Workout Buddies as an Antidepressant

About 7 weeks ago I found myself sitting on the couch, crying to my partner about how I hate my body. I was depressed, lonely, destitute of all motivation, and caught in a loop of nitpicking everything I hated about myself. He sat with me for about 10 minutes while listening to me cry when he said, “Okay, get up.” 

Hating on my body is a sure sign that I’m depressed. It does not matter what I look like— when I’m depressed my body feels like a hindrance. It’s not empowering, I avoid looking at myself in the mirror, and I’m in a constant cycle of negative self-talk.

In response to my self-loathing he told me, “I’m going to help you, but you have to commit. I’m going to help you get up and start exercising again, but you have to work on finding the motivation for yourself.” Through tears and snot, I agreed.

I put on my workout shorts and high impact sports bra and we walked up to the park around the corner from our apartment. Dylan crafted a variety of exercises involving sprints, jumps, lunges, and squats, most of which I had never even done before. My lungs felt like they were on the verge of collapse. My legs and butt were burning. My core was telling me that it’s time to lay down, but I kept pushing through. It was the most I had ever pushed myself to workout; I truly didn’t know what it felt like to workout hard until that day in the park. 

Some people will be naysayers and say that’s not possible, nobody who is truly depressed can exercise that hard. But that, my friends, is the power of an exercise buddy. We all know exercise is good for our mental health, but getting up to do the exercise is the hard part. Having someone to help hold you accountable, workout with you, or help you get started when you’ve never done any kind of structured workout before can be the difference between just talking about exercising and actually getting up and doing it.

Every exercise that Dylan had me do pushed me to my physical limit and even made me feel ridiculous enough that I was laughing and having a good time. He would cheer me on, encourage me to push harder, run faster, just one more! By the end of my 30 minute exercise routine my mood had completely shifted and I was already looking forward to the my next session. I felt hopeful. I was imagining how much stronger I’d feel in just a few weeks. Then 2 days later, we walked up to the park and did it again. After a few weeks, I was going to the park by myself, working through all the various exercises I had learned from Dylan. 

While I do fully believe that the exercise, the actual physical movement, helped pull me out of my depression, I attribute most of my recovery to the try hard aspect of my workouts. I was pushing myself like never before. I didn’t know that my body was capable of running that fast, working through that kind of burn, until that workout in the park. Again, that’s the power of a workout buddy. Dylan was telling me how many sets to do, how many reps. He was telling me to run faster, try harder. Sometimes it takes someone else telling you what’s possible for you to see your own capabilities, for you to uncover your true try hard limits.

6 weeks later, I am trying harder in all aspects of my life. My confidence is up not just in my workouts, but in all my life endeavors. I’m writing more. Submitting to more auditions. Surfing again. All because I unlocked my true try hard potential through exercise.

Do you have a friend who loves working out, or who has been wanting to get into a consistent routine, or who is depressed and hasn’t been able to get into a workout routine at all? I bet you do. Any one of those people would make a great workout buddy. Open yourself up to getting vulnerable, looking ridiculous, and getting disgustingly (in a good way) sweaty because when you’re doing it with a friend, you’re going to have so much more fun.