3 Best Exercises for Stress Relief - Cardio + HIIT are NOT It!
/Are you doing tons of cardio workouts - like running 5ks everyday, pushing the high intensity trainings… only to wind up even more exhausted, drained, and feeling like you’re still not really losing weight?
If you’re living a mega busy life, with high stress levels, you could be in varying stages of adrenal fatigue. Which means that high cardio workout you’re doing might be doing you more harm than good.
Don’t have 10 minutes to watch this video? Read the transcript below.
Hi! I’m Jaime Tan at Enlightened Spoon - wellness coach, yoga + meditation teacher and nutritional therapist helping overworked high achievers manage stress. Every week on this channel, you’ll get hot tips on nutrition, fitness and lifestyle just like today’s, other times you’ll get yoga sequences or meditation practices to help bring more grace, ease and flow into your busy life.
So smash that like button and hit subscribe now if you’re into it!
Intro:
In this video, I’ll explain the 4 stages of adrenal depletion, and depending on where you might be with dealing with stress - you’ll start to understand why maybe pushing yourself to the max with that cardio training isn’t a great idea.
Stick around till the end as I’ll also be giving you 3 better alternatives for keeping your fitness routines going that are more nourishing and supportive while recovering from a burnout or managing a crazy busy life!
In my next couple videos, I’ll be taking you through how sleep and stress regulate your circadian rhythms, and if you’ve been having trouble sleeping, look out for a slow, bedtime yoga sequence I’ll be making for you too.
So do me a favour and hit that thumbs up like, then hit subscribe, so you’re notified when my weekly videos drop!
Chronic Stress and Your Adrenals:
Adrenal fatigue is still currently an unrecognised medical condition, but its symptoms are very real. Your adrenal glands sit above your kidneys and produce the stress hormone, cortisol.
When stressed, short bursts of cortisol are released into the bloodstream to help keep you in a high alert state - the “fight or flight” mode.
But chronic, long-term stress could drain the adrenals leading to a low cortisol state as your body can’t keep up with constantly producing cortisol. Nor should it.
What does this have to do with how you’re training?
EVERYTHING!
Adrenal Depletion
As we determined, chronic long-term stress drains the adrenals. Adrenal depletion then causes brain fog, low energy, depressive moods, salt and sweet cravings, light-headedness, and other symptoms.
Because these symptoms may also be caused by a whole variety of other root causes, not just adrenal dysregulation, there are various saliva or blood tests you can do to check your cortisol levels, but there tend to be up to 4 stages of adrenal fatigue:
Stage 1: “Beginning the alarm” phase. Raised levels of cortisol, insulin and your other stress hormones, adrenaline and noradrenaline.
Stage 2: “Continuing the alarm” phase. This is when you’re wired but tired. Sex hormone production reduces as those resources are diverted to keep up with cortisol production. This is when you usually start to become dependent on caffeine to keep you going. But then you can’t shut your racing mind off at night.
Stage 3: “Resistance” phase. The sex hormone production keeps falling as more resources continue to be diverted to cortisol production. This is when constant exhaustion becomes a thing, along with a lack of sex drive, low immune function leading to regular illness - these all start to kick in.
Stage 4: “Burnout” phase. This is when the body really runs “out of juice” and can no longer continue producing sex hormones nor cortisol, along with low neurotransmitter levels. This is when the “burnout crash” happens after a long-term period of the body trying to deal with stress… often leading to more serious issues like extreme fatigue (like chronic fatigue syndrome), depression, apathy and a loss of interest in the world around you.
Keep Fit According to Your Stress Levels
So how you’re keeping fit needs to work with your current stress levels.
If you’re in Stage 1 of adrenal depletion, you might still be able to get in a few high intensity workouts and feel great after that. If that’s the case, great! As long as you’re not feeling more exhausted right after, or even the day after… you should be OK. Carry on.
But typically from Stages 2 - 4 of adrenal depletion - I tend to see in my type-A wellness clients who are very used to pushing themselves all the time - that their high cardio or high intensity trainings start to exhaust and deplete them more than they’re energising them.
If this is you: STOP.
It’s much better to listen to your body, and take it down a notch.
So especially if you are currently going through a busy period at work - eg. because I have a lot of creative people in my network: if you’re on pre-production for a shoot, that means you’re working late hours and waking up early… do your nervous system a favour and do something a little more nourishing and replenishing as your movement practice.
3 Better Ways to Train When Stressed:
Here are 3 alternative ways to train or keep fit when you’re under a lot of stress:
1. Resistance/ Strength Training
Resistance or strength trainings are probably going to replenish you more than that high intensity cardio workout.
Think of resistance bands, dumbbells, weights or even TRX which uses your own bodyweight. These typically help you build muscle strength and are much less taxing on your adrenal glands. This also improves fat loss much more than constant cardio training will. As your lean muscle increases, so does your resting metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories throughout the day.
You can gain strength without the bulk from resistance bands or dumbbells.
2. Yoga/ Pilates/ Barre
You still need daily movement, but “bigger, faster, more” is not always better. Sometimes you need to slow it down and change it up, and yoga, pilates or barre classes are low-impact, but still work on building muscle strength.
And sometimes when you slow down and really focus on the little movements, you actually work a lot harder, as you’re activating the deeper muscle layers inside. If you know the “barre burn”, you know what I’m talking about.
Many pilates and barre classes also use resistance bands and dumbbells, so you’re getting the strength training at the same time.
There’s also the mindfulness factor with yoga that can really help you slow down and tune in to what you really need right now.
3. Increase Daily Movement Rather Than Focusing on the Workout of the Day
Rather than focusing your energy on that 1-hour workout for the day, think of how you can move more throughout your day instead.
Only about 10% of your total energy expenditure for the day is used up in your 1-hour workout - so 90% or the majority of your total energy expenditure for the day is happening outside of your workout routine.
So many of my clients before working with me have the approach of “ah, I’ve gone to the gym, got my workout in, I can chill on the couch the rest of the day”...but the rest of the day outside the gym is when the majority of energy expenditure is happening!
So walk instead of drive. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
If you wanna know what to eat to help you manage stress better, check this previous video out.
I’ve also got a video on why you’re eating healthy and working out but STILL putting on weight.
And hey - if you’re getting value out of this video, do hit the like button and let me know in the comments below!
Also hit the subscribe button and the bell next to it while you’re at it, so you’ll be notified when my weekly videos drop!
Need More Help?
If you need more guidance on what kinds of movement practices will work for you, especially when you’re managing a busy, full-on life, this is exactly what I help people with in my 12-week program.
We go through the 3 pillars of mind, body, soul - managing your stress levels through working on your mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. Which results in long-term, healthier weight loss that supports and nourishes you, rather than depleting and exhausting you further.
I offer a free session to help you figure out how to personalise what to eat, how to move and other lifestyle rituals that can help support your busy, stressful life. Book your session here:
Questions or Comments on This Topic?
I’d love to hear from you what YOU think. Agree/ disagree?
In my next video, I take you through why your lack of sleep is adding to your stress levels, causing you to reach for more of the junk food, and what you can do to re-regulate your circadian rhythms and get a better night’s sleep. I will up-level that in the week after with a yoga sequence for bedtime.
If you’re interested, hit the subscribe button and the bell next to it, so you’re updated when it drops next week.
