When I tell people I’m interested in & passionate about exercise psychology, I’m commonly met with the reply “oh, do you mean exercise physiology or physiotherapy?” While these fields have a connecting theme in that of exercise (& as professions, we work together for the benefit of our clients quite well!), exercise psychology offers a different approach to understanding involvement in physical movement.

Exercise psychology is focused upon the two-way relationship between the mind and movement. It considers how psychological factors can influence our exercise behaviour and how exercise can influence our mental health and mindset.

Here is a small collection of comments I’ve heard over the years that really demonstrate this relationship…

“I know I need to exercise, but I just can’t seem to get going”

“I go to the gym for a few weeks, but now my membership is untouched & I’m making monthly donations!”

“I’ll get into exercise once I lose a few kilo’s. I just feel so uncomfortable in workout clothes & I’m worried about others looking at me in gym class”

“I just don’t have enough willpower or motivation to exercise”

“I don’t have the time to exercise!”

“I’ve gotten fitter, but now I’m struggling to up the intensity/weights, even though logically I know I can”

“I’m slogging it out every day, sometimes working out twice a day, but I’m just not seeing progress”

“I can’t bear the thought of exercising. It’s grade 8 PE class humiliation all over again!”

“That knee reconstruction took over 2 years to heal. I’m not risking it.”

“We had to make split times during track practice. If we didn’t, we were forced to run until we either made the times or until training time finished. Running became a punishment, and I started to feel nauseous before every training session. I now hate running”.

“When my anxiety peaks, my heart pounds out of my chest, I get all hot and clammy, and I can’t breathe. Exercise does the same thing. So why would I put myself through that?”

“They reckon exercise is good for depression ya know? How do I do that though when I struggle to get out of bed? Coming to our psychology sessions is taxing enough.”

“I’m an all or nothing person. When I exercise I go a twice a day. I become anxious if I miss a session. Then I think what’s the point of this if I can’t go. So I stop and do nothing, then I feel guilty.”

“I’d stuck to my training and competition plan. My nutrition, recovery, & rehab were all spot on. Then as soon as I stood on that platform, I got nervous, but it was uncontrollable. I was literally weak at the knees, I couldn’t get my reps in, so I flunked it along with months of preparation”.

These statements definitely reflect some of the practical and physiological difficulties that can be encountered when it comes to exercise. However more often than not, the psychological component is just as important to address due to the influence it has on whether someone chooses to exercise or not, whether they maintain a consistent and healthy relationship with movement, and how well they execute or perform their exercise.

Take a moment to think about how important your mind is to your exercise behaviour? Then, consider how important your physicality is to your exercise behaviour? What ratio of importance would you give to each? A neat 50/50 split? Most people I find rate their mindset as more influential then their physical being when it comes to their exercise involvement.

But let’s work with 50/50, i.e., you think the mind and the body are equally important and influential when it comes to exercising. Now, how much time do you spend working on each of those aspects?…. If you just realised you tend to spend more time focused upon the body than the mind, but you know the mind is just as (if not more) influential then the body, you’re aligned with what most people and clients I talk to report. So, I’d like to welcome you to the world of exercise psychology, perhaps the missing brick to your movement foundation

Who

A sport and exercise psychologist therefore works with people on navigating, exploring, overcoming, and applying psychological theory, evidence-based research and therapy, and mindset tools and techniques to start, maintain, and foster a healthy relationship with movement for physical, social, and psychological benefits. We also work with other health, exercise, and fitness professionals, something of which I’ll write about in another blog.

So, I hear you ask “Why go to an exercise psychologist?”. Good question, as another person in your life may help you to exercise, keep you accountable, or help you when your mind is struggling. But as you probably recognised from the list of statements above, exercise psychology is not just about “motivation”, and thus an exercise psychologist is not just your cheerleader (although, we do a good job of that too!).

Trained first and foremost as a psychologist, an exercise psychologist is equipped with the skills to use evidence-based psychotherapy, to apply mindset principles to enhance physical performance, and to identify and provide care when it comes to mental health. I once explained these points at a networking event, and the words of a business banker sum it up nicely…

“riiight, so you’re like a surgeon but you operate on the clients mind, so you work with them about their thoughts and their feelings to help them exercise or exercise better”.

Bingo banker man, you got it!

Further, we are trained in building therapeutic relationships, rapport, and using a person-centred approach to better the lives of our clients. We are trained in how to create a safe mental space for our clients to open and explore their vulnerabilities, challenges, and most difficult life experiences that are so commonly tied to their perceptions of their own abilities, especially when it comes to movement. In my experiences the “excuses” people use not to exercise are not excuses. More so these reasons can be defences to avoid emotional pain, to suppress memories and experiences, or to decrease the chance of triggering self-doubt and self-depreciating thoughts. While not every person I talk to has a mental health diagnosis, every experience of the mind runs on a spectrum. And this is the value of an exercise psychologist; a human who supports another human no matter where they lie on that spectrum at any given time point.

Thank you for reading – If you have any questions or comments feel free to be in contact!