Stress itself is not a bad thing – but too much stress can be.

Good stress is typically for a short period of time, infrequent, part of a positive life experience,  pushes you out of your comfort zone and helps you to learn, grow and get stronger — leaving you better off than you were before.

Bad stress is chronic, ongoing, negative, depressing, demoralising, de-motivating and breaks you down — leaving  you worse off than you were before.

The muscles need a certain amount of stress on them to grow. Doing 10 reps with 2 pound dumbbells will not stress the muscles enough to see much growth. 

You need to feel a little uncomfortable when you exercise to see the results you want. 

Lifting weight for an hour is good stress. Lifting weight for 5 hours is not. 

You might be a little tired or sore after an hour workout session. But you might be fatigued for days, burnt-out or injured after a 5-hour session.

How well you can recover from a stressor is a good indicator of whether or not it is a good or bad stress.

If the stressor is too low and not enough to cause a reaction then nothing will happen. You’ll go along the same as before, no better or worse.

If the stressor is within your recovery zone and is neither too much nor too little, and doesn’t last too long, then you’ll recover from it and get better. 

If the stressor is too high and/or lasts too long, outpacing your recovery ability then you’ll eventually break down.

If you are tired of putting miles on the treadmill and not seeing the scale change, join my 14 day accountability challenge where you will intentionally plan and progress your workouts and challenge your muscles!

Love,

Monika