Your Workout Might Be Saving Your Mental Health

00:00You miss a workout and your whole day feels off. Not because you're tired, not because your body needed rest, because you feel guilty. You feel worthless. You feel like you failed. That guilt that you are feeling, that is not discipline. That's your mental health being tied to a behavior in a way that isn't serving you. Anxiety lives in our body. I think in one way, shape, or form, we all have it. And it doesn't just live in the mind. You know, you have a racing heart, you have a shallow breathing, you have muscle tension.

00:30When you exercise, you're giving your body an outlet for that psychological stress response. You're burning off that adrenaline, which is why a hard workout can feel like a full emotional exhale when you need the gym. This is why. What's going on, everyone? Hey, you guys. Welcome back to another episode of The WarriorBabe Show, where on these episodes, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident.

01:04I'm your host, Nikki Stott. And on today's episode, episode number 345. Today's episode is one that I have been, I've honestly been sitting with this for a while, mainly because it's personal and because I think it's something that a lot of us just need to hear right now. In this episode, we're going to talk about why you work out and not like the fitness industry answer, not the answer that you give when someone asks you in the gym, like your real answer,

01:36like the one that's underneath the, oh, I'm working out because I have this set goal, or I'm working out because I want to feel strong, or, you know, working out to better my health. Like, there's an answer that's beneath that. And the conversation I want to have with you guys today is from what I'm seeing data start to confirm what a lot of us already feel, which is the number one reason people work out in 2026, is because of their mental health. It's not because of aesthetics. It's not because of performance. It's not because of, you know, I want to, yes, it's like I want to get to a goal.

02:11And I'm going to talk about that within this episode. But it's like mainly I get to the gym because it makes my brain feel good. It makes me feel good. It's that mental and emotional well-being. That ranked higher than physical fitness goals. Like higher than like weight loss. Higher than all of it. It was more so I get into the gym because if I don't, then I'm a punching bag for the rest of the day. Or people around me are punching bag because of my emotional offload onto them. Because if I don't get into the gym, then my mental well-being is not, it's subpar.

02:45Like I've heard that from so many people. Now I'm not saying that people don't go to the gym because they also have a weight loss goal. But what studies are starting to show is that this is why people really do it. Like it's higher than just the physical aspects of getting into the gym. And I think that that changes everything about how we should be talking about fitness moving forward. You know, instead of Worry Bay, we talk about the mindset. Mindset is a huge pillar. It's not just macros. It's not just here's a workout plan. It is our mindset aspect on what's going to take somebody from where they are now at the beginning of their journey

03:16to changing their mindset to get them to the transformation that they want at the end. And that's what I feel like with the conversations, how they should be. So in today's episode, we're going to go there. We're going to talk about it. We're going to unfold it, unpack it, and really just get down to like some, even some science-y stuff I'm going to bring into this episode too as well. So yeah, so let's just get into it. So for a really long time, the fitness industry sold us on one thing, right? It sold us on having a smaller, a leaner, a tighter, more toned body. It's still doing that to this day. It sold us on like the before and the after.

03:47And like if you worked out, then, you know, you're going to do this because it's going to make you look different. That was the goal. And look, I'm not like I'm saying, I'm not here to tell you that wanting to look good is wrong. It's not. We're all here to accomplish some types of goal because that mentally ties into how we're feeling. But there is nothing and there's nothing wrong with having aesthetic goals. But I think a lot of us were using aesthetics as the only language we had to justify taking care of ourselves.

04:18Because saying I go to the gym because it's the only hour of my day where I feel like myself, like that felt too, it's too vulnerable. So nobody really says that to somebody else other than if you're in your close friend, right? Think about that. Think about the conversations and how I'm like trying to unpack this is you won't say you'll say that to somebody close in your family or in your circle. But if you're talking to somebody at the gym, it's like, oh, I have an X goal to get to, right? Because results like it's almost like results oriented is how our brains were.

04:50But it's something starting to shift. I think that it started back in the pandemic. Like that broke something like in the best way. When gyms closed and the world fell apart, people kept moving. And they didn't keep moving for abs. They kept moving for their sanity, for their structure, for a routine, for something to hold on to when everything else felt like it was chaos. If you think back to that time that was what, like six years ago, some people were still cached potatoes. But majority of the world was like, I'm going to get outside. I'm going to go for a walk.

05:20I'm going to focus on my health because this pandemic is taking out people that weren't focusing on their health. So if I start focusing on my health and focusing on my mental well-being and being outside with them cooped inside all day long, right? You get you tracking with me here? And we kind of haven't gone back. Because once you feel what movement does for your mind, it's really hard to unfeel that. So now we're in this moment where the research is catching up to what the gym girls have been doing and known in their bones for years, right? I don't work out for aesthetics.

05:52I work out because it makes me feel good. I work out because I'm training for life, right? Exercise is mental health care. And it deserves to be talked about, like loudly talked about. Because I think a lot of people are now finally realizing that, like, there's still a lot of conversations. Don't get me wrong. I'm like, I want to look toned on. I want to be this way. And I want to be lean and fit for the summertime. Results oriented. But then there's also, like, it's almost not enough. It's like this pillar of mental health and mental well-being tied to you working out is becoming like this next wave, in my opinion.

06:27Okay? So I want to go to, like, science here for a second. Not in, like, a boring way, I promise. But because I think understanding why movement affects your mood is actually really empowering. Like, it's not just, like, a vibe. There's actually real stuff happening internally, mentally. You know, in your mind, things are shifting. You guys have probably heard these terms before, too, as well. But I really want to just get down to the why behind it because you guys know how I feel. If you understand the why, you're more likely to get behind it and actually start implementing it more.

07:00Or start to change your mindset on, like, hey, yeah, this is definitely, I'm going to the gym for my well-being. Yes, sure, aesthetics and to feel better and to lose weight and XYZ. But, like, I'm doing it because it makes me feel really good. And then the rest of my day is positively impacted because of that. So endorphins. You guys have probably heard about endorphins, right? But it's more complicated than just, like, you know, than just that. We've all heard exercises release endorphins. And, yeah, that's true. But endorphins are actually just one piece of a much bigger picture.

07:33There's more researchers that are studying it. And the more they realize that the mental health benefits of movement go way deeper than a post-workout rush. So it goes way deeper than motivation. And that brings in my next point, which is dopamine, which I'm sure you guys have heard of. There's dopamine and motivation. So exercise increases your dopamine. Your brain's reward and motivation chemical. This is why consistent training can actually make you more motivated in other areas of your life outside of the gym.

08:06It's not just that you feel good after a workout. You actually start to feel more capable in general. I mean, think about it. How many times have you, if you have been in this journey for a while, bettered your life in your work? Bettered your life in your relationship with your partner? Bettered your life in the structure that you had for your family? This is what's happening behind the scenes of you being and going consistently to work out and get your training done. Also, so those two things like working together, endorphins, dopamine, they make our brains be wired differently.

08:43And it's because of the chemicals that are being released when we start when we work out. Cortisol is also a big thing. It helps working out helps to regulate our cortisol. And this one's huge, especially for women. So we know the chronic stress keeps elevated, keeps our cortisol levels elevated, which then tanks your sleep. It messes with your hormones. It increases your inflammation. It makes just everything harder to do. When you implement consistent and moderate exercise into your routine, this becomes one of the most effective tools we have for regulating our cortisol.

09:19Right? It's not just crushing yourself every day, but being able to have consistent. And you guys know that I've talked about this. Like consistency looks different for everybody. Like on a Monday, something might work out. Tuesday, something might work out. Wednesday is an off day. Thursday might be an off day, but somebody gets into the gym Friday and Saturday. But it's still consistent because that's what they've put down. Like anything less than three to four days a week, then you need to hone in on your consistency. But it looks different for everyone, even on a Monday through Sunday.

09:50It's like someone could be showing up 80%. Next day could be 60%. Then next day could be 100. Then 40. Then 20. Then 90. Right? So it's like, but you're still consistent. And that's going to help to regulate your cortisol. Hey, while you're listening, if you're getting value from this episode, take a moment to tap that review button or share this podcast with a friend. It's a small gesture that goes a long way in helping more women find their way to feeling stronger and more confident in their skin. I appreciate you so much for taking the time to support this show.

10:22Then another avenue of what's actually happening in your brain too with this is like the anxiety and the body. I don't think that a lot of people talk about this. But a lot of people that in my, like, sometimes I have to check myself and bring myself back down to like the beginner's level of people getting into the, their fitness journey. Because I'm in it for over a decade now. But when I talk to people in my circle, they've been in it for that long. We talk about these types of things I'm sharing with you guys here. And because we've, we've, we've been witnesses of it.

10:53And we've also seen the transformations that women have made. And they're also reporting this kind of stuff. But I don't think that it gets talked about enough on people that are just starting out on their journey. Anxiety lives in our body. I think in one way, shape, or form, we all have it. And it doesn't just live in the mind. You know, you have a racing heart. You have a shallow, you have shallow breathing. You have muscle tension. When you exercise, you're giving your body an outlet for that psychological stress response. You're burning off that adrenaline.

11:23You're completing the, the stress cycle. Which is why a hard workout can feel like a full emotional exhale when you leave the gym. This is why. I've heard so many testimonials that people feel like, say that they come off anxiety medication or they don't have anxiety anymore because they just focus on consistent training. This is a perfect example. If you are somebody that has anxiety, it doesn't just live in your mind, lives in your body as well. And this is why working out can feel like such an emotional release.

11:55This is why literally medicine or movement is medicine. Literal. This is, it's documented. Right? You've been taking it this whole time, maybe without even knowing why it's working. Maybe this is like closing some loops on why you feel so good after working out. This is what's happening in your body. Okay? But real talk, so I want to talk to you guys and lean in a little bit. The fact that exercise is good for mental health does not mean that all exercise in all forms at all times is mentally healthy for you.

12:27And I think that making that distinction matters a lot. Because there's a version of using fitness for your mental health that is genuinely healing. And then there's another version that is using the gym to cope, to control, to punish, to avoid things. And those two things can look almost identical from the outside. So I just want to talk through some personally from what I've gone through, what I've lived, and also some patterns that I've seen. I want to talk through this because I think normalizing this conversation is how we actually can help each other.

13:01And then what I ask is that if this is helping you guys realize some things, that you leave this podcast today in this conversation that I'm having with you. And then you also in turn go and help somebody else. Maybe it's by sharing this podcast because maybe what I'm sharing in here, it's hard to articulate to somebody else. Or it is articulating into somebody else and being able to make a shift in that person's life. Because we've all been there. I've been there. I want to talk about the guilt spiral first. You miss a workout and your whole day feels off. Not because you're tired.

13:32Not because your body needed rest. Because you feel guilty. You feel worthless. You feel like you failed. That guilt that you are feeling, that is not discipline. That's your mental health being tied to a behavior in a way that isn't serving you. You are going to the gym. There's a version of you that looks identical from the outside. There's somebody that's using fitness for their mental health and generally is healing themselves. But there's another person doing this. Avoiding, controlling, coping, punishing themselves by feeling guilty for missing a workout.

14:07That's not serving you. Then there's using intensity to numb yourself. Like some of us go so hard. I've been there, done that. That is how I started my fitness journey. I was coming off of being engaged, breaking off an engagement and starting literally three months later starting, not even, almost a month later starting my fitness journey. I was a New Year's resolutioner. So some of us go hard, not because we want to get stronger, but because if we stop moving, we have to feel something that we don't want to feel.

14:42That was me. So if you're there right now, I feel you and I resonate with you. The gym becomes a way to outrun this anxiety, outrun this grief or outrun the emotions that at the end of the day need to be processed through, not ignored or pushed under the rug, not sprinted past. The workout isn't the problem. It's what you're not letting yourself do when you're not in the gym.

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15:51Look, don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit WarriorBabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's WarriorBabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. I'm saying all this with love because I've been there. And then there's something that this has also happened to me is by being in an identity trap. When I'm someone who works out every day no matter what.

16:25Because it becomes who you are. This was me in my bodybuilding days. Rest feels like an identity crisis. Even though your body is screaming at you that it is exhausted. You're not just taking a day off. You're not being yourself. And that rigidity is worth looking at. It's worth you being honest with yourself and saying, hey, am I somebody that does this? And then sitting with yourself and processing on the day that you decide to take off because you're exhausted.

16:57Being able to sit with the emotions of what that actually feels like. That goes back to what I just said before that with numbing. Right? You're going to the gym to numb something. And those emotions need to be processed. And I'm going to say this last time. I'm going to lean a little bit lightly on it. But exercise and disordered eating. And I'll name this one, again, like I said, a little bit lightly because it still needs to be said. But using exercise to compromise for eating or feeling like you have to earn food through your workouts.

17:28Or like you watched your calorie burn. And now you're like, okay, I can go eat this kind of food. I can go eat this amount of food afterwards. That's a disordered pattern. It doesn't always look like what we imagine when we picture an eating disorder. But it can look like a really disciplined fitness person. But it's hurting you. And you deserve some type of support in that. And I say none of this is a shame, you guys. I'm saying it because I think a lot of us are somewhere on the spectrum. And we don't have language for it. It's not being leaned in or talked about.

17:58Because either some people are afraid to lean in it and be able to communicate it. Because it's unsure how people will receive it. Or it's just they don't have the ability to articulate it. And a part of working out for your mental health is being honest about when the way you're training isn't actually healthy. So the question to ask yourself here is. Because that's heavy. What we just talked about is heavy. Right? Especially if there's somebody that you know or to you or a friend or a co-worker that may be doing this. It's heavy to sit in that.

18:28So to come out of it, a question to ask yourself is when you miss a workout, how do you feel? Do you feel relieved? Do you feel rested? Or do you feel anxious, guilty, and like you failed? And your honest answer is going to tell you a lot about your relationship with exercise. And that's where you can lean a little bit more into how to start fixing that coping mechanism that you have. To be more for your mental health and looking at it as a outlet and looking at it as a relief.

18:58And looking at it as like I'm bettering myself and I'm healing through my fitness rather than trying to have it be controlled. So now putting this into practice. Because I don't want this to just be like one, we sit in the heavy and then we come, then we, you know, we talk about all the things and why this is and what it is. But I want something concrete that you can take into your next week. Okay? So how can you start implementing this? How can you put this into practice? First and foremost, know what you actually need that day.

19:29Some days your mental health needs intensity. It needs a heart lift. It needs a sprint. It needs an outlet for stress. Other days it just needs gentleness. It needs a walk. It needs slow yoga flow or it needs generally nothing at all. But tuning into what you need rather than just executing what's on the program is a skill. And that's one that keeps getting stronger and sharper the more that you practice it. It's you being in control of it. Not allowing exercise to be in control of you.

20:02So by you tuning in, hey, does my body actually need a break today? Okay. Lean into that a little bit. And then watch when you lean into it. What does that actually feel like? When do you feel all of these anxious and guilty emotions? Okay, process that. Work through it. Write it down. Journal. And it's not going to happen overnight. You're still going to feel like that in three weeks. Let me just tell you that. But as long as you... It's like a muscle. It's about working and building that muscle over months.

20:32And putting it into practice. What I'm saying here. Another thing is stop using metrics as your only measure of a good workout. Weight lifted. Calories burned. Steps counted. These are all valid data points. Don't get me wrong. But they're a terrible way to measure whether a workout did what your mind actually needed. Instead, if you're somebody that's working on this, I'd be like, how do I feel right now compared to what I did before I worked out? Did I move through something emotionally today? Did I show up for myself?

21:02Like those matter too. Do I feel like an emotional exhale coming out of a workout? Great. You're doing it for healing. Again, you're the one that's in control of it. Another thing I would say is let the goal be consistency over intensity. So showing up moderately in consistency does more for your brain than crushing it three times a week and burning it out. Burning yourself out. A 20-minute walk five days a week is generally more powerful than for mental health than one brutal 90-minute session.

21:34I'm not saying that you can't train hard. Don't get me wrong here, you guys. It's more so checking in with yourself and being like, hey, what do I need today? Do I need to still get my workout? Like you're still working out four days a week. But maybe one day that your train program was set on a Tuesday, but you wake up feeling exhausted because maybe the day before either you didn't sleep well, there was a lot of stress at work. You're allowed to take that off and push that workout to Wednesday. Or checking in with yourself before you get into the gym. Like for me, when I'm in my luteal phase, which is the weeks before my period, like the 10 days before, the last thing I want to do is a brutally intense workout and go balls max to the wall.

22:16My body ain't there. That's something I've learned over time. I'm still in the gym and I'm still going to challenge myself, but challenging myself to what I'm capable of that day. That's what I mean by this episode. So really getting to that point of where you are able to have those conversations with yourself. And I want to leave this episode with you guys like with something maybe you didn't know that you needed, which is permission. Permission to work out because it makes you feel like yourself. Not because you need to change your body. Not because you have a goal to hit. Not because you saw something on your feed that made you feel behind on social media.

22:50But because it's one of the best things you can do for your mind and you deserve that. I'm giving you permission to scale back when your mental load is heavy. To take the walk instead of a PR attempt. To skip a session and not spiral. And to give yourself rest without feeling like you're guilty and you failed. I'm giving you that permission. Permission to be honest about your relationship with exercise. To look at the patterns that aren't serving you. And to get support and to figure and to journal and to heal from that. And that could be from a therapist, a coach, a friend.

23:21Or just this podcast. Right? And then also just a permission to rewrite your why at any point in your journey that you're going to go through multiple seasons. The reason why you started working out doesn't have to just take me for example, my story. The reason I started working out was all of the things that I just listed above. The exercise controlled me. I was running away at the beginning of my workout or the beginning of my journey. Running away from having to process emotions and learning how to do that. You're going to have to do it at some point, guys.

23:52Right? I just say that because I love you. You're allowed to evolve. You're allowed to change your why along the course. And how you started working out doesn't have to be the reason why you keep going. Sure as heck isn't the reason why I keep going every day. I keep going because my mental health loves it. And I've healed myself through exercise. You are allowed to evolve. You're allowed to decide that how you feel matters more than how you look. You're allowed to train for your life, not just your body. Literally, that is my... When someone asked me in the gym, what are you trained for?

24:22I'm trained for life. That's actually the strongest thing that you can do. Okay? So that's it for today's episode. And honestly, I would love to know where this landed for you. Like this one, this one, it was a little bit heavy. But also at the same time, there was a lot of enlightenment that came from this. And so I'm just wondering where it landed. And if, you know, this one, just reach out to me on Instagram. And tell me like, tell me that. Start a DM. I want to know.

24:53Right? And if you've ever felt guilty for resting, if you've ever had a complicated relationship with exercise, if you ever needed someone to tell you how to feel, I'm hoping that this is what it was. All right? This episode hit home. Please share it, you guys. Send it to your gym besties. Send it to your sister. Send it to your friend. Send it to someone who needs permission right now for all of the things that I just gave you guys permissions for. That's how we grow. All right? Love you guys. I'll see you in the next episode. Peace out. Real quick. If this episode resonated with you or gave you the push that you needed, I'd love for

25:23you to pay it forward. Drop a quick rating and review. Share the podcast with someone who might need it. And help me keep spreading the word. Your feedback not only helps to show grow, but it might just be the nudge someone else needs to kickstart their transformation. Thank you so, so, so much for your support. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.