works wonders in that is an excellent opportunity to clear the mind. As with other exercises, your body rewards your efforts with a burst of endorphins. Although it takes a bit longer to kick in with distance running, many joggers describe it as being almost euphoric.