Have you ever thought, shouted, or been in that place where everything builds up and your stress level seems so high that you say “I can’t handle any more!” I know I have. Maybe even last week.
Well, you are not alone! Every human being has a capacity for how much stress or “load” their system can endure in a given day before something bad (like injury or illness) happens.
Take out a piece of paper and draw a horizontal dotted line across the page about three-quarters of the way up.
This is your capacity.
Starting at the bottom of the page, there are boxes of stress or “load” that we stack one on top of the other. These include things like:
- Feeling overwhelmed with your time and “to do” list when everything seems like a priority
- Stress/Sleep/Diet: Things you can definitely control and improve with practice.
- Work hours and pressure from the boss
- Physical Pain or lingering illness
- Family issues and challenges
- All the above maybe
Everyone has some level of the above, not to mention another box — sitting in a car and/or at a desk for 8-10 hours a day.
Finally, after all those boxes are stacked one on top of another, you get to your workout.
Big Tip: The goal each day should not be to feel crushed by your workout. It should be to feel awesome when you’ve finished your workout and still be below your capacity.
If you’ve ever been injured doing a workout, chances are it wasn’t that last deadlift or kettlebell swing that did it … it was everything leading up to it that pushed you over the edge.
Now, most of us can’t control how long we need to sit at a desk but you can shrink that box a bit by getting up every 60 minutes (minimum) or so and doing some walking or stretching.
For most of us, the three foundational boxes can all be reduced by about 50%, leaving us with way more room for error below our capacity line once we prepare for our workout.
Here are a couple of ways to help reduce some of that overwhelming list.
1- By working with a qualified coach you can boost your mental physical and emotional being to bring down that stress list and
- Reduce physical pain with corrective exercises targeting the trouble area.
- Lose extra pounds
- Maximize your workout time so its short and effective for better results
2- By going to sleep an hour earlier, using healthy strategies to manage stress, and getting lean protein and colorful veggies with every meal, you can significantly reduce the size of that box, too.
This way, by the time you walk into our training center or join us online or go to your gym for your workout, you have plenty of room beneath your dotted line so that you don’t go over capacity and hurt yourself.
Continuing to push yourself, using a “no pain, no gain” mentality, or viewing your workout as punishment for your weekend eating binge will only lead to injury, illness, and frustration.
Start today by being aware of the things that push you to capacity and instead of letting them, flip the table, and find ways to reduce, minimize or defeat them, all with the goal of quality life for you.
