Adjusting Workouts For Stress
by Paul Chek
Among the most common questions I get a lot is how to handle workouts when people are in a rush — either from stress or traveling — or they’re just tired.
In this video, I’ll offer some quick tips on getting the most out of your workout time to maintain your consistency, muscle mass and hormonal profile.
With a few minor adjustments, you can make a real difference in your workouts.
It’s so easy to operate on auto-pilot when you’re stressed or tired, you may be falling back on old habits and your typical workout routine, when doing less may be a better strategy than doing more.
Here’s four questions to think about when you need to shorten your workout sessions due to time, stress or fatigue:
- If you’re feeling more stress, are you decreasing your workout volume? Maintaining mass and strength may mean cutting back on the duration of your workouts or the number of sets.
- What’s better: Performing low or high intensity loads? If you’re cutting back on sets, consider choosing loads of higher intensities.
- Are your keeping your workouts simple or more complex? Reducing the complexity of your exercise — and doing fewer exercises overall — lowers the demands on your brain and nervous system and allows you to recapture the joy of working out.
- Have you incorporated Big Bang exercises into your workouts? These really save time by accomplishing multiple objectives in just one exercise.
Just a reminder, I show you how to design workouts geared to your current stress levels based on a series of questionnaires in my book, How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! (now in its second edition).
Love and chi,
Paul
