Such measures can demonstrably contribute to a reduction in the individual experience of stress (Throner, Coenen, Schuh, Jung-Sievers & Kus, 2023).
Many fitness and health studios already offer various options for actively counteracting stress with their training, relaxation and wellness offerings. The focus is often on reducing stress – teaching skills for independent stress management in the form of individual and group coaching has so far been the exception (Moriabadi, 2018).
Reading tips: ‘STRESS skills training’
In her bachelor’s thesis, a student from the German University for Prevention and Health Management (DHfPG) examined what such a stress management program in the gym could actually look like and what effects it could achieve.
methodology
As part of the conceptual final work, an eight-week stress management training for fitness studio members was developed, implemented and evaluated based on the current state of research and taking into account established coaching approaches and coping strategies.
Overview of the program concept
The designed stress management program (Fig. 1) included various elements from the areas of instrumental, mental and palliative-regenerative stress management and aimed to provide participants with targeted support in dealing with stress.
The focus was on improving one’s own emotion and action regulation, stabilizing self-esteem and strengthening personal resources and stress compensation skills.
The eight-week intervention included a weekly training session of 90 minutes, in which the participants were taught both theoretical content and practical application options. In each of the eight units, specific focuses were set (e.g. tension regulation and body awareness, stress management and ability to reflect, use of suitable coping strategies).
