Movember Created Mental Health Exercises For the Gym with dentsu

Movember and Life Fitness become gym partners for mental health Look around any gym and you’ll notice that between sets of weights, most people stand around idly or scroll through their phone. Movember, Life Fitness, and dentsu Aotearoa thought this downtime could be turned into something more productive.

So, in more than 100 gyms across New Zealand, they’ve launched ‘MindSets’ – a series of mental health exercises that are specially designed to be done between sets. Developed in collaboration with clinical psychologist, Jacqui Maguire, the program is made up of ten exercises. Each can be done in 1-2 minutes, the typical break that people take between sets.

‘Oxytocin Lifts’ simply require checking in with a mate. ‘Mood Raises’ are an easy breathing exercise. And all that’s needed to do a ‘Serotonin Lift’ is to hit play on a song that holds good memories. People can do just one exercise, or the full circuit.

Each exercise has been illustrated as a simple set of instructions that complement the existing diagrams on Life Fitness equipment. So far they’ve been installed in major gym chains such as Flex Fitness, Les Mills, Anytime Fitness, and Snap! Fitness, plus numerous council, university, and privately owned gyms.

The program is also available online, along with audio guides narrated by The Alternative Commentary Collective, so that people can build MindSets into their routine wherever they work out.

While Movember is most famous for invading the upper lips of men every November, the group’s overall mission is to change the face of men’s health, and one of the biggest issues they tackle is mental health. So each year, a portion of donations go towards developing initiatives like MindSets.

“Showing up in people’s day-to-day life with useful mental health tools and messages is something we’re always looking to do,” says Movember country manager, Rob Dunne. “MindSets is a perfect example of that.”

Says Colin Walker, Life Fitness NZ managing director, “As our name suggests, Life Fitness aims to help people be healthy in all aspects of life. Mental health is a huge part of that, so MindSets is something we’re thrilled to support.”

Over the coming weeks, as people flock to the gyms in preparation for summer, MindSets is being generously supported by a group of media partners. Cartel Media are providing their hyper-targeted gym screens, which talk to the audience at the perfect time. NZME are leading the conversation on the airwaves, and Mediaworks, Shout, and Jolt are providing their extensive networks of OOH, online, and TV.

“Everyone who goes to a gym does it to stay healthy,” says dentsu chief creative officer, Brett Colliver. “But it’s easy to forget that our minds need to be kept as strong as our muscles. We think being able to look after both at the same time is something that people won’t just find useful, it will also get them thinking about their mental health in a new way.”

If you represent a gym or a sports team that would like to take part, please get in touch at hello@mindsets.co.nz.