Exercise Science is cool
I know I’m biased, but hear me out.
There are literally mathematical models we can employ that guarantee enhancement of our strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular system. For instance, if you do X exercise for X amount of times for X length of time, you will on average see this percentage of improvements.
This fundamental concept is literally what training programs for Olympians and Professional Athletes revolve around.
There is only one big secret that often gets neglected with this line of thinking and why we regular folks may not see the same types of results as the professionals do – aside from any genetic factors of course – stress.
The eye-popping effects of stress (distress in particular) were first brought to my attention with the amazing documentary “Stress: Portrait Of A Killer”.
In case you missed it or just want a quick summary; scientists studied a group of monkeys over a lengthy period of time and discovered that many of them had high blood pressure and cholesterol.
Think about that for a second.
Can a monkey be any healthier?
They are literally only eating real foods all day and get plenty of exercise (it’s not like they watch TV or play video games for fun). It seems like with a perfect diet and exceptional levels of exercise that they would have perfect blood work, but they didn’t.
How could that be?
Aside from humans, monkeys are one of the few animals with a lot of free time and a social hierarchy. All the little monkeys had the worst blood metrics because they were at the bottom of the hierarchy and being picked on aka ‘stressed out’.
What does that have to do with us and what can we learn and apply?
We need to counteract this Distress with Eustress.
Eustress is the good kind of stress that results from things like riding a scary roller coaster, jumping out of a plane (with a parachute!), or performing physical activity.
Anything to get us physically and psychologically away from the thing(s) that are “stressing us out”.
Until we learn to relax and chill out, even a great training program with all the perfect X’s and O’s may not be enough.
That is one of the many reasons I employ a “Small Group” personal training model at my studio and have all of my clients commit to “having fun” when they are with me. Having an intentional community and laughing goes a long way. Not only does this help with consistency but is also scientifically proven to generate better results.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this, reach out, or come see us in Scottsdale.
Building from the ground up.
~Luke