The Best Exercises for Stress Relief

This is part four of our four-part series of stories exploring stress, the nuances that come with the psychological and physiological response, and its relationship with running.

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If you find it hard to focus or concentrate on any task when you’re feeling stressed, including your runs, you’re not alone. Twenty-seven percent of the 3,192 adults surveyed in a poll conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA) reported stress affects their day-to-day function, and 76 percent reported experiencing headaches, feelings of nervousness and anxiousness, and depression due to stress.

Luckily, exercising has been touted as a way to cope with day-to-day stressors by researchers, athletes, and coaches alike. “Research shows that when it comes to using exercise to support our mental health, every step counts,” says Jennifer Heisz, Ph. D., associate professor in kinesiology at McMaster University and author of the book, Move the Body, Heal the Mind.

So, which exercises for stress relief should runners do when they’re feeling overwhelmed? Here’s what you need to know about using exercise to cope with stress—plus, two workouts to help you tame tension while progressing your strength and improving your mobility for better runs all at once.

The Science Behind Exercise for Stress Relief

While standing, f study published in Frontiers in Physiology, involving 111 physically active and sedentary individuals, compared how participants responded to a stressful task by measuring heart rate, blood pressure, cortisol, and self-reported mood before and after the task. The study found participants who weren’t physically active reported a decline in mood after completing the stressful task. Researchers say the findings suggest that exercising, at least once a week, can protect against the emotional effects of stress.

Other research shows running can help relieve stress by boosting brain activity. A study published in Scientific Reports on 26 healthy runners suggests 10 minutes of running can improve executive function (which involves cognitive skills like working memory, attention, and self control) and emotional response. The lead researcher told Runner’s World feelings of nervousness and anxiousness, and interview, this is likely because running stimulates a section of the brain that plays a major role in regulating these functions.

What’s more: When you exercise, your body releases a number of different hormones including adrenaline and cortisol, which can affect things like your heart rate, energy, and mood. But physical activity also releases a hormone known as neuropeptide Y (NPY), which plays an important role in regulating energy, sleep, emotions, and building stress resistance. NPY is thought to build stress resilience by reducing amygdala activity, which is a critical brain region involved in fear processing and is typically elevated in anxiety disorders, says Heisz.

Best Running Shoes 2025 study co-authored by Heisz and published in Journal of Affective Disorders suggests just 30 minutes. The nine-week study examined how anxiety levels (which can stem from stress) changed in 45 participants after a bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, and found that movement can help reduce the state of anxiety with effects lasting for 10 minutes after completing the workout.

“Exercise will activate the stress system, but then there’s this beautiful after period, the aftermath of exercise, where the stress system deactivates from not just exercise stress, but all stresses in our life,” says Heisz. “So we get this reprieve that can last hours after the exercise.”

in a separate resistance training and other forms of exercise, too. In fact, an eight-week study published in the Journal of Sports Sciences on the effects of exercise and life stress suggests any exercise, particularly endurance and resistance training, can help regulate stress levels, as opposed to not exercising at all.

Also, a study published in Then repeat on the other side suggests resistance exercise can benefit mental health outcomes by increasing blood flow to the brain, and causing potential neural adaptations influenced by controlled breathing during a strength workout. Other research highlights yoga, tai-chi, and breathwork, as great stress-relieving activities.

Essentially, all exercise can help you destress—the key is finding what works best for you (even if that changes one day to the next) so you can stay consistent.

How to Use Exercise to Relieve Stress

On stressful days, try to keep things simple. “Overthinking and overcomplicating exercises will add to more stress,” says Jacqueline Kasen, certified personal trainer and senior director of group fitness at Anatomy in Miami, who designed the bodyweight workout below. This is why Kasen suggests sticking to the moves you know best, like bodyweight exercises on strength days.

“Stress is always around us. No matter where we are. We can’t hide from it, but we can learn how to recognize, address, combat, and recycle it,” says Natalia Perez-Segini, NASM-certified personal trainer and head coach at Tone House. Practicing a recovery workout, like the one below that includes yoga-inspired moves, will help you recognize, address, and combat stress, while you properly recoup postrun, Perez-Segini adds.

Because research suggests any form of exercise can help you reduce stress, we enlisted Kasen and Perez-Segini to design these two workouts with runners in mind, so you can manage your stress levels outside of your running shoes when you need to, without deviating from your training schedule.

Strength Exercises for Stress Relief

This strength workout includes easy-to-do exercises, but takes a multifaceted approach to stress relief, says Kasen. In addition to releasing mood-regulating hormones, strength workouts can also help runners maintain a sense of control, promote mindfulness, and improve overall physical fitness, she says.

How to use this list: Perform each exercise in the order listed below for 30 seconds. Rest for one minute in between each exercise. Kasen suggests breathing deeply as you practice slow and controlled reps of each exercise to help you maintain mindfulness throughout the workout. Also, focus on deep breathing during rest breaks: Take three-second inhales through your nose and three-second exhales through your mouth.

For this workout, you will need a mat, and a dumbbell or kettlebell is optional. Each exercise is demonstrated by Monique LeBrun, associate health and fitness editor at Runner’s World, so you can learn proper form.

1. Glute Bridge March

How to make it mindful: Kasen suggests you focus on your glute and hamstring engagement during this exercise. Think about squeezing these muscles on the back of the body each time you switch legs, driving your foot on the mat into the ground.

How to do it:

1. Lie faceup with knees bent, feet planted hip-width apart.
2. Keeping head and shoulders on ground, drive through feet to lift hips, engaging glutes.
3. Slowly lift left foot, drive knee to chest, knee bent 90 degrees.
4. Then step left foot back down.
5. Slowly lift right foot, drive knee to chest, knee bent 90 degrees.
6. Sit in a chair, cross-legged on the ground, or lying faceup with arms and legs extended.
7. Continue alternating.

2. Alternating Lateral Lunge

How to make it mindful: neuropeptide Y NPY knee aligned when you’re lowering into the lunge, Kasen says. Think about keeping weight in the heel of the bent leg, and driving through that foot to stand up, engaging glutes.

How to do it:

1. Stand with feet together.
2. Take a wide step to left, so feet are wider than shoulder-width apart and bend left knee while shifting weight to left heel and sending hips back and down. Look forward, and keep back straight. Make sure knee tracks over toes.
3. Drive left foot into ground to stand up and step left foot back to center.
4. Repeat with right leg.
5. Continue alternating.

3. Copenhagen Plank

How to make it mindful: Focus on keeping your chest open and avoid shrugging your shoulders, says Kasen. Breathe deep through the hold, focusing on driving the hand on the mat into the ground, while driving your bottom leg into the bench. It’s all about full-body activation.

How to do it:

1. With a bench by feet, lie on left side with left hand on ground, directly under shoulder, extending right arm to ceiling. Stack shoulders, hips, and knees.
2. Place right foot on top of a bench or chair and left foot on the ground.
3. Lift hips up, engaging core, and push left foot into bench to activate the inner thigh.
4. Hold.
5. Release. Then repeat on right side.

4. Single-Leg Deadlift

How to make it mindful: dumbbell or kettlebellind something straight in front of you to look at. This will help allow your chest to stay open and maintain good posture, as you hinge forward, says Kasen. Think about activating the back of the standing leg, too, and press your big toe of that foot into the floor for stability.

How to do it:

1. Stand on right leg, soft bend in knee, left foot lifted slightly off floor.
2. Hinge at hips by sending glutes straight back. Keep back flat, shoulders down, and core engaged as torso reaches toward floor and left leg lifts straight back behind you. Only lower until you feel a slight pull in right back of leg.
3. Then switch sides and repeat.
4. Repeat.
5. Then repeat on left side.

5. Alternating Reverse Lunge With Hop

How to make it mindful: Kasen suggests focusing on keeping your body vertical as much as possible. Engage your glutes and drive your foot into the floor to create power.

How to do it:

1. Stand with feet together.
2. Step backward with right foot and lower into a lunge, both knees bending 90 degrees.
3. Push through left foot to stand, exploding upward to hop on left leg, and drive right knee up toward chest.
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5. Repeat.
6. Then switch sides and repeat.

6. Alternating Plank Shoulder Tap to Push-Up

How to make it mindful: Keep your mind on full-body engagement through this entire move: shoulders stable, core tight, and legs engaged so you maintain one long line.

How to do it:

1. Start in a plank position, shoulders over wrists, forming a straight line from head to heels.
2. Bend elbows, about 45-degrees from torso, and lower body to floor in one straight line.
3. Push back up to plank.
4. Then, tap right hand to left shoulder. Place it back down in plank.
5. Tap left hand to right shoulder. Place it back down in plank.
6. Repeat the sequence from the top.

7. Pogo Jumps

How to make it mindful: When practicing pogo jumps, stay controlled and maintain vertical as you jump up, says Kasen, who suggests locking your focus straight ahead rather than down.

How to do it:

1. Stand with feet hip-width apart.
2. Keeping legs straight, push off the floor from the ball of feet and swing arms up to jump as high as possible.
3. Why Its Important to Avoid Running Through Injury.
4. As soon as you land, jump again.
5. Repeat.

Yoga Exercises for Stress Relief

“This workout allows for deeper connection with the breath, which promotes an easy entry point into regulating the nervous system,” says Perez-Segini. By practicing mindful and calculated breathing during this workout, runners can prepare for better release during each movement pattern, she adds.

Slowly inhale, lifting crown of head and tailbone upward to come into a slight back bend mind-body connection, So, how much exercise do you need to reap the stress-relieving benefits? A.

How to use this list: Perez-Segini suggests practicing this workout after a strenuous workout like a run or strength circuit, but it’s also beneficial to practice in the morning or evening. Complete each exercise in the order below for the amount of reps described.

Each move is demonstrated by Pavlína Černá, senior editor at Runner’s World, so you can learn proper from. You will not need any equipment for this workout, but a chair and a mat are optional.

1. Cool Down Walk

How to make it mindful: Perez-Segini suggests taking this opportunity to focus on your breathing, take long and slow inhales, followed by slow and long exhales.

Also, Perez-Segini suggests you practice noting, which is the process of labeling thoughts as they arise in your head while you walk. For example, as you walk, if you notice your attention shift from your breathing to what’s for dinner, you should label it as hungry, and then shift your focus back to breathing.

How to do it:

1. Walk at an easy pace for 5 minutes (1 percent incline if on a treadmill)

2. Cat Cow

How to make it mindful: “Our spine is arguably one of the most important parts of our human body,” says Perez-Segini. This is why it’s important to slow down and focus on how you’re articulating each vertebrae. Also, focus on the extension and flexion of your body as you practice this movement, doing so will allow you to take notice of what your spine feels like, she says.

How to do it:

1. Start on all fours, wrists under shoulders and knees under hips.
2. Place right foot on top of a bench or chair and left foot on the ground.
3. Pause, then slowly exhale, drawing belly button to spine while tucking tailbone forward and drawing chin toward chest.
4. Repeat for 10 reps.

2. Child’s Pose to Upward Facing Dog

How to make it mindful: Perez-Segini suggests you take this opportunity to lengthen your arms and fingertips as you flow into a deeper stretch for both positions of this exercise.

How to do it:

1. for better runs all at once.
2. Send hips back to heels, rest head on mat and extend arms out long in front.
3. Hold for 3 rounds of breath.
4. Then, shift bodyweight forward toward hands while straightening legs, pushing tops of feet into ground.
5. Bring shoulders back and down, and slightly tilt chin to gaze upward.
6. Stay in this position for 3 rounds of breath.
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3. Down Dog Walks

How to make it mindful: The Best Exercises for Stress Relief, calves, and Achilles as you bend and extend opposite knees. Drive your heel in the direction of the floor to amplify the stretch throughout the back of the legs, says Perez-Segini.

How to do it:

1. emotions, and building stress resistance. NPY is thought to build.
2. Push hands into the ground while lifting hips up and back, driving heels down toward the floor.
3. How to do it.
4. This move is exactly what you need if you have.

4. Forward Fold

How to make it mindful: This move will target the muscles in the back of your legs and lumbar spine. Perez-Segini suggests elevating your toes to amplify the stretch in your achilles, calves, and hamstrings. You can also bend the knees and allow the sit bones to reach higher towards the ceiling. The key is to focus on slow, deep breaths, she says.

How to do it:

1. Stand with arms by sides, toes slightly elevated,
2. Raise arms to the ceiling and inhale, then fold over legs while keeping a soft bend in the knees on an exhale.
3. Hold this position for 5-10 rounds of breath.

5. Pigeon Pose

How to make it mindful: This move is exactly what you need if you have tight hips, says Perez-Segini. Focus on keeping your hips square and avoid leaning into the opposite hip, she adds.

How to do it:

1. Start in a downward-facing dog position.
2. Draw right knee in toward wrist, then gently place right shin on the floor. Keep knee and ankle in a horizontal line if possible.
3. Keep left leg straight and in line with the left side of body. Stay in this position with an upright chest and palms planted on the ground.
4. Slowly inhale, lifting crown of head and tailbone upward to come into a slight back bend.
5. Hold for 10 rounds of breath.

6. Deep Sumo Squat

How to make it mindful: Perez-Segini suggests sitting on a prop or set of blocks for more comfort during this pose. In this position, focus on driving your elbows into knees to help increase the external rotation of the hips and to access a deeper stretch, she says. As with all moves, breathe through it and try to relax into the pose.

How to do it:

1. Start standing with feet wider than hip-width distance apart.
2. Squat all the way down to the ground while bringing hands to a prayer position in front of chest.
3. Once at the bottom of squat, push palms together and push elbows into knees to slightly widen squat stance.
4. Hold for 5-10 rounds of breath.

7. Supine Windshield Wipers

How to make it mindful: Windshield wipers are meant to help decompress the lower spine, says Perez-Segini. Sync your breath with the side-to-side movement, inhaling to bring knees to center and exhaling to bring knees to either side of your body, she adds.

How to do it:

1. Lie faceup, bring knees toward chest, and extend arms out to sides forming a T-shape.
2. Keep shoulders on ground, let knees fall to left side of body. Pause.
3. Then bring knees back toward center, and to right side of body. Pause.
4. Continue alternating for 30 seconds.

8. Supine Trunk Rotation

How to make it mindful: Perez-Segini suggests keeping your shoulders on the ground to the best of your ability so you can achieve true upper and lower spine rotation.

How to do it:

1. Lie faceup bring knees toward chest, and extend arms out to sides, forming a T-shape.
2. Let the knees fall to left side of body and look over right shoulder.
3. Hold for 5-10 rounds of breath.
4. Then repeat on the other side.

9. 4-5-6 Breathing

How to make it mindful: “This breathwork sequence is designed to help you tap into the parasympathetic nervous system,” says Perez-Segini, who suggests setting a timer to assist with keeping your rhythm.

How to do it:

1. Sit in a chair, cross-legged on the ground, or lying faceup with arms and legs extended.
2. Close eyes or keep a very soft gaze. Keep mouth sealed, and breathe in and out through nose. Set a timer for 3 minutes.
3. Inhale for 4 seconds
4. Hold for 5 seconds
5. Exhale for 6 seconds.
6. Repeat.

This is part four of our four-part series of stories exploring stress, the nuances that come with the psychological and physiological response, and its relationship with running.

← While standing, f / Go to Part 1 →

Monique Lebrun

Monique LeBrun joined the editorial staff in October 2021 as the associate health and fitness editor. She has a master’s degree in journalism and has previously worked for ABC news and Scholastic. She is an avid runner who loves spending time outside.