STRESS: THE SILENT KILLER OF YOUR GOALS
Look familiar?
Imagine this, each day we are handed an empty bucket. Throughout the day, we put all our stress into that bucket. Unhealthy choices fill the bucket faster and healthy choices help us make the bucket bigger, so that we can handle more stressors tomorrow.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
5AM - A blaring alarm (over stimulated stress) goes off to wake us up for our morning HIIT workout (could be bad stress if over training)
6AM - Slam a coffee and grab a doughnut on my way home (nutritional stress)
7AM - Wake the kids up, they sure do make it painful, and rush them off to school (family stress)
8AM - Rage at traffic that drives slow in the fast lane (stimulant stress)
9AM - Get to work with a headache (physical stress)
10AM - Slam another coffee to try to make up for my lack of sleep last night (nutritional & physical stress)
12PM - Work stress begins as emails and calls role in (mental stress)
And so the day goes on with copious amounts of stress. Each task adding a splash into our stress bucket. Soon enough our bucket is overflowing with stress we can no longer manage.
The bucket is your body, when are bodies are overflowing with stress, we no longer have the ability to manage it appropriately. When we can’t manage our stress, our bodies pay the price.
HOW DOES THIS EFFECT MY WORKOUTS AND BODY COMPOSITION?
PHYSICAL
When are buckets are overflowing:
It is harder to build lean muscle mass
It is easier to store excess fat around the stomach
We are more likely to become injured in the gym
We should consider yoga over HIIT
We are likely to under perform and not utilize our time in the gym to the best of our ability
We could suffer from symptoms of overtraining (injury and illness)
NUTRITIONAL
When are buckets are overflowing:
We are more likely to make poor nutrition choices
We are more likely to rely on alcohol
We are more likely to have intense cravings
We are more likely to skip meals or binge eat
LIFESTYLE
When are buckets are overflowing:
Our relationships with our family and friends will suffer
We won’t feel as accomplished
It will be harder to complete daily tasks
Our performance will suffer at work
We will lack high quality sleep
HOW TO BALANCE MY BUCKET:
A balanced bucket can lead to a healthy and abundant life full of potential, challenges AND accomplishments, drive, passion and determination to succeed.
To keep a balanced bucket. You must prioritize your health and recovery with:
WELL PROGRAMMED WORKOUTS
When your bucket is overflowing (aka you’re really freaking stressed, lack sleep, etc) a high intensity workout is going to set you back more than push you forward. A P90x or long run would put you in a risky situation for injury and metabolic damage. In times of stress, walking, yoga and low intensity lifting is encouraged. Your Jolt trainer will customize your 1-1 sessions based on your daily stress. Expect your trainer to ask about your sleep, stress levels, and nutrition every session.
STRESS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
Every single day should include some sort of stress management. Whether that’s jamming to your favourite tunes, a walk by yourself with no kids, turning your phone and email off after work, bubble baths, yoga class, being in nature or meditation. You need hobbies that don’t revolve around your boss, kids, friends, or partner. You can’t expect your body to reach your goals when you won’t take care of it. Your body needs to feel comfortable not threatened to achieve GREAT things. Humans are social creatures, we need to be interacting with all types of people and environments to thrive. Hug your family, call a friend, go out for dinner or go to yoga or for a walk with a friend! Your body needs to feel happy and connected to reach it’s goals.
NUTRITION
Highly processed foods, sugar filled drinks and alcohol add stress to our bucket. Eating a healthy and balanced diet full of whole minimally processed foods from ALL food groups will help manage our nutritional stress and keep our body and mind functioning in their prime. Did you know one alcoholic drink can decrease your sleep quality by over 50%? This means you may be sleeping for 8 hours, but feeling like you only got three hours the next day due to interrupted sleep cycles. Digesting alcohol also prevents us from using stored fat as energy.
SLEEP
The most important component of health and the most neglected. A good nights sleep of 7-9 hours helps restore our bucket each night. Consider sleep the towel that dries your bucket out, so that you can start fresh the next day. If your sleep is disrupted, then your bucket will remain relatively full and the next days stress will pile up faster. Did you know sleeping less than 7 hours a night can age you up to a decade faster? When it comes to fitness, our workouts are the signal, but the muscle and progress is made while we sleep. Without high quality sleep, we can not make progress. End of story. Watch this TEDTalk with Sleep Expert Matt Walker.
The conclusion is, you can work hard, hustle and grind all you want, but you may not see the results you assume. Health is a full 360 degree picture and all aspects of your life need to be addressed to reach your goals. During Jolt’s personal training program you can receive strategies and accountability to manage your health 360. We care about your entire life and your full health, not just the number on the scale. We are here to support you in your goals and ensure that we increase your quality of life as you crush each and every one of them!
