The Best Stress-Relieving Workout, According to 11 Fitness Experts ...

“This helps build your intrinsic motivation to keep the habit going, since you’ll want to keep returning to it to get that feeling again and again.”That said, we asked trainers and other fitness professionals to share their go-to stress-relieving workouts to give you some ideas you can try.A total-body, 15-minute kettlebell circuit training workout filled with compound moves like double-arm swings, overhead presses, goblet squats, bent-over rows, and pull-throughs is the ultimate stress reliever for Noam Tamir, C.S.C.S., CEO and founder of TS Fitness. It’s about being self-aware enough of how you’re feeling at a certain point—emotionally, mentally, physically—and prioritizing you by focusing on being present, mindful, and tapping into your parasympathetic system (the part of the nervous system that helps you relax and slows down your heart rate),” she says.How you can try it: Try these 12 hip stretches and 11 lower-back exercises to relieve tightness and pain, and increase mobility.When Jessica Rihal, a registered yoga teacher and meditation instructor based in Orange County, California, is looking to relieve stress, she’ll do a series of poses in prone (belly down) or tabletop position to help her focus on breathing and relaxing.Some of her favorite poses for relieving stress are a supported variation of Child’s Pose, Cat-Cow, Thread the Needle, Hug the Earth, and a reclined position with bolsters or legs up on the wall.“I find poses that keep me prone or in tabletop position are most helpful because having my face down allows me to withdraw my senses, focus on breathing and help to promote relaxation,” Rihal says. And the Animal Flow portion makes her feel calmer and gives her the proper headspace to reflect on things.How you can try it: Try this 10-minute total-body dumbbell HIIT routine, and then work on your own bear crawl with this HIIT-based lower-body and core workout.To help her destress, Andrea Speir, founder of Speir Pilates, turns to a 45-minute Pilates reformer workout in her garage. It’s a simple run and abs to get my day started in a productive way,” Tralli says.How you can try it: Try this 30-minute running workout (which you can do on a treadmill or outdoors), and then finish off with a 5-minute ab routine.McEwen has been a distance runner her whole life, so it’s no surprise that she finds stress relief from logging miles along the beach.“I typically run four times a week for 30 to 60 minutes with varying intensities, from slow and steady to fast interval workouts, but always outdoors,” McEwen says. But if she needs solitude and contemplation, she’ll run on the beach while listening to a podcast.“I find this connection with my current mood state and flexibility to choose my exercise environment has a huge effect on the lasting impacts of the exercise on my mood during the rest of the day and how I connect with the world in my personal and work life,” McEwen says.How you can try it: Make your long runs feel easier with these training tips from the pros.Related:A 10-Minute HIIT Workout for When Everything Feels Overwhelming11 Feel-Good Fitness Accounts for When Your Feed Needs a Palate Cleanser21 Signs You Crushed Your Workout That Have Nothing to Do With Sweat or SorenessSELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.