The stress of life

"May I buy pound of stress, please?"

Within the fitness and training community there has been ton of discussion of late concerning the possible negative effects of "overtraining" and "over-reaching". In order to simplify this message we won't get into definitions. However, let's define it as some form of additional work (training) that results in a "regression", or cessation of progress as opposed to progression or continued development.

It appears that when regression occurs in any training scenario many are quick to point the finger at too much training volume. I've come to understand, however, that there are potentially other factors that deserve consideration or that we simply may be ignoring.

The body is a synergistic organism. In other words, it works as a unit on the whole. Stick a needle in your foot and your whole body reacts. As such, I believe the body cannot differentiate between stresses; it's all just a physiological LOAD on the body. Think about it as different spouts (stressors) that are pouring into the same pool (the body). It isn't what "spouts" are flowing freely, it's about how much water is in the pool! Your body can't differentiate between physical stress and relationship stress.

Let's discuss stresses: Imagine you're having financial difficulties, relationship issues, college finals and family illness all at the same time. Is it possible that a twice a day intense training routine is, more than likely, going to "break" you than if everything else in your life was great? Of course. What is wonderful about this particular scenario is that it's one of the only such stresses that you can completely control.

It's vitally important to view the body as a complete unit. If a client is sick, some of their bodily functions are driven to fight off the illness. Because of that, their ability to train is compromised and assuredly reduced. Most coaches understand that.

I believe it's the same when other factors (money, relationships, career) are taken into account.

In my experience, any client with high stress in their life responds better to higher intensity, lower volume routines. Short, sweet and to the point. Training volume seems to be the key norm in controlling "overtraining".

There are some pretty cool methods of assessing a client’s ability to train. They include things like sleep quality, mood, appetite, soreness, facial freshness, a desire to train, and more on a scale of 1-5. It's completely subjective but low scores show that your body is not ready for heavy workouts.

It's just a monitoring system -- but in my experience most coaches pay almost ZERO attention to recovery issues, and almost 100% to training issues. I try to keep an eye on folks and look for "signs " of diversion from training intensity and address them as needed.

Here's the cold hard fact: You don't get better by training...you get better by RECOVERING FROM training.

Let's have a flashback from my 25+ years in this business...anytime one of my elite level athletes have had recovery issues with respect to training, it almost always was an indication of some external "stressor" going on in their life. I remember an instance where one athlete suddenly began to backslide and stop making progress when his father went into the hospital for a quadruple by-pass. This was the only thing that I could discern that had changed in his life.

Consequently, at the general public level, the trend is to see people do too much work for their results. I could probably eliminate almost 40% of the average individuals program and see no drop off in results.

Are they overtraining as indicated by most professionals? I don't think so. However, I believe they are doing too much training to achieve their results and thereby limiting training effectiveness. This tends to be a bigger key actually. It's the "One is good, ten is better" syndrome.

Observing training volume in relation to the results is a useful tool. And you also have to consider all the other stresses going on at the same time. It's not just how many sets or reps you are doing, it's the total level of "Stress" that your body is experiencing that counts.

Now you think about that.

Steve