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Did you perform less sets or skipped an exercise or two because you were very busy and stressed out last week?
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💡You may be on to something.
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✔️If you’re stressed out, a workout acutely decreases your strength more than if you were chilled out and in control [Stults-Kolehmainen 2012].
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🕰️That’s acutely: up to 1 hour after the workout. However, what happens on a bigger scale of time?
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🎨In an elegant study design, the same researchers investigated how being stressed about school work affected students’ long-term recovery from workouts [Stults-Kolehmainen 2014].
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📈The most stressed out students took over 4 days to fully recover from the workout. To add insult to injury: they did nót supercompensate by getting stronger.
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🎙️In contrast, the chilled out crowd recovered to their previous strength within a day, and continued to supercompensate and come out stronger 3 days after.
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The biggest recovery difference was seen due to the amount of *perceived* stress the students had.
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Stepping in poop, then missing the bus to work, and getting a call that your goldfish died simply affects some people more than others: they perceive more stress from the same external events.
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✔️So what to do in this case? When you’re under-recovered, but you still want to get a workout in, focus on technique more than annihilating your muscles.
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✔️Additionally, you can limit the muscle damage you do, but still get a sufficient training stimulus by focusing on speedy, explosive repetitions with 60-80% of your normal working weights.
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Do you clearly notice when you’re under-recovered due to psychological stress?
__
💡You may be on to something.
__
✔️If you’re stressed out, a workout acutely decreases your strength more than if you were chilled out and in control [Stults-Kolehmainen 2012].
__
🕰️That’s acutely: up to 1 hour after the workout. However, what happens on a bigger scale of time?
__
🎨In an elegant study design, the same researchers investigated how being stressed about school work affected students’ long-term recovery from workouts [Stults-Kolehmainen 2014].
__
📈The most stressed out students took over 4 days to fully recover from the workout. To add insult to injury: they did nót supercompensate by getting stronger.
__
🎙️In contrast, the chilled out crowd recovered to their previous strength within a day, and continued to supercompensate and come out stronger 3 days after.
__
The biggest recovery difference was seen due to the amount of *perceived* stress the students had.
__
Stepping in poop, then missing the bus to work, and getting a call that your goldfish died simply affects some people more than others: they perceive more stress from the same external events.
__
✔️So what to do in this case? When you’re under-recovered, but you still want to get a workout in, focus on technique more than annihilating your muscles.
__
✔️Additionally, you can limit the muscle damage you do, but still get a sufficient training stimulus by focusing on speedy, explosive repetitions with 60-80% of your normal working weights.
__
Do you clearly notice when you’re under-recovered due to psychological stress?