Abstract
Numerous studies have revealed the beneficial effects of regular exercise across a variety of mental health measures. Although a great deal of attention has been paid to the role of aerobic exercise, less is known about the role of resistance exercise (i.e., strength training) in mental health outcomes. Resistance exercise includes a broad group of procedures that evoke repeated muscle action against resistances above those encountered in daily life. A growing body of literature has identified anxiolytic effects of resistance exercise in human populations after both single-bout sessions and long-term training. This research has shown that resistance training at a low-to-moderate intensity (<70% 1 repetition maximum) produces the most reliable and robust decreases in anxiety. Importantly, anxiolytic effects have been observed across a diverse range of populations and dependent measures. These findings provide support for the use of resistance exercise in the clinical management of anxiety.
Highlights
Numerous studies have revealed the beneficial effects of regular exercise across a variety of mental health measures
Much of this research has examined the effects of aerobic exercise on mental health outcomes, resistance exercise produces many physiological and psychological benefits
Resistance exercise intensity is usually measured as repetition maximums (RMs) with 1RM representing the maximal amount an individual can lift in a single repetition of a given exercise
Summary
In the only review of resistance exercise and mental health, increases in cognition, increases in self-esteem, and decreases in depression were noted across several randomized clinical trials (O’Connor et al, 2010) In addition to these effects, a growing body of evidence indicates that resistance exercise produces anxiolytic effects across a range of dependent measures, experimental procedures, and participant populations. This research indicates that the benefits of resistance exercise extend beyond muscle and tissue growth and include alterations in neurobiological systems relevant to mental health and anxiety-related outcomes (e.g., cortisol and the HPA axis; Crewther et al, 2011).
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