September 10, 2020 • 35 mins
Many of us already know that cardiovascular exercise not only has a positive effect on our physical fitness, but it also has a positive impact on out mental fitness as well; but what about strength training? Where do the powers of strength training lie when it comes to mental benefits? Well, in this episode, Tom explores some of the more heady aspects of strength training!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. Very
excited to do this show. It goes to everything I
believe in and and what this show is about. We're
(00:21):
gonna talk about strength training, but not in the way
I normally do. I've touched upon this topic in other shows,
but this is one show devoted totally to a benefit
of strength training that I know most people don't think
about and probably don't know the studies. And it is
not what you think about when you think about strength training.
(00:42):
When you think about strength training, you know, the old
school is is bodybuilders and and you know, just a
weird kind of subculture of people. And that has changed
over the years obviously. And people strength train for athletic performance.
They strength train for aesthetic reasons, right, They want to
look good. We talk about strength training and prehab right
(01:06):
to uh, to avoid injuries instead of having to rehab injuries. UH.
And in my new book, The Micro Workout Plan, I
talk about strength training is the fountain of youth for
those reasons, right, and many reasons. And and we talk
about strength training when it comes to metabolism, right because
weight loss is just the top reason so many people exercise,
(01:31):
and a huge part of the show is teaching all
of the other benefits of exercise other than losing weight.
And every time I say that, I followed up with, yes,
we want to be a healthy weight butt. And this
show is a huge butt when it comes to the
benefits of strength training, and it is the fountain of youth.
(01:54):
And yes, we want to avoid what sarco penia, that
fancy exercise term for the loss of muscle mass as
we age. That is one of the main reasons people
lose quality of life as they age, because they lose muscle,
they lose function, and you don't have to I've done
numerous shows and touched on that so many times, and
(02:16):
I will continue because it's so important. But this is
what I absolutely love about doing this show and what
I love about my career and what I do as
a for a living. It's giving you all of the
other reasons there's not just one. And I'm gonna finish
the show by telling you that when you embrace all
of these reasons, that's how health and one else becomes
(02:40):
a lifestyle. And I'll talk more about that shortly. So
talking about strength training. Strength training, it's not just for
all those reasons I just outlined, although those are all
amazing reasons. But here's something you probably haven't thought of,
most of you when it comes to strength training is
(03:01):
your mind? Is your brain? Is your mood? And take
it one step more specifically anxiety and depression. We think
of cardiovascular exercise right the runners high and there have
been so many studies into cardiovascular exercise and depression and
(03:23):
anxiety and improving mood. What about strength training? And a
study came out recently. There there are many in but
this one just got a lot of traction in the news.
And I said, you know what, it's time. It's time
for me to do a show about this. How many
of you think of strength training as helping to improve
(03:44):
your mood? Some of you, I know, some of you do,
many and most do not. And I'm gonna give you
the studies, give you just a handful. You could talk
about why, a couple of hypothesis why and like so
much in exercise, and what I talk about here, it
is the studies, and it's the anecdotal and then it's
(04:07):
the common sense stuff. That's that's where change lies. Where
those three intersect. That's what this show is about. So
strength training and depression. I have a huge connection to this.
I don't need to tell my story yet when it
comes to this, but suffice it to say. One of
(04:28):
the reasons I strength trained is this very reason. And
it wasn't really cognitive. In other words, like you do
it for the vanity reason. You do it too live
longer to rehab the injuries. But what we don't realize
is if you do it enough, you become what's the
horrible term they call exercise people who who you know
(04:52):
do it frequently? You become addicted. Why do we become
addicted to the cardio and the strength? Maybe both? I
have so many benefits outside the ones people think about,
including feeling good mentally. We're gonna talk about why. All right,
quick break, when we come back, we're getting right into it.
(05:12):
The studies strength training, how it improves depression, anxiety, and
things you didn't think about. Quick break, we'll be right back. So,
(05:34):
like I said, this is not something most people think about.
It's not a conversation I have frequently at all. Right,
I pretty much spent my entire day talking exercise and
nutrition and motivation with anyone and everyone, because when they
find out what I do, they ask and I love
what I do, but this is not something that comes
(05:55):
up at cocktail parties very frequently, if at all. Oh,
I lift weights because it makes me feel better mentally.
I was depressed and I started lifting weights and it
really helped. Or I had anxiety and I started strength training,
and I feel better now and the anxiety is lessened.
(06:18):
And let me start also by saying that there needs
to be much more research into this. And I'm gonna
give you three or four studies, but we need many more.
And that pretty much goes for everything we need. We
need so many more studies into everything that we talked
about here, but we look at them and we take
some stuff away. But then we go to the common
(06:38):
sense people. All right, but I just love this topic
because you go, holy cow, all the benefits from cardiovascular exercise,
from strength training, from eating healthy that exceed that number
on the scale. Yeah, it just want to swear, just
(07:03):
curse because that focus, that unending focus on on that
number has to change. And the statistics are kind of
you know, sad that basically the population over the age
of thirteen suffer from anxiety disorders in a given year,
(07:25):
and I would say that number, like most often reported,
it's probably way higher, especially in a time like today
where so much seems out of control. And that's why
at the end of every show I talked about control
and what we can control. But when you reframe strength
training for so many people, especially the older population right sixties, seventies, eighties,
(07:46):
and nineties, strength training. You know Jack wal Laine with
the guy who I looked up to, idolized and was
able to interview, and I'm actually getting ready to do
a tribute to him, just amazing, like he was so
far ahead of the curve it came to strength training
because that population, they believed that it would actually impede
sports performance. And he would give the keys, had to
(08:08):
sneak the keys to friends of his who wanted to
strength train but didn't want their coaches to know, and
they would sneak into his gym late at night. And
the misconceptions about strength training that exists until today are crazy.
But people are not strength training for their mind. Most
(08:28):
you know, have a tough time doing it for their body.
They don't do prehab right, because that's human nature. You
don't fix something till it's broken. And that's why I
hammer home in my newest book about strength training, and
I even had to kind of sit down and analyze
my love of strength training. And I started doing it
(08:51):
at a very young age, as I talked about frequently,
and I'm sure that one of the reasons I do
it is this is this, and one day I will
go much deeper into my connection to this, but that's
not important right now. What's important is that there is
(09:12):
a connection. And the studies show that that strength training
has beneficial effects similar to what most people think about
when they think about cardio, right, but they don't think
about it when it comes to strength training, the mental
health outcomes of strength training. All right, So let's get
right into some studies. And this was the one or
(09:34):
one of the ones that that came out recently that
got a lot of press and for good reason, and
I'm so happy it did, and we need to talk
about it so much more, or other people do. I
will continue to The title is Association of efficacy of
resistance training with depressive symptoms? All right, does strength training
(09:55):
effect depression? And this was in the journal the American
Medical Association Psychiatry June two eighteen, all right, and the
question they were looking at was what is the overall
connection the association of resistance training with depressive symptoms. And
(10:16):
what they found was, and this was a meta analysis,
by the way, so they looked at thirty three clinical
trials almost two thousand participants, and resistance training was associated
with drumroll, please, a significant reduction in depressive symptoms. All right.
And the takeaway from this one very simple, very straightforward.
(10:38):
It supports resistance training as an alternative and or adjunct
therapy for depressive symptoms. Now I kind of want to
go into my story, but I'm not for another day.
So now you don't throw away your medication people, and
cognitive behavioral therapy is what I totally believe and in
(11:00):
other words, changing behaviors slowly, and it's gonna lead to
one of the hypothesis that I truly believe is one
of the main reasons amongst the other ones, that strength
training helps with depression. But these are adjuncts. And then
when you take all of the above, people, when you
(11:22):
do your cardio and you get that that hit the
hormones and all that stuff, and then you do a
little strength training and you're gonna get the hit that
I'm gonna talk about, and then you eat better and
you get you feel good because you have you know,
you don't have that sugar crash, and you feel good
about your choices, and you start putting all these things together,
these small changes that I say aren't so small, but
(11:45):
the small behaviors over time. If you want to know
why I'm always in a really good mood and feel good,
it's all of these things. I did my strength training
this morning, felt good, and again I really had to
go back and do some like just thinking about my
(12:07):
connection to strength training, and I totally believe that on
top of everything else. The problem is that it's not
a controlled study. Right, I'm doing a rope exercise, I'm
doing so many different things. But let me just cut
to the chase and say strength training absolutely has helped
me with depression and anxiety and all those things, absolutely,
(12:30):
no question. And the great takeaway that I'm gonna get
to at the end of just the three or four
studies so you don't have to do a lot, goes
exactly to you know, my philosophy, excessive moderation. But I'll
get to that shortly, all right, So second study here.
This was the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, August
(12:51):
two eleven, title Resistance training improves depressive symptoms and individuals
at high risk for type two diabetes. So a little
bit speci bigg as far as the type two diabetes,
but a lot of people have that. And this study
examined the effect of resistance training on depressed mood in
individuals with high numbers of risk factors for metabolic syndrome
(13:12):
and type two diabetes. It was fifty five middle age
volunteers from the general community who participated. They underwent resistance
training and they did your major muscle groups three days
a week for ten weeks. Pretty great, right, that's you know,
two and a half months, three days a week most people.
It's when most people quit pretty much right, a little before.
(13:32):
Maybe what did they find though? And they were specific, right,
because seven exercises resistance exercise training programs that consist of
seven exercises for the major muscle groups. And here's the
interesting takeaway. At both low, moderate, and moderate high intensities
appear to alleviate to press mood in individuals with these
(13:54):
specific risk factors. And the major takeaway there, well, you know,
the depression side obviously, but the low to moderate and
that's what a lot of these studies found. It's that
great news that you don't have to do super hard,
super intense strength training. And actually, for those of you
(14:16):
who do that, awesome, you don't have to. And there
are studies that said that actually has less of an effect,
has an effect, but less of an effect on mood
and depression than moderate. And one of the takeaways from
that is, well, it's maybe is a stressor right when
you go super high, um, but they all work, and
(14:39):
that's that's what we need to look at. Right. Third study,
I love, love, love love this topic. Can't say that
enough mental health benefits of strength training in adults. Another
review article, and this was American Journal of the Lifestyle
Medicine two thousand ten May, and really amazing. They look
(15:00):
at randomized controlled trials to examine whether strength training influences
and they looked at a bunch of things anxiety, chronic pain, cognition, depression, fatigue, symptoms,
self esteem, and sleep, so a lot of mental components, right,
and their takeaway was that the weight of the available
evidence supported the conclusion that one strength training is associated
(15:24):
with reductions and anxiety symptoms among healthy adults, and that
was in five trials. They found that finding and secondly,
reductions in symptoms of depression among patients with diagnosed depression,
and that was four separate trials. And as I was
putting together this show, I said, do I want to
pull the two apart? In other words, just talk about
depression or just talk about anxiety. No, and I'll talk
(15:49):
about this subject much more in the future. But this
is kind of getting us started and keeping it simple.
But those two are connected. Let's be honest. Anxiety and
depression and when it comes to cardio and strength training.
I mean, I can think of the people I know
who are, you know, years into great behaviors, making a
(16:09):
part of their lives. And when you think about the
reasons why they are so committed, this is one. This
is a major one. It feels good. You may not
even know you go, you know, those of you who
are going to the gym all the time you go.
Of course, there's the vanity side, but wait till I
give you one amazing finding in the research. When it
(16:32):
comes to the vanity side. Let's keep going, actually, because
I want to get to that all right. Here's an
interesting title for a study the Anxiolytic Effects of resistance exercise.
Anxiolytic is a medication or other intervention that inhibits anxiety.
All right, so again title of the study, the Anxiolytic
(16:53):
Effects of Resistance Exercise, Frontiers in Psychology, two thousand fourteen.
And I'm just gonna give you the quick takeaway from
this one. Anxiolytic effects have been observed across a diverse
range of populations and dependent measures measures. These findings provide
(17:15):
support for the use of resistance exercise in the clinical
management of anxiety. You know, there's the great term and
a couple of the doctors whom I love, you know,
exercises medicine, exercises medicine, and especially places in Europe, you know,
doctors who are ahead of their time are prescribing exercise
(17:40):
as a therapy for depression and anxiety. Now to me,
that's nuts that it sounds like it's novel, but you
can't sell it. It's not a pill. I don't want
to get deep into that, but that's part of the
problem obviously. But whether it's aerobic exercise and now you're
(18:02):
learning strength training and put the two together and the
mental benefits. You are going to get huge, huge. All right,
Let's take one more quick break and then we get back.
We're gonna talk about the three hypothesis. Three of them
free hypotheses why and they're more. I'm gonna get to
(18:25):
the three that I believe, and then I think you'll understand,
and then we're gonna pull it all together and show
you how it's such great news shows all about great
news and supporting the great news and giving you that
motivation and the reasons and the mental tools to change
(18:45):
those behaviors that you don't think you can. That you
don't think you'll ever get to. The exercise, the eating health,
you go. It's not for me. I can't do it,
Yes you can. Final break. We'll be right back. All right.
(19:08):
So we're talking about the not so talked about mental
benefits of strength training. Talk about the runners high. And
I remember it's kind of in the side very well
known writer who I once had a letter to The
New York Times published they I'll put that up on
(19:29):
Instagram and it was to this uh writer and the
article was basically that certain people never see results from
exercise no matter what they do. Non responders and my
basic takeaway was I've yet to meet that person. I
have yet to meet that person. And what what is?
(19:50):
What is the non responders? Actually, as I you know,
it's the first time I've thought about it in this context,
it's so nuts. Non responder to exercise. But the weight
didn't change, strength didn't improve. It's nuts, that's nuts. And
the same writer once wrote an article always wanted to
(20:13):
go against the grain obviously be the iconoclass, but that
basically there was no proof that the runners high existed.
And I didn't write in a letter back about that one,
but my response will be, yeah, I felt it. And
there's a reason a hundred thousand people or more try
to get into, you know, the big marathons every year
and whatever. Crazy crazy to me. All right, So why why,
(20:36):
what's the why does it improve our mood? I'm gonna
give you three basic reasons that I believe are causes
potential reasons why strength training helps with depression and anxiety.
And this is this is what the studies say as well. Obviously,
one is the distraction hypothesis, very straightforward, right, physical activity
serves what as a distraction from your worries and your
(20:57):
depressing thoughts, when you're when you're doing squats, when you're
running and listening to music. By the way, you're not
thinking about all of that crazy stuff in your life.
You're not reading Facebook, you're not thinking about that argument
you had with your spouse. And I could do ten
hours on this, and we talked about this. But the
distraction hypothesis is exactly what draws people to cardio and
(21:24):
now to strength as well go out for a run.
And that's why we listen to music and watch TV
when we exercise, because some people want to be distracted
from the exercise itself and that's okay, and then others
want to forget about all the negative stuff. That is
(21:45):
what as I'm saying this, I'm starting to feel good
because I'm thinking about like my races, and when you're
truly pushing your body, like a marathon, ultra marathon, irony
and whatever, a long endurance event, you learned to be
in the moment and you learn that those worries they
don't matter at the time. You know what matters is
(22:05):
getting to that finish line and pushing through that obstacle.
So distraction is one of the greatest benefits of exercise.
We get to just do that. So the distraction hypothesis
we think about that more again with cardiovascular exercise, whether
(22:27):
you're going to the gym though and lifting weights or
doing it down in your you know, home gym, or
going into your backyard, that's what you're focused on, not
all the insanity around you, controlling what you can and
that includes the thoughts in your mind. All right. Number
two hypothesis another big word for us, but basically the
(22:48):
feel good hormones, right, the monoamine hypothesis. Monoamine are basically
the availability of brain neurotransmitters, so monoaman seratonin, dopamine, nor epinefrin.
These are the feel good hormones again, most associated with
cardiovascular exercise. Well, maybe people are feeling those two when
(23:09):
they do resistance exercises, when they do strength training, when
they're pushing, especially maybe at the different intensities depending on
who you are. So again this hypothesis is that exercise
leads to an increase in the availability of these brain neurotransmitters.
These ma no mean all right, as the big exercise
(23:31):
term or physiological term for serotonin, dopamine, and nor epinefrin
makes you feel good, makes you feel good. And that's
why listen. There are people that like to be pushed
at all different levels. And back when I was a
coach and a trainer, that's what you have to figure out.
Some people love to do crazy number of burpies and
other people can't stand it, and so you gotta figure
(23:52):
out the level for that client. But it feels good
at certain levels and certain exercises, and that's why you
find what you like to get on an elliptical. For
me is is torture. I don't like burpies either, and
I don't do either of them very frequently at all
because I don't have to because there's so many other
ways to raise my heart rate and there's so many
(24:12):
other ways to get in a body weight strength training. Okay,
so your monoaman method is up to you as a
huge part of this show. All right, Finally, and this
is gonna be one of my favorites. If you've listened
to other podcasts I talk about self efficacy all the time.
Is one of my greatest takeaways from my studies in
sports psychology. Self efficacy, What is that again? For you
(24:35):
new listeners, that's the belief that you possess the necessary
skills to complete a task as well as the confidence
that the task can be completed with your desired outcome.
It's situational confidence. When you make those small steps and
you succeed, you get confident to keep going. And that
(24:58):
is why I talk about how a dislike fad diets
and crazy workout routines immensely because they don't weed to
self efficacy. They lead to you feeling like you failed,
you couldn't do something, and over time your self efficacy
(25:19):
is lessened and lessened and lessened. So the goal is
to increase your self efficacy. Okay, and Bandura he was
one of the the gurus the psychologist who you know
self efficacy uh main you know a field topic of study,
and he described how to press people often feel, you know,
(25:40):
they can't bring about the positive desired outcome in their
lives and they have low efficacy to cope with the
symptoms of their depression. This is cognitive behavioral. Those people
who have been to therapists and psychologists and who are oftentime.
Obviously different methods for different psychologists and psychiatrists. A cognitive
(26:04):
behavioral They will tell people to go do things, whether
it's work or hobbies, to feel good about themselves and
it builds upon itself. And so going to the gym
lifting a certain amount of weight for the first time,
saying oh, I can do a push up off my knees,
I can lift X amount of weight, and just the
(26:26):
mere fact of going being being proud of the fact
that you're sticking to a program. All of this leads
to self efficacy, which is again back to like non
responders to exercise, what are you talking about? Okay, So
this theory, this hypothesis means that it might be your
(26:47):
sense of accomplishment and confidence that you would attained through
your exercise routine. And here's the amazing thing. The studies
show rather than the achievement of the actual strength gains.
So for many people, yes, you go, oh my gosh,
I benched x amount, I squatted x amount, I deadlifted
x amount. But there's data in studies. I will do
(27:09):
additional shows on this that the positive mood effects of
exercise involvement it's independent of the fitness game. And that's
so counterintuitive. You go, wait a minute, if I didn't
achieve the fitness goal, how how am I feeling good
about it? Well, let's go back to the other hypothesis. Right,
maybe it's the hormones. Maybe it's the distraction. And here's
(27:31):
the thing. When you're distracted, you get to feel good
hormones and you stick with it. Over time, I would argue,
you're gonna improve. But that's great news is that the
fitness gains are not essential. And that's why I want
so many people to start with the goal of just consistency.
That is success. Did you get something in today? Did
(27:55):
you do your five minute workout? Did you go for
a one mile walk? Don't say only you're just you
did something, and so you get that distraction on your walk,
you get those feel good hormones, the monoa mean hypothesis,
and then the self efficacy go, oh, I'm doing something,
(28:16):
it feels good. Sitting on your couch dwelling and negative
thoughts growing through negative stuff on Facebook and other social media.
That's not good for us. All right, and let me
go back one more time to the intensity findings. Handful
of the studies that compared the effects of high intensity
resistance training to moderate intensity found that anxiety was better
(28:39):
reduced with a moderate intensity. No, I'm not saying those
of you who push it really hard and By the way,
what does really hard mean. That's the topic for a
whole another show. But you'll have to why back to
the hypothesis. You're getting all these other things. So those
of you who think you have to squat heavy, you
see people in the gym, you have to do burbies.
You don't have to do any of that low to
(29:01):
moderate intensity. Okay, strength training, all right, I want to
do five hours on this. I want to give you
more studies. But that's what this shows about. It's just
putting these seeds into your head. And I want to
kind of wrap it up with this. You know, I
talked about all the time that my job is to
make people look better, feel better, and live longer. And
(29:23):
when you get away from the just look better part
with the number on the scale, and now there's value
to your resistance training that you didn't ascribe before. Who's
not kind of anxious or depressed at a given time.
And that's why I exercise really frequently. It's my you know,
(29:45):
it's my pros act. And one day again I'll give
you the whole story. You'll be surprised or not, maybe,
but that's it. I go out to feel good. I
go for that run, that bike ride, that swim that
you know, walk with my dogs, the push ups, the crunches,
whatever it is. It makes me feel good. But I'm
not a signing value that is on a scale or
(30:10):
in the mirror. What I've learned is if you do
it long enough, it's gonna come. It can't not it
can't not happen. It is the overload principle that I
talk about. If you're consistent, if you mix things up,
if you find something you enjoy, if you do all
of these things consistently, will absolutely see results of what
(30:31):
I love. Is obviously been hearing from people my entire career,
from other books and videos, and now with the show.
Now with the show, I'm hearing because we've done it
just about a year now, people who have applied what
they've heard on this show and they're like, Wow, I've
made some really great changes. You can't not gotta believe though.
That's how I start my book, Micro Workout Plan. The
(30:54):
opening chapter is, listen, you gotta believe. You gotta believe
that you can change. You obviously have to throw some
trust in me. But that's why I throw the studies
in here as well. And your fitness people that you
follow just because you know they look good or sound good.
You know, be careful, be careful. It's like, you know,
(31:16):
analogous to getting advice on how to get rich from
someone who was just given it by their parents. Right, genetics.
But we talked studies here and this should just get
you so excited when it comes to your strength training
and your cardiovascular exercise because there's so many benefits that
(31:38):
you might not even know. And that's great news, all right. Enough.
It was really interesting though, to have to kind of
go back and go you know, how much of my
connection to my program with strength training is feeling good
(31:59):
that I don't even realize. But there's something that's bringing
me back to my workouts every day for decades. And
it can be you too. So that's how I want
to end for those of you who are listening who
aren't there yet, and that's most of you. When I
tell you there's a light at the end of the tunnel,
(32:19):
it's there for everybody. That it gets easier, that you
enjoy exercise more when you find it and you see
the results and you feel those hormones and you find
your level of intensity, and then you add in the
healthy foods, and you say, I don't want to give
up my food. You're not giving up anything. You're replacing
and you're taking your time, and then you're feeling how
(32:41):
good healthy food feels when it fuels you the right way.
It takes time. You have to be patient. But that's
the great news about depression and anxiety and strength training
and exercise and cardio. You feel good right away. That's
the benefit. And let me, I said, finish. I always
(33:02):
do this. You don't have to. You don't have to
do a lot. In other words, there are studies I'll
find it for the next time I do this. Single
bout of of resistance training, single bout of cardio vascar
exercise improves mood. Single bout Now again, if you're doing something.
If I got on an elliptical, actually, if I stayed
on long enough, I'm gonna feel good, but not at
(33:23):
the start. Find your cardio you like, find your type
of strength training routine that gets you, you know, motivated,
Take your time and you'll see incredible results. Enough enough,
I am Tom Holland, please rate the show. Rate the
show ticular like a second, subscribe to the show. Amazing
(33:45):
guests coming up I've had some amazing ones, Montella Williams,
just people from all over, different issues. Everyone's bringing something
to help you figure out your best life. That's what
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You can reach out to me so many have with questions,
(34:07):
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(34:30):
gonna get. What else I want to say? That's it.
That's it. Thank you so much for listening. Drop to
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and start. I am Tom Holland. This is fitness disrupted.
(34:52):
Believe in yourself. Fitness disrupted is a production of I
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to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. Very
excited to do this show. It goes to everything I
believe in and and what this show is about. We're
(00:21):
gonna talk about strength training, but not in the way
I normally do. I've touched upon this topic in other shows,
but this is one show devoted totally to a benefit
of strength training that I know most people don't think
about and probably don't know the studies. And it is
not what you think about when you think about strength training.
(00:42):
When you think about strength training, you know, the old
school is is bodybuilders and and you know, just a
weird kind of subculture of people. And that has changed
over the years obviously. And people strength train for athletic performance.
They strength train for aesthetic reasons, right, They want to
look good. We talk about strength training and prehab right
(01:06):
to uh, to avoid injuries instead of having to rehab injuries. UH.
And in my new book, The Micro Workout Plan, I
talk about strength training is the fountain of youth for
those reasons, right, and many reasons. And and we talk
about strength training when it comes to metabolism, right because
weight loss is just the top reason so many people exercise,
(01:31):
and a huge part of the show is teaching all
of the other benefits of exercise other than losing weight.
And every time I say that, I followed up with, yes,
we want to be a healthy weight butt. And this
show is a huge butt when it comes to the
benefits of strength training, and it is the fountain of youth.
(01:54):
And yes, we want to avoid what sarco penia, that
fancy exercise term for the loss of muscle mass as
we age. That is one of the main reasons people
lose quality of life as they age, because they lose muscle,
they lose function, and you don't have to I've done
numerous shows and touched on that so many times, and
(02:16):
I will continue because it's so important. But this is
what I absolutely love about doing this show and what
I love about my career and what I do as
a for a living. It's giving you all of the
other reasons there's not just one. And I'm gonna finish
the show by telling you that when you embrace all
of these reasons, that's how health and one else becomes
(02:40):
a lifestyle. And I'll talk more about that shortly. So
talking about strength training. Strength training, it's not just for
all those reasons I just outlined, although those are all
amazing reasons. But here's something you probably haven't thought of,
most of you when it comes to strength training is
(03:01):
your mind? Is your brain? Is your mood? And take
it one step more specifically anxiety and depression. We think
of cardiovascular exercise right the runners high and there have
been so many studies into cardiovascular exercise and depression and
(03:23):
anxiety and improving mood. What about strength training? And a
study came out recently. There there are many in but
this one just got a lot of traction in the news.
And I said, you know what, it's time. It's time
for me to do a show about this. How many
of you think of strength training as helping to improve
(03:44):
your mood? Some of you, I know, some of you do,
many and most do not. And I'm gonna give you
the studies, give you just a handful. You could talk
about why, a couple of hypothesis why and like so
much in exercise, and what I talk about here, it
is the studies, and it's the anecdotal and then it's
(04:07):
the common sense stuff. That's that's where change lies. Where
those three intersect. That's what this show is about. So
strength training and depression. I have a huge connection to this.
I don't need to tell my story yet when it
comes to this, but suffice it to say. One of
(04:28):
the reasons I strength trained is this very reason. And
it wasn't really cognitive. In other words, like you do
it for the vanity reason. You do it too live
longer to rehab the injuries. But what we don't realize
is if you do it enough, you become what's the
horrible term they call exercise people who who you know
(04:52):
do it frequently? You become addicted. Why do we become
addicted to the cardio and the strength? Maybe both? I
have so many benefits outside the ones people think about,
including feeling good mentally. We're gonna talk about why. All right,
quick break, when we come back, we're getting right into it.
(05:12):
The studies strength training, how it improves depression, anxiety, and
things you didn't think about. Quick break, we'll be right back. So,
(05:34):
like I said, this is not something most people think about.
It's not a conversation I have frequently at all. Right,
I pretty much spent my entire day talking exercise and
nutrition and motivation with anyone and everyone, because when they
find out what I do, they ask and I love
what I do, but this is not something that comes
(05:55):
up at cocktail parties very frequently, if at all. Oh,
I lift weights because it makes me feel better mentally.
I was depressed and I started lifting weights and it
really helped. Or I had anxiety and I started strength training,
and I feel better now and the anxiety is lessened.
(06:18):
And let me start also by saying that there needs
to be much more research into this. And I'm gonna
give you three or four studies, but we need many more.
And that pretty much goes for everything we need. We
need so many more studies into everything that we talked
about here, but we look at them and we take
some stuff away. But then we go to the common
(06:38):
sense people. All right, but I just love this topic
because you go, holy cow, all the benefits from cardiovascular exercise,
from strength training, from eating healthy that exceed that number
on the scale. Yeah, it just want to swear, just
(07:03):
curse because that focus, that unending focus on on that
number has to change. And the statistics are kind of
you know, sad that basically the population over the age
of thirteen suffer from anxiety disorders in a given year,
(07:25):
and I would say that number, like most often reported,
it's probably way higher, especially in a time like today
where so much seems out of control. And that's why
at the end of every show I talked about control
and what we can control. But when you reframe strength
training for so many people, especially the older population right sixties, seventies, eighties,
(07:46):
and nineties, strength training. You know Jack wal Laine with
the guy who I looked up to, idolized and was
able to interview, and I'm actually getting ready to do
a tribute to him, just amazing, like he was so
far ahead of the curve it came to strength training
because that population, they believed that it would actually impede
sports performance. And he would give the keys, had to
(08:08):
sneak the keys to friends of his who wanted to
strength train but didn't want their coaches to know, and
they would sneak into his gym late at night. And
the misconceptions about strength training that exists until today are crazy.
But people are not strength training for their mind. Most
(08:28):
you know, have a tough time doing it for their body.
They don't do prehab right, because that's human nature. You
don't fix something till it's broken. And that's why I
hammer home in my newest book about strength training, and
I even had to kind of sit down and analyze
my love of strength training. And I started doing it
(08:51):
at a very young age, as I talked about frequently,
and I'm sure that one of the reasons I do
it is this is this, and one day I will
go much deeper into my connection to this, but that's
not important right now. What's important is that there is
(09:12):
a connection. And the studies show that that strength training
has beneficial effects similar to what most people think about
when they think about cardio, right, but they don't think
about it when it comes to strength training, the mental
health outcomes of strength training. All right, So let's get
right into some studies. And this was the one or
(09:34):
one of the ones that that came out recently that
got a lot of press and for good reason, and
I'm so happy it did, and we need to talk
about it so much more, or other people do. I
will continue to The title is Association of efficacy of
resistance training with depressive symptoms? All right, does strength training
(09:55):
effect depression? And this was in the journal the American
Medical Association Psychiatry June two eighteen, all right, and the
question they were looking at was what is the overall
connection the association of resistance training with depressive symptoms. And
(10:16):
what they found was, and this was a meta analysis,
by the way, so they looked at thirty three clinical
trials almost two thousand participants, and resistance training was associated
with drumroll, please, a significant reduction in depressive symptoms. All right.
And the takeaway from this one very simple, very straightforward.
(10:38):
It supports resistance training as an alternative and or adjunct
therapy for depressive symptoms. Now I kind of want to
go into my story, but I'm not for another day.
So now you don't throw away your medication people, and
cognitive behavioral therapy is what I totally believe and in
(11:00):
other words, changing behaviors slowly, and it's gonna lead to
one of the hypothesis that I truly believe is one
of the main reasons amongst the other ones, that strength
training helps with depression. But these are adjuncts. And then
when you take all of the above, people, when you
(11:22):
do your cardio and you get that that hit the
hormones and all that stuff, and then you do a
little strength training and you're gonna get the hit that
I'm gonna talk about, and then you eat better and
you get you feel good because you have you know,
you don't have that sugar crash, and you feel good
about your choices, and you start putting all these things together,
these small changes that I say aren't so small, but
(11:45):
the small behaviors over time. If you want to know
why I'm always in a really good mood and feel good,
it's all of these things. I did my strength training
this morning, felt good, and again I really had to
go back and do some like just thinking about my
(12:07):
connection to strength training, and I totally believe that on
top of everything else. The problem is that it's not
a controlled study. Right, I'm doing a rope exercise, I'm
doing so many different things. But let me just cut
to the chase and say strength training absolutely has helped
me with depression and anxiety and all those things, absolutely,
(12:30):
no question. And the great takeaway that I'm gonna get
to at the end of just the three or four
studies so you don't have to do a lot, goes
exactly to you know, my philosophy, excessive moderation. But I'll
get to that shortly, all right, So second study here.
This was the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, August
(12:51):
two eleven, title Resistance training improves depressive symptoms and individuals
at high risk for type two diabetes. So a little
bit speci bigg as far as the type two diabetes,
but a lot of people have that. And this study
examined the effect of resistance training on depressed mood in
individuals with high numbers of risk factors for metabolic syndrome
(13:12):
and type two diabetes. It was fifty five middle age
volunteers from the general community who participated. They underwent resistance
training and they did your major muscle groups three days
a week for ten weeks. Pretty great, right, that's you know,
two and a half months, three days a week most people.
It's when most people quit pretty much right, a little before.
(13:32):
Maybe what did they find though? And they were specific, right,
because seven exercises resistance exercise training programs that consist of
seven exercises for the major muscle groups. And here's the
interesting takeaway. At both low, moderate, and moderate high intensities
appear to alleviate to press mood in individuals with these
(13:54):
specific risk factors. And the major takeaway there, well, you know,
the depression side obviously, but the low to moderate and
that's what a lot of these studies found. It's that
great news that you don't have to do super hard,
super intense strength training. And actually, for those of you
(14:16):
who do that, awesome, you don't have to. And there
are studies that said that actually has less of an effect,
has an effect, but less of an effect on mood
and depression than moderate. And one of the takeaways from
that is, well, it's maybe is a stressor right when
you go super high, um, but they all work, and
(14:39):
that's that's what we need to look at. Right. Third study,
I love, love, love love this topic. Can't say that
enough mental health benefits of strength training in adults. Another
review article, and this was American Journal of the Lifestyle
Medicine two thousand ten May, and really amazing. They look
(15:00):
at randomized controlled trials to examine whether strength training influences
and they looked at a bunch of things anxiety, chronic pain, cognition, depression, fatigue, symptoms,
self esteem, and sleep, so a lot of mental components, right,
and their takeaway was that the weight of the available
evidence supported the conclusion that one strength training is associated
(15:24):
with reductions and anxiety symptoms among healthy adults, and that
was in five trials. They found that finding and secondly,
reductions in symptoms of depression among patients with diagnosed depression,
and that was four separate trials. And as I was
putting together this show, I said, do I want to
pull the two apart? In other words, just talk about
depression or just talk about anxiety. No, and I'll talk
(15:49):
about this subject much more in the future. But this
is kind of getting us started and keeping it simple.
But those two are connected. Let's be honest. Anxiety and
depression and when it comes to cardio and strength training.
I mean, I can think of the people I know
who are, you know, years into great behaviors, making a
(16:09):
part of their lives. And when you think about the
reasons why they are so committed, this is one. This
is a major one. It feels good. You may not
even know you go, you know, those of you who
are going to the gym all the time you go.
Of course, there's the vanity side, but wait till I
give you one amazing finding in the research. When it
(16:32):
comes to the vanity side. Let's keep going, actually, because
I want to get to that all right. Here's an
interesting title for a study the Anxiolytic Effects of resistance exercise.
Anxiolytic is a medication or other intervention that inhibits anxiety.
All right, so again title of the study, the Anxiolytic
(16:53):
Effects of Resistance Exercise, Frontiers in Psychology, two thousand fourteen.
And I'm just gonna give you the quick takeaway from
this one. Anxiolytic effects have been observed across a diverse
range of populations and dependent measures measures. These findings provide
(17:15):
support for the use of resistance exercise in the clinical
management of anxiety. You know, there's the great term and
a couple of the doctors whom I love, you know,
exercises medicine, exercises medicine, and especially places in Europe, you know,
doctors who are ahead of their time are prescribing exercise
(17:40):
as a therapy for depression and anxiety. Now to me,
that's nuts that it sounds like it's novel, but you
can't sell it. It's not a pill. I don't want
to get deep into that, but that's part of the
problem obviously. But whether it's aerobic exercise and now you're
(18:02):
learning strength training and put the two together and the
mental benefits. You are going to get huge, huge. All right,
Let's take one more quick break and then we get back.
We're gonna talk about the three hypothesis. Three of them
free hypotheses why and they're more. I'm gonna get to
(18:25):
the three that I believe, and then I think you'll understand,
and then we're gonna pull it all together and show
you how it's such great news shows all about great
news and supporting the great news and giving you that
motivation and the reasons and the mental tools to change
(18:45):
those behaviors that you don't think you can. That you
don't think you'll ever get to. The exercise, the eating health,
you go. It's not for me. I can't do it,
Yes you can. Final break. We'll be right back. All right.
(19:08):
So we're talking about the not so talked about mental
benefits of strength training. Talk about the runners high. And
I remember it's kind of in the side very well
known writer who I once had a letter to The
New York Times published they I'll put that up on
(19:29):
Instagram and it was to this uh writer and the
article was basically that certain people never see results from
exercise no matter what they do. Non responders and my
basic takeaway was I've yet to meet that person. I
have yet to meet that person. And what what is?
(19:50):
What is the non responders? Actually, as I you know,
it's the first time I've thought about it in this context,
it's so nuts. Non responder to exercise. But the weight
didn't change, strength didn't improve. It's nuts, that's nuts. And
the same writer once wrote an article always wanted to
(20:13):
go against the grain obviously be the iconoclass, but that
basically there was no proof that the runners high existed.
And I didn't write in a letter back about that one,
but my response will be, yeah, I felt it. And
there's a reason a hundred thousand people or more try
to get into, you know, the big marathons every year
and whatever. Crazy crazy to me. All right, So why why,
(20:36):
what's the why does it improve our mood? I'm gonna
give you three basic reasons that I believe are causes
potential reasons why strength training helps with depression and anxiety.
And this is this is what the studies say as well. Obviously,
one is the distraction hypothesis, very straightforward, right, physical activity
serves what as a distraction from your worries and your
(20:57):
depressing thoughts, when you're when you're doing squats, when you're
running and listening to music. By the way, you're not
thinking about all of that crazy stuff in your life.
You're not reading Facebook, you're not thinking about that argument
you had with your spouse. And I could do ten
hours on this, and we talked about this. But the
distraction hypothesis is exactly what draws people to cardio and
(21:24):
now to strength as well go out for a run.
And that's why we listen to music and watch TV
when we exercise, because some people want to be distracted
from the exercise itself and that's okay, and then others
want to forget about all the negative stuff. That is
(21:45):
what as I'm saying this, I'm starting to feel good
because I'm thinking about like my races, and when you're
truly pushing your body, like a marathon, ultra marathon, irony
and whatever, a long endurance event, you learned to be
in the moment and you learn that those worries they
don't matter at the time. You know what matters is
(22:05):
getting to that finish line and pushing through that obstacle.
So distraction is one of the greatest benefits of exercise.
We get to just do that. So the distraction hypothesis
we think about that more again with cardiovascular exercise, whether
(22:27):
you're going to the gym though and lifting weights or
doing it down in your you know, home gym, or
going into your backyard, that's what you're focused on, not
all the insanity around you, controlling what you can and
that includes the thoughts in your mind. All right. Number
two hypothesis another big word for us, but basically the
(22:48):
feel good hormones, right, the monoamine hypothesis. Monoamine are basically
the availability of brain neurotransmitters, so monoaman seratonin, dopamine, nor epinefrin.
These are the feel good hormones again, most associated with
cardiovascular exercise. Well, maybe people are feeling those two when
(23:09):
they do resistance exercises, when they do strength training, when
they're pushing, especially maybe at the different intensities depending on
who you are. So again this hypothesis is that exercise
leads to an increase in the availability of these brain neurotransmitters.
These ma no mean all right, as the big exercise
(23:31):
term or physiological term for serotonin, dopamine, and nor epinefrin
makes you feel good, makes you feel good. And that's
why listen. There are people that like to be pushed
at all different levels. And back when I was a
coach and a trainer, that's what you have to figure out.
Some people love to do crazy number of burpies and
other people can't stand it, and so you gotta figure
(23:52):
out the level for that client. But it feels good
at certain levels and certain exercises, and that's why you
find what you like to get on an elliptical. For
me is is torture. I don't like burpies either, and
I don't do either of them very frequently at all
because I don't have to because there's so many other
ways to raise my heart rate and there's so many
(24:12):
other ways to get in a body weight strength training. Okay,
so your monoaman method is up to you as a
huge part of this show. All right, Finally, and this
is gonna be one of my favorites. If you've listened
to other podcasts I talk about self efficacy all the time.
Is one of my greatest takeaways from my studies in
sports psychology. Self efficacy, What is that again? For you
(24:35):
new listeners, that's the belief that you possess the necessary
skills to complete a task as well as the confidence
that the task can be completed with your desired outcome.
It's situational confidence. When you make those small steps and
you succeed, you get confident to keep going. And that
(24:58):
is why I talk about how a dislike fad diets
and crazy workout routines immensely because they don't weed to
self efficacy. They lead to you feeling like you failed,
you couldn't do something, and over time your self efficacy
(25:19):
is lessened and lessened and lessened. So the goal is
to increase your self efficacy. Okay, and Bandura he was
one of the the gurus the psychologist who you know
self efficacy uh main you know a field topic of study,
and he described how to press people often feel, you know,
(25:40):
they can't bring about the positive desired outcome in their
lives and they have low efficacy to cope with the
symptoms of their depression. This is cognitive behavioral. Those people
who have been to therapists and psychologists and who are oftentime.
Obviously different methods for different psychologists and psychiatrists. A cognitive
(26:04):
behavioral They will tell people to go do things, whether
it's work or hobbies, to feel good about themselves and
it builds upon itself. And so going to the gym
lifting a certain amount of weight for the first time,
saying oh, I can do a push up off my knees,
I can lift X amount of weight, and just the
(26:26):
mere fact of going being being proud of the fact
that you're sticking to a program. All of this leads
to self efficacy, which is again back to like non
responders to exercise, what are you talking about? Okay, So
this theory, this hypothesis means that it might be your
(26:47):
sense of accomplishment and confidence that you would attained through
your exercise routine. And here's the amazing thing. The studies
show rather than the achievement of the actual strength gains.
So for many people, yes, you go, oh my gosh,
I benched x amount, I squatted x amount, I deadlifted
x amount. But there's data in studies. I will do
(27:09):
additional shows on this that the positive mood effects of
exercise involvement it's independent of the fitness game. And that's
so counterintuitive. You go, wait a minute, if I didn't
achieve the fitness goal, how how am I feeling good
about it? Well, let's go back to the other hypothesis. Right,
maybe it's the hormones. Maybe it's the distraction. And here's
(27:31):
the thing. When you're distracted, you get to feel good
hormones and you stick with it. Over time, I would argue,
you're gonna improve. But that's great news is that the
fitness gains are not essential. And that's why I want
so many people to start with the goal of just consistency.
That is success. Did you get something in today? Did
(27:55):
you do your five minute workout? Did you go for
a one mile walk? Don't say only you're just you
did something, and so you get that distraction on your walk,
you get those feel good hormones, the monoa mean hypothesis,
and then the self efficacy go, oh, I'm doing something,
(28:16):
it feels good. Sitting on your couch dwelling and negative
thoughts growing through negative stuff on Facebook and other social media.
That's not good for us. All right, and let me
go back one more time to the intensity findings. Handful
of the studies that compared the effects of high intensity
resistance training to moderate intensity found that anxiety was better
(28:39):
reduced with a moderate intensity. No, I'm not saying those
of you who push it really hard and By the way,
what does really hard mean. That's the topic for a
whole another show. But you'll have to why back to
the hypothesis. You're getting all these other things. So those
of you who think you have to squat heavy, you
see people in the gym, you have to do burbies.
You don't have to do any of that low to
(29:01):
moderate intensity. Okay, strength training, all right, I want to
do five hours on this. I want to give you
more studies. But that's what this shows about. It's just
putting these seeds into your head. And I want to
kind of wrap it up with this. You know, I
talked about all the time that my job is to
make people look better, feel better, and live longer. And
(29:23):
when you get away from the just look better part
with the number on the scale, and now there's value
to your resistance training that you didn't ascribe before. Who's
not kind of anxious or depressed at a given time.
And that's why I exercise really frequently. It's my you know,
(29:45):
it's my pros act. And one day again I'll give
you the whole story. You'll be surprised or not, maybe,
but that's it. I go out to feel good. I
go for that run, that bike ride, that swim that
you know, walk with my dogs, the push ups, the crunches,
whatever it is. It makes me feel good. But I'm
not a signing value that is on a scale or
(30:10):
in the mirror. What I've learned is if you do
it long enough, it's gonna come. It can't not it
can't not happen. It is the overload principle that I
talk about. If you're consistent, if you mix things up,
if you find something you enjoy, if you do all
of these things consistently, will absolutely see results of what
(30:31):
I love. Is obviously been hearing from people my entire career,
from other books and videos, and now with the show.
Now with the show, I'm hearing because we've done it
just about a year now, people who have applied what
they've heard on this show and they're like, Wow, I've
made some really great changes. You can't not gotta believe though.
That's how I start my book, Micro Workout Plan. The
(30:54):
opening chapter is, listen, you gotta believe. You gotta believe
that you can change. You obviously have to throw some
trust in me. But that's why I throw the studies
in here as well. And your fitness people that you
follow just because you know they look good or sound good.
You know, be careful, be careful. It's like, you know,
(31:16):
analogous to getting advice on how to get rich from
someone who was just given it by their parents. Right, genetics.
But we talked studies here and this should just get
you so excited when it comes to your strength training
and your cardiovascular exercise because there's so many benefits that
(31:38):
you might not even know. And that's great news, all right. Enough.
It was really interesting though, to have to kind of
go back and go you know, how much of my
connection to my program with strength training is feeling good
(31:59):
that I don't even realize. But there's something that's bringing
me back to my workouts every day for decades. And
it can be you too. So that's how I want
to end for those of you who are listening who
aren't there yet, and that's most of you. When I
tell you there's a light at the end of the tunnel,
(32:19):
it's there for everybody. That it gets easier, that you
enjoy exercise more when you find it and you see
the results and you feel those hormones and you find
your level of intensity, and then you add in the
healthy foods, and you say, I don't want to give
up my food. You're not giving up anything. You're replacing
and you're taking your time, and then you're feeling how
(32:41):
good healthy food feels when it fuels you the right way.
It takes time. You have to be patient. But that's
the great news about depression and anxiety and strength training
and exercise and cardio. You feel good right away. That's
the benefit. And let me, I said, finish. I always
(33:02):
do this. You don't have to. You don't have to
do a lot. In other words, there are studies I'll
find it for the next time I do this. Single
bout of of resistance training, single bout of cardio vascar
exercise improves mood. Single bout Now again, if you're doing something.
If I got on an elliptical, actually, if I stayed
on long enough, I'm gonna feel good, but not at
(33:23):
the start. Find your cardio you like, find your type
of strength training routine that gets you, you know, motivated,
Take your time and you'll see incredible results. Enough enough,
I am Tom Holland, please rate the show. Rate the
show ticular like a second, subscribe to the show. Amazing
(33:45):
guests coming up I've had some amazing ones, Montella Williams,
just people from all over, different issues. Everyone's bringing something
to help you figure out your best life. That's what
this show is about. Getting inspired, getting educated, entertained, hopefully
a little bit so you can live your best life.
You can reach out to me so many have with questions,
(34:07):
anything you want to say. Tom h Fit is my
Instagram as well as Twitter, Tom h Fit. I post workouts,
I do you know a lot of food things. I
actually posted what I had to eat this morning, which
is weird to me. But just to give you listen,
I'm walking the walk and talking to talk and I'll
show you exactly what I'm doing and know that I
will always give you the truth. That is all I have,
is that you can always trust that that's what you're
(34:30):
gonna get. What else I want to say? That's it.
That's it. Thank you so much for listening. Drop to
a set of push ups, go out for a walk,
take those dogs kids out, get that hit of feel
good hormones and find some strength and find some cardio
and start. I am Tom Holland. This is fitness disrupted.
(34:52):
Believe in yourself. Fitness disrupted is a production of I
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