This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my affiliate policy here.
You know that exercise will make you feel better, but that is not always enough when you’re stressed and tired after a long day at work, right?!? Luckily, you have come to the right place: These 12 exercise and mental health quotes will keep you motivated so you can reap all the benefits of exercise, including all the mental health benefits it provides!
To really help keep you motivated, why don’t you get the FREE Printable Exercise and Mental Health Quotes below. You can put your favourites on your wall, or inside your wardrobe, where you can see them every day, to really keep you going.
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 1:
Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person’s physical, emotional and mental states.
Carol Welch
All types of movement will make you feel better, you don’t need to go to the gym or start running to experience the mental health benefits that come from exercise. Do what you love. If you want to dance, dance. If you want to play, play. If you want to climb trees, then find a tree to climb!
Read More: 10 Ways to Move the Body That Even You Can Do
FREE PRINTABLE
12 Exercise and Mental Health Quotes to Inspire You
The Habitista respects your privacy. Unsubscribe at any time.
Built with ConvertKit
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 2:
I believe depression is legitimate. But I also believe that if you don’t exercise, eat nutritious food, get sunlight, get enough sleep, consume positive material, surround yourself with support, then you aren’t giving yourself a fighting chance.
Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey has struggled most of his life with depression as well as living with a diagnosis of ADHD. And still, in many ways, he has thrived. Mental health is serious business and sometimes we need help by both medical professionals and medication, but there is also a lot we can do to set ourselves up for success. Exercise. Eat right. Surround ourselves with things, people and activities that are positive for us. Design a life we can’t wait to live into!
Read More: 10 Good Mental Health Habits to Start Today
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 3:
Exercise keeps me occupied, which is good for my mental health.
Gail Porter
Sometimes it’s not just what exercise gives you, it’s also what it takes away. It takes away time in front of the telly or the computer. It takes away boredom and anxiety. It gives you less time to ruminate.
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 4:
Exercise also has great benefits for mental health. It releases endorphins that make you feel happy.
Michelle Davis
Exercise do release endorphins (amongst other things) and the great thing is, these endorphins don’t only make you feel happy. Exercise, and specifically aerobic exercise such as walking and running that is rhythmic and repetitive is a great stress reliever and will relax your mind as well as your body. (source)
Read More: 25 Benefits of Moving Your Body More You Need to Know
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 5:
I do have to take care of myself, not only because I’m in the movies, just for mental health reasons. I exercise for me. You know, maybe it would be nice to not have to do that in order to feel good, but I do. I feel like I have to, to feel good. To clear my head and all of that, so.
Annette Bening
Annette Bening, an American actress with a long career including the leading role in American Beauty, is describing what most people who exercise regularly achieve – the feeling that exercising is something we need to feel good. However difficult it may be to start an exercise routine, the long term rewards can be phenomenal!
Read More: Habits to Improve Your Life: The Ultimate Guide
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 6:
Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle.
Jules Robson
Self-care is not a luxury, nor is it indulgent. By taking care of yourself you become the best person you can be. Both for yourself and for others.
Read More: Your Health is a Priority: A Complete Guide to a Healthy Life
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 7:
I’ve run my whole life – more than exercise, for mental health.
Wendelin Van Draanen
A study in 2020, which was a review of 116 studies conducted about running and mental health, suggest that running can indeed improve mood and mental health. But it also showed that running can be associated with adverse mental health, such as exercise addiction. The conclusion – as with everything, moderation is key!
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 8:
When you exercise, it increases endorphins, dopamine, adrenaline and endocannabinoid — these are all brain chemicals associated with feeling happy, feeling confident, feeling capable, feeling less anxiety and stress and even less physical pain.
Dr. Kelly McGonical
Dr. Kelly McGonigal is a psychologist and author of books such as The Joy of Movement and The Willpower Instinct describes why exercise makes you feel so good. If you haven’t yet checked out her TED talk on How to Make Stress Your Friend I highly recommend it!
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 9:
Exercise not only changes your body, it changes your mind, your attitude and your mood.
Unknown
Exercising for mental health is not only to reduce your risk of depression, it’s about creating a well mind, to help you have a good attitude to life, and to make you feel good in the moment, as well as long term.
Read More: Cardio vs HIIT vs Weight Training: What is Best for You?
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 10:
Running is not just for those who are fit and healthy and strong. Running is a life-breathe for those who struggle with physical and mental illness, self-doubt, loss, anger, regret and other unspeakable pains. Why? Because running has the power to heal, to bring perspective, to instil confidence, to restore sanity and to make us believers again. This is why I run.
Susan Husband
Susan really says it all in this quote. Running, or indeed walking if you can’t run, is a great way to process, to work through thinga, to heal. Try putting away your music or podcast from time to time and just let your mind settle into the rhythm.
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 11:
I feel better in my mind when I work out. It makes everything better.
Keri Russel
It doesn’t really matter how you exercise; the important thing is that you do. A healthy body promotes a healthy mind – and the other way around.
Exercise and Mental Health Quote 12:
Exercise is the most potent and underutilized antidepressant.
Bill Phillips
Bill Philips is half right. According to Harvard Medical School exercise is as effective as antidepressants – in some cases. For people with severe depression however, exercise alone is not enough, but it’s a great start.
In addition to all the feel good hormones we have discussed previously, exercising over time also makes nerve cells grow and make new connection – and this improvement in brain function makes us feel better!
Start Today!
To start exercising when you suffer from mental health problems can feel difficult, or even impossible. Start small and start with something that you usually enjoy. For example, a friend recently told me she had got back into tap dancing! What did you use to love doing that you no longer do?
Keep reminding yourself that you will feel better from exercise, both long and short term. Downoload the free quotes abut exercise and mental health below and choose one that really inspire you. Put it somewhere when you can see it every day. Let it serve as your motivation to move better to feel better!
FREE PRINTABLE
12 Exercise and Mental Health Quotes to Inspire You
The Habitista respects your privacy. Unsubscribe at any time.
Built with ConvertKit
Read More
Get Walking for Great Physical and Mental Health Benefits
A Beginners Gudie to Hiking in Barefoot Shoes
How to Improve Your Physical Health and Wellness with the 3 M’s
100 Simple Ways to Improve Your Health With 1%
Move Around More at Home: 10 Fun Ways to Get Moving Today
Book Tip
Exercised explains everything you have ever wanted to know about exercise:
- Why do so many of us avoid it even though we know it’s good for us?
- Is sitting really the new smoking?
- Does running ruin your knees?
- Should we do weights, cardio or high-intensity training?
- How to we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity and exercise we are bombarded with every day?
Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and pioneering researcher on the evolution of human activities, approaches this exciting topic in a way that’s both entertaining, enlightening and constructive. A must read for anyone trying to figure out how best to exercise.
Check out Resources for Personal Development for more tips!
When it comes to working out, you have to find some kind of schedule that works for you. For me, I either have to get up at 5 a.m. and work out before work or force myself to work out when I get home. The latter is difficult, because by the time I get home from work, I want to put on pajamas, not tennis shoes. If this sounds like you, workout motivation quotes can help.
It feels great to be active and get in shape, but sometimes it also feels good to watch Netflix in bed with a pizza . It can be hard to keep the momentum going and hit the gym or your favorite workout class every morning. However, you have the potential to push yourself; you just have to want to.
Several years ago, I was gaining weight and talking myself out of fitness. “I’m too tired,” “I’ll work out tomorrow,” “I don’t have time.” But even when I was telling myself I was justified in skipping my exercises, I knew I was lying to myself.
I finally allowed a friend to really push me back into a pattern. Now, I work out every day, even if it’s just walking two miles on my lunch break.
I’ve lost weight, but more importantly, I feel healthy again. Now that I’m getting back in shape, I’m able to see how much time I wasted talking myself out of it. Don’t let yourself have regrets, too.
If you really feel like you’re just too busy to get into a regular workout routine, check out Lifehack’s Busy Yet Fit Programme. It will help you learn how to fit exercise into your busy life.
60 Workout Motivation Quotes
When it comes to getting motivated, there are things that work and things that don’t. When I look at fitness models on Instagram, I wind up feeling bad about myself, but when I read motivational quotes or look up pictures of healthy recipes, suddenly I want to hit the gym.
Here are 60 workout motivation quotes to get inspired and get to the gym!
“What hurts today makes you stronger tomorrow.” -Jay Cutler
“When you feel like quitting, think about why you started.” -Unknown
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” -Frederick Douglass
“Be stronger than your excuses.” -Unknown
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” -Warren Buffett
“You never fail until you stop trying.” -Albert Einstein
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
“With self-discipline most anything is possible.” -Theodore Roosevelt
“The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides a champion from someone who is not a champion.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Fall in love with taking care of your body.” -Unknown
“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.” -Thomas Jefferson
“Junk food you’ve craved for an hour, or the body you’ve craved for a lifetime? Your decision.” -Unknown
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it.” -Tom Hanks
“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” -Vidal Sassoon
“You don’t have to go fast…you just have to go.” -Unknown
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” -Henry Ford
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” -Amelia Earhar
“You don’t get what you want, you get what you work for.” -Unknown
“You are far too smart to be the only thing standing in your way.” -Jennifer Freeman
“You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” -Michael Jordan
“You’re only one workout away from a good mood.” -Unknown
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
“The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” -Benjamin Mays
“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” -Confucius
“We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” -Oprah Winfrey
“Fit is not a destination. It is a way of life.” -Unknown
“There’s only one growth strategy: work hard.” -William Hague
“If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win.” -Carl Lewis
“Your fitness is 100% mental. Your body won’t go where your mind doesn’t push it.” -Unknown
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.” -Aristotle
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” -Steve Prefontaine
“No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch.” -Unknown
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” -Wayne Gretzky
“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” -Tommy Lasorda
“Slow progress is better than no progress.” -Unknown
“You have a choice. You can throw in the towel or you can use it to wipe the sweat off your face.” -Unknown
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
“Recognizing that you are not where you want to be is a starting point to begin changing your life.” – Deborah Day
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” -Carl Bard
“If you kinda sorta try, then you kinda sorta get results.” -Unknown
“At the end of the day, let there be no excuses, no explanations, no regrets.” -Steve Maraboli
“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” -Abraham Maslow
“When you skip an opportunity to work out, you skip an opportunity to improve yourself.” -Unknown
“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Motivation is what gets you started, but persistence is the only thing that guarantees your success.” -Edmond Mbiaka
“I don’t work out because I hate my body. I work out because I love it.” -Unknown
“A champion is someone who gets up when they can’t.” -Jack Dempsey
“No one ever drowned in sweat.” -Lou Holtz
“Start before you’re ready.” -Steven Pressfield
“You have to be fearless to have success.” -Serena Williams
“You have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought, you are stuck with something below your true talent and potential.” -Steve Garvey
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
“Never stop doing your best just because someone doesn’t give you credit.” -Unknown
“Run when you can, walk if you have to. Crawl if you must; just never give up.” -Dean Karnazes
“You’ve always been beautiful. Now you’re just deciding to be healthier, fitter, faster and stronger. Remember that.” -Unknown
“The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret.” -Nido R. Qubien
“Exercise is a celebration of what your body can do. Not a punishment for something you ate.” -Unknown
“Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.” -Chinese Proverb
“The future depends on what you do today.” -Mahatma Gandhi
“If you’re tired of starting over, stop giving up.” -Unknown
“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.” -Jerry Rice
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” -Thomas Edison
“Watch your habits. Not your weight.” -Unknown
“Fitness is not about being better than someone else. It’s about being better than you used to be.” -Khloe Kardashian
The Bottom Line
Finding motivation to workout can be tough, especially if you’ve already had a long day or week. Pushing through the exhaustion and the stress of the day can feel daunting, but moving out of your comfort zone is often the best decision you can make. Read a couple of the workout motivation quotes above to tap into your fitness motivation and get back to working toward a healthier you.
More Tips on Finding Workout Motivation
Featured photo credit: Jonathan Borba via unsplash.com
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
