STRESS BUSTING WORKOUTS

1) Stillness of mind with yoga

Yoga is a well known stress busting and relief technique and for good reason. The poses combined with steady-breathing exercises help you to find a state of tranquillity and involve the concentration of the mind as well as body all allowing you to relax and forget your angst.

Yoga provides a superb counterbalance to your stress and will help you relax more out in the real world, which can't be a bad thing. Look for beginner classes or ones professing to be gentle for the ultimate in stress alleviation.

2) Get the eye of the tiger with boxercise

We all get it, that feeling when something inside us snaps and we are compelled to break something. Annoyingly we can't just go around smashing things when we get angry - but the good news is, a workout like boxercise is a close, safe and acceptable alternative.

Boxercise provides all the aggressive stress-pounding relief of boxing without the all the unnecessary loss of brain cells or punching other people.

Classes are fun and will include things like shadow-boxing, punch bag training, skipping and press-ups. These strengthen your upper-body muscles and boost stamina, hand-eye coordination and balance, as well as improving flexibility in the feet and ankles. The punch bags may not be able to feel the punishment but your body certainly will, giving you a feeling of wellbeing. Besides we can always imagine the bags to be root of our stress!

3) Drop and give me 20 in bootcamp

One very effective way of loosening up and ridding yourself of stress is by exhausting yourself until you can't support your own weight, let alone all that mental weight you've piled up on your shoulders. Bootcamp workouts are a way to do exactly that.

These military-inspired regimes emphasize short but extremely intense programs which consist largely of traditional stretches and exercises. Think push-ups, jumping jacks and lunges, and plenty of them, all aimed at heavily working your body. Bootcamp workouts provide an awesome full-body workout which will boost your cardiovascular system, strength, flexibility and tone trouble spots and the frequent changes in intensity, speed and tempo will leave you with very little time to dwell on your stress.

4) Dance your stress away

If you are forced to concentrate on a complex task and this will take your mind off the cause of your stress - the more complicated the workout the more effective the stress reducing effect. Dance workouts are therefore a great way to get you fully focused and get your heart rate up.

Dance workouts can be very complicated or very simple so, if you are a beginner, someone with little dance experience or (be honest) dance flair, then you may want to choose a beginner class. Regardless, you will still be learning and working your way towards executing complex dance moves; this will keep you occupied and take your mind off whatever it is that's bothering you.

5) Pump some iron

Weight training a great stress buster; there is something about the willpower it takes to do that extra rep that really helps to blow away the cobwebs. Another advantage of working with weights (as with all physical activity) is the self-esteem boost it gives you if you are down in the dumps. If lying on your back being "spotted" by a hench PT while you bench press doesn't appeal to you there are plenty of alternative weight training exercises such as kettlebells.

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