Stress is a phenomenon that we all have to cope with in our daily lives. There are several recommended remedies including exercising. As a tool, exercise helps enhance your body’s effectiveness in a wholesome fashion, including but not limited to boosting mental wellness.
In as much as there are a multitude of exercise moves that could come in handy, most people limit themselves to jogging and walking.
Fitness coach Byron Majumbe of Tim's Health and Fitness Centre in Nairobi advises that when choosing the type of exercise for stress relief, you should start with the one that you love most.
“Start with the workouts that you like most because you don’t want the exercise itself to become an additional cause of stress,” states Majumbe.
According to the coach, stress relief is predominantly dependent on one’s mindset even before physical exercises kick in.
“You have to adopt the correct mindset even before you step out of your door to exercise. Stress relief has to come from within. If you step out without tuning your mind to be in sync with the end intention, your exercise will be futile,” insists Majumbe.
In his top list of workouts that would help, he lists an array of moves that include dumbbell power lifts, dumbbell step-up, burpees, jump squats and pull-ups.
“Alternate these workouts in sequences of five to 10 exercises of each move,” says Majumbe.
Dumbbell power lifts
Tim's Health and Fitness Centre trainer Byron Majumbe demonstrating dumbbell power lifts as part of stress-relieving workouts. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG
Grab two dumbbells of equal weight while standing in an upright posture. Lift the double weights up above your head and back to just above your shoulders and repeat the sequential pattern five to 10 times. “Use light weight dumbbells because the target here is not to build muscles.”
Dumbbell step-up
Tim's Health and Fitness Centre trainer Byron Majumbe demonstrating dumbbell step-up as part of stress-relieving workouts. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG
While carrying two dumbbells of equal weight, place one of your feet on a raised surface like say, a bench. In that position, the weights in your hands will be hanging below. Lift the dumbbells to a level just above the knee of your raised leg. “Alternate the lifted foot after every five lifts.”
Burpees
This is a series of exercise moves that starts with you assuming a lie-flat position on the ground, then squatting before rising up straight for a jump-up. The activities should follow each other in a coordinated rhythmic pattern for optimum effect.
Jump squats
Tim's Health and Fitness Centre trainer Byron Majumbe demonstrating jump squats as part of stress-relieving workouts. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG
This workout follows closely behind burpees only that this time round, you just do the normal squat and rise up for a jump-up.“Make sure you raise your arms above your head while jumping.”
Pull-ups
Tim's Health and Fitness Centre trainer Byron Majumbe demonstrating pull-ups as part of stress-relieving workouts. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG
This is the easiest among all. Hold onto a high-raised surface using your both arms and lift yourself in an up-and-down movement. The object you’re holding onto should preferably be raised at a higher position than your height.
“You can alternate all these exercises but the activities should not go for more than a combined time of one hour,” advises Majumbe.
