Everyone knows about stress. It’s probably one of the most-used (overused?) words in the Western world at the moment. What is lesser known is that the physical systems used to build cardiovascular health & strength are the same systems that regulate our human response to stress. This alignment is very cool because, in simple terms, it means you can get better at responding to stress by working out. Particularly when you engage with your workouts in ways that purposefully build your ability to self-regulate from stressed states (think post-200m sprint) back to recovered states (heart rate under 100bpm).
The most effective way to do this is through breath training. Learning how your body naturally upregulates and downregulates your respiratory system allows you to participate with that process to enhance the impact of your workouts and to teach your body how to restabilise. This restabilising applies not only to your workout, but anytime you experience stress. It helps us create the ability to return to a calm baseline after stress, whether that stress in 10 minutes of burpees or a fight with your other half – both stressors effect the same system with humans and so training our stress response with workouts helps us be calmer during and after that argument with your loved one.
So whether you want to become a ninja at the gym or kick anxiety to the curb, the work to get there is often the same. 1:1 coaching slots are available to help you learn the skill of engaging with your workouts in a way that creates patterns of resilience in the mind & body.
My clients often benefit from increasing the aerobic efficiency (meaning you can run/walk/swim/train longer with less effort), improve their CO2 tolerance (a biological measure of sensitivity to stress), recover better after exercise or between rounds of exercise in interval training, and most importantly, feel calmer and more present and less reactive at home/work/in life.
Learn more about the breath / mind / body system and start your own journey toward increased stress resilience and calm. Join my mailing list or follow me on social media.