The intention behind why we exercise, and what drives that particular session or our overall motivation to exercise, often comes up when I’m working with people and their relationship with movement and exercise.

Simplistically, there are two kinds of exercise (in reality there is much more nuance):

There's exercise that resources you. It fills something up. You finish and feel more like yourself — clearer, calmer, more present.

And then there's exercise driven by something else. Something more urgent. It’s exercise that is really a form of management — of feelings, of self-image or of the anxiety that moves in if you skip a session.

The tricky thing is: it can be challenging to determine which one it is……

We are told, consistently and confidently, that exercise is good for our mental health. And it IS. The research is solid, the benefits are real. Movement genuinely can be one of the most effective tools we have for regulating our nervous system, lifting our mood, and feeling more at home in our bodies. There’s a chemical change and a sensory, body awareness change.

But our relationship with exercise can become complicated.

Because something that is less talked about - but in my opinion should be — is where those benefits to our mental health tip.

And when what started as something that was helpful can begin to feel less like a choice and more like a demand, less like a relief and more like a requirement.

Within sport and fitness I’ve experienced eating disorders from multiple positions. I’ve been a coached athlete with an active eating disorder, from which I have subsequently fully recovered. I’ve been a coach and personal trainer with clients who’ve confided about having an eating disorder, and now I’m an eating disorder therapist supporting athletes and fitness professionals.

I also provide CPD on eating disorders to coaches and have gotten to know their worries and concerns alongside their desire to understand and know how to best support their athletes.

I’ve been reflecting recently on what I’ve learned from this multi-layered perspective that I couldn’t necessarily have seen from one role alone.

Here are my reflections…..