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In this week's episode I go over why stress regulation is important, what kind of exercise to do depending on your personal stress load + personality, and break down why sometimes less can actually be more!
To try a free week of my signature Fit for Hiking program to get you fit from the trails (gym AND at-home options) start HERE.
To try a free week of my signature Fit for Hiking program to get you fit from the trails (gym AND at-home options) start HERE.
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What is Fit for Hiking?
Where fitness and outdoors meet. In this space we chat all things hiking, exercise, wellness, adventure, motherhood, and metabolic health from a female perspective! Get ready to learn + be inspired to live your fullest, most adventurous life!
Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a longtime fitness professional and Midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. And combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for hiking podcast. 1s Hello and welcome back to another episode of the fit for hiking podcast. This is your host, Brady, and today we are going to be getting into a topic that I love nerding out about. It is just something that I'm really passionate about because of a lot of my own experiences around this topic, which is exercise and stress, how much is too much, and kind of figuring out that threshold for yourself. And really where this comes up is, you know, we see a lot of women in our coaching business, Mountain Metabolic Coaching, that are coming into the program, and they're exercising a lot. They're seemingly doing all of the right things, and yet their body is not responding. They're experiencing hormone disruptions or just over stress, over inflammation. And I can personally attest to this exact situation, how frustrating it is. It makes you want to pull your hair out because you're thinking, okay, I'm working out, I'm going hard, I'm doing all the right things, and my body is literally rejecting it. Um. And so that's kind of the topic that we're going to talk about today and why this happens. And kind of some signs and what you can do to help lower your overall stress. I know that stress is not exactly the most exciting topic, but I think it's so important because we have to realize, like, we're living in a day and age where stress is kind of a chronic thing for a lot of people. A lot of us are walking around mildly to very stressed out 24 over seven, and we don't even realize it because we are now dealing with so many more stimuli around us all the time. Constant availability via our phones, constant noise and sights and and just stimulation. Like we can't really escape it in this modern world, especially if you're working at a job where you're looking at a screen all day, or you're on social media or whatever it may be. Um, or you live in a stressful environment where you have to sit in a lot of stressful traffic every day on the way to and from work, like stress is all around us in a heightened state, maybe more than ever before in our current generation. Um, so this is just something that we have to be aware of because it all factors in it all compounds over time. And we can't separate the stress that we experience, you know, environmentally, emotionally, mentally and physically. So exercise plays a role in our overall stress load. Um, so. There is a study that came out in 2019. It talks about the pro-inflammatory effects of chronic excessive exercise. So according to this study, excessive training induces an onset of traumas in skeletal muscle and connective and bone tissues. These traumas can lead to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines that affect the central nervous system, sympathetic nervous system, hypothalamic gonadal hypothalamic hypothalamic axis, and liver. So all of this to say, excessive exercise creates a lot of extra inflammation in the body and can affect your nervous system and your ability to become in a parasympathetic parasympathetic nervous system state. Um, so meaning we're kind of walking around in a fight or flight state a lot. So we're going to kind of talk about nervous system states and a lot of this today. So I will warn you, it's a bit of a nerdy episode, but I think it's so fascinating and it affects our lives and pertains to every single person, especially if you're listening to this, you're probably someone who, like, likes to exercise, likes to be active in some way, and we can tend to overdo it. So it's really helpful to just have this frame of reference that rest is not a bad thing. It's actually quite necessary to combat to combat this excess stress in our lives. Um, so I want you to kind of think about stress like a bucket. Like we have a stress bucket. Okay? There's a different tipping point for everyone. Like you're adding in your stress. This can be. Work stress. Home stress. Relationship stress, physical stress from exercise, um, lack of good recovery, lack of good sleep. Um, and then also just your personality type. If you're super type A, if you tend to be kind of like a high anxiety person, just as, as a person, um, all of these things are going to kind of add up into your stress bucket. And there's a tipping point, right? Like if you are experiencing high volumes of relational or emotional stress, maybe you're going through a breakup or a divorce or you're experiencing a really hard time in that category. Or maybe work is at an all time high of stress and you just can't get out of that stressed out state. You're up all night thinking about it, and then you're going and adding hit workouts or CrossFit workouts or orange Theory workouts. Nothing against any of these forms of exercise, but they are very stress inducing. Exercise itself is a stressor, all of it. So we can't say that exercise isn't stressful. It just is. It can be a very positive stress, but when we add it to our overall stress bucket, sometimes it can tip us over. It's the tipping point, right, to make the bucket of overflow. And we have reached our stress threshold. And that's when the body starts to really react. It becomes inflamed. It becomes chronically bloated. Maybe you're having gut issues. You're not digesting food well. You're holding on to weight. You're having hormone imbalances. A lot of different things can start to happen when we don't keep our stress in check, and we let it all compound. I think oftentimes we just we separate it, we compartmentalize our stress. And that's just not how the body works. Um, just a small, like personal story. Um, I experienced amenorrhea, which is a lack of a menstrual cycle for several years in my early 20s. And after seeing numerous doctors, you know, going to an endocrinologist, all these female doctors, specialists getting blood labs run every single week, all of these different things, really, all that they could narrow down from everything that they were seeing was that there was some underlying stress in my life that was causing me to lose my period, and they couldn't really say what it was. It wasn't that I was like underweight. I wasn't necessarily doing too much exercise if you're just looking at that component. But the reality was I was experiencing a lot of emotional turmoil at that time in my life, and I was adding fuel to the fire by doing a ton of hit style, fast paced circuit workouts all the time and running. So for me at that time, it was too much for somebody else. That might not be the case. And that's where it's really important to understand that everybody kind of has a different stress threshold depending on your personality, the kind of tension that you carry, if you're super high anxiety, if you are going through a season of your life where you are higher stress or you just have more on your plate, all of these things will affect your ability to deal with the stress of exercise and recover well enough to handle a high volume of high intensity exercise, so it's not one size fits all. I'm not telling you that like CrossFit is the devil, or that you should never do group exercise classes that are fast paced, you should never do it. But there's a time and a place, and so it's important. That's kind of what we're going to talk through today. It's important to be able to distinguish that for yourself. Are you in a season of life where this type of exercise is actually going to benefit your body, or is it going to be a detriment to your health? Is it going to maybe cause you to take some backward steps or it's no longer optimal and it's actually just what your body can tolerate, and then you reach a point where your body can't tolerate it anymore, and that's when you start to experience some symptoms. So in talking about this we need to really understand our nervous system. So our being in a parasympathetic nervous system state means we're relaxed. We're just kind of like chill. We're not in this high alert state. This is where we want to be most of the time, because this is where we're able to heal, rest, recover, digest properly and bring hormones to a healthy level, lower cortisol, all of these things. Then we have our sympathetic nervous system state, which is our fight or flight state, meaning that if we are in this state, we are like revved up, our heart is pumping, and then we're slowing down. Things like our reproductive hormones, growth hormones, thyroid hormones and stress is heightened. Okay. So this is going to like if this is activated our stress response switches off hormone systems that regulate growth reproduction metabolism digestion immunity. So in the short term it's necessary and helpful because we need that to kick in in moments of high stress. Like if we have to react quickly in the car because someone's about to hit us, or if we need to defend ourselves, or we need to react quickly in a very high stress situation. So it's necessary and helpful biologically. However, it is not how we're meant to spend our time 24 seven and what's happening, what we're seeing now in this modern day society that we live in, that's very high stress, fast paced, is that a lot of people are living in a constant state of fight or flight. Um, and this is causing. Very significant issues with hormones and our metabolism, ability to reproduce as females, digestion, gut issues, immunity, all of these different things that it's affecting. So we can't separate all of these components. They are very much intertwined. So here are some indicators that you might need to scale back on intense exercise. So by intense exercise I'm talking about like if you're someone who is working out, you know, 5 or 6 days a week, maybe even 4 to 5, but it's like pretty dang intense. Like you're doing fast paced, not a ton of rest. You're drenched in sweat, you're doing high intensity things or running or sprinting or, you know, just really pushing yourself to a point of exhaustion several days a week and you feel pretty gassed from your workouts. Um, and again, the threshold is different for everyone. Someone might be able to tolerate six days a week just fine, but it all depends on where you're at in your life and your personality and so many different components. Um, so here are some signs that you might need to scale back on intense exercise. If you're experiencing any sort of hormone dysregulation, such as a thyroid disorder, adrenal fatigue, PCOS, or amenorrhea, which is the loss of a cycle, that's a pretty common one. That kind of starts this cascade of issues like I experienced, um, where you start to lose your period because your body is like, we're not going to prioritize reproductive function right now because we're under attack. There's too much stress going on. Um, so if you have gotten any sort of labs done or you just have a hunch that something is off and I in that case, I would recommend getting some labs run. Um, a lot of these hormone dysregulation are can be very much linked to too much stress, too much intensity or not enough food or oftentimes both intertwined, um, which we will kind of get into. Um, the next symptom is if you're chronically bloated or you're just feeling inflamed all the time, tired, sluggish, cold hands and feet experiencing hair loss, have a low appetite, low sex drive, and all of this despite working out a lot. Okay, if you're working out a lot, you should have a healthy appetite. You probably shouldn't be feeling bloated all the time. If you're eating healthfully and working out a ton, um, shouldn't be feeling exhausted all the time. This these things aren't normal, but I think that they've become very common. Um, the next is if you are prone to always doing activities such as CrossFit, hit running, fast paced classes such as Orange Theory or things like that. Um, if that is what you go to, and that's always what you've done and you're a high stress person, you might start to experience some symptoms over time. Not the case for everybody. Again, this is not like a one size fits all. I'm just speaking to the person that might be, you know, saying, oh, that sounds like what I'm going through. Um, or if you're experiencing a high volume of stress in your life outside of your workouts like we talked about it, think about the stress bucket analogy, okay? It's not like you can just separate all of these things. So if you are going through a crazy, stressful time in your life, maybe not the best time to try to add a ton of like 6 a.m. fasted hit workouts. Okay, so those are some of the situations in which scaling back on intense exercise is probably going to benefit you. Uh, there's an integrative medicine expert, um, who shared a quote about an adding intense exercise and how it can be really hard on women's hormones. And she said the adrenaline output and physical demand on joints, given the difference in female anatomy, triggered more wear and tear, cortisol imbalances and thyroid dysfunction. So as females, we are just more stress sensitive because we have reproductive capabilities, we have to factor this in, um, especially, you know, cyclically, cyclically and with our menstrual cycle, if you're still of reproductive age and you're still menstruating each month, we can't pretend like this is not a factor. It just is. And so we are more sensitive to these things. And when things aren't running properly reproductively, if you're having sporadic periods or really crazy menstrual symptoms. This is a sign that your body is sending you that something is off. Like I said, these things are common, but they're not normal and they shouldn't be normalized. Um, unfortunately they are. So here are some things that you can do to stay active, but lower stress if you're like, okay, this is definitely resonating. And it sounds like maybe I'm in this boat. Things that you can do implement download weeks. This is something we do with our mountain metabolic clients pretty much always. Um, if consistency is a factor, right. If you're just like super randomly working out again, I'm not talking to the person that like occasionally does a workout or works out like 2 to 3 times a week pretty leisurely. Um, this is for a person that, like, goes hard and tends to be in the category of over exercising. Okay, so implementing d load weeks, if you're a consistent exerciser 4 to 5 times a week, um, you should be doing de load weeks like every 12 to 16 weeks. I would recommend for females. It's really helpful, both mentally and physiologically, to give your body and your nervous system a break. And we do this with our clients for that reason. Um, and you're usually going to come back stronger. Studies actually show that implementing de load weeks versus like groups that don't implement de load weeks in their training. So actually better recovery and better results, which is freaking awesome because you're getting a full week off of like lowering your training volume and really giving your body the recovery that it needs. But it's going to benefit you because we need rest. We need good quality recovery. Um, so especially if you've gone through a time where you're like, really pushing your workouts hard for a season, make sure that you're implementing de load weeks, because I know it might feel counterproductive, but it is actually one of the most productive things you can do to give your body that reset. If you are in the camp where you are already at that tipping point, you're experiencing hormone dysregulation. You're experiencing high stress, low energy, you know, cold hands and feet, lowered metabolic function, hypothyroid, all of these things that we've kind of been talking about, then it's probably best that you do a little bit longer. Um, and again, you probably are going to be wanting to work with a coach who can really see what's been going on and evaluate properly or speak with the doctor about this, but I definitely would recommend a little bit of a longer break where you really are focusing on super low intensity exercise and movement. That's not adding stress to your stress bucket. Um, the next would be focusing on strength training and or low intensity cardio such as walking, biking or hiking and with plenty of rest. Okay, so strength training not in the format where you're in a class that's like bumpin EDM music and you're going from one exercise to the next using weights. I'm talking like standard strength training, where you're taking several minutes of rest if you need to between exercises, and you're not pushing the pace really hard. Again, think you're probably needing to prioritize recovery if you're in this boat right now. Um, and then if you're doing the low intensity cardio things that don't make you feel gassed, things that don't require tons and tons of stress and energy from you, plenty of rest. Um, the next is deep belly breathing after exercise or after stressful situations. If you find yourself in that fight or flight state, which after exercise you are in a stressed out state. And if there's other times in your day where you find yourself like gritting your teeth and really elevated and just feeling super anxious, doing deep belly breathing is one of the best ways to get yourself into a parasympathetic state. Aim to get yourself out of that fight or flight state. Okay, so that is the goal. If you find yourself in that place, how can you bring yourself down like start to become aware of this and how can you relax? How can you truly bring yourself out of that and into a restful place? Taking deep breaths, relaxing your shoulders, doing some stretches, meditating, praying, journaling, whatever it might be. Going for a walk, hugging someone you love, petting a dog like there are so many different things that naturally lower our cortisol. And those are just a few of them. Um, lowering the overall stimulus in your life, if possible, by doing less things like task switching. This is something I'm working on. Um, where basically you go from like seeing your email pop up. So you check your email quick and then you see a text pop ups, you text check your text, and then your kid is crying. So then you tend to your kid all while also trying to check something on your phone and cook something. This is like my life and I'm trying so hard to be better about this. So really staying in tune with one task at a time and this is not going to be feasible every day, especially if you're a working mom. A little caveat, because I understand that life. But, um, as much as you can eliminate task switching and really stay focused on one thing because that's going to drain you so much less, um, than just jumping from one thing to the next. It's seriously so draining. Um, from a stimulating standpoint. 1s Um, less scrolling on social media, we know that looking at screens and things that change rapidly is really stimulating. Um, and just screen time overall, like, we've got to cut back on this as a society. It's very stimulating and it drains us, um, more time in nature, more walks without a phone, preferably, and more relaxing activities overall. Like we just need to be doing the things that fill our cups instead of the things that drain us. And unfortunately, we've kind of equated like scrolling the phone and watching Netflix and some of these things with recharging, when in reality these things are not deeply relaxing the way that we want them to be. So really kind of evaluating what are the things that truly recharge your batteries, that really puts you in a restful state. Maybe that's just sitting on a couch and reading a book, curling up with someone you love and talking about your day, listening to relaxing music. You know, drinking some tea, um, going for a walk in nature with your family without any distractions. What are those things for you? Make a list, figure it out, and seriously make a priority to implement these things. It's so important, more than ever with the society that we live in. Um, blue light blocking glasses in the evening. Or just trying to lower your amount of artificial light that you see in the evening to promote sleep quality. Um, taking rest days and simply going for more walks. Like we really over prioritize exercise sometimes and I'm a personal trainer, I'm a fitness professional, and I even feel this way, like sometimes we put so much emphasis on the things that feel really productive and effective, but then it's just too much. So really evaluate your season of life and is intense exercise, you know, five days a week serving you right now, or would it actually be better for you to scale back to maybe three days a week and then just going for more walks or hikes or restorative activities that you enjoy that are playful and more like hobbies for you. Ensuring that you aren't chronically under eating. This is a really big one and we haven't touched on this much, but unfortunately, over exercise and under eating do tend to go hand in hand for certain personality types. Um, whether it's intentional or not. And when we are underfed, undernourished, and in an over exerted state, this is when these symptoms and issues cascade big time. So we really need to make sure that we're getting adequate calories to fuel the intensity and duration of our activities. Just in general, as people, we need a certain amount of calories just to function. If you're eating 12 to 1400 calories for the average woman, that's just not even close to enough, especially if you're active and doing a lot of exercise. Um, so again, these are a lot of things that we focus on in metabolic coaching. We really love working with this woman who is banging her head against the wall, super frustrated by feeling like she's doing all the right things and not seeing the results. Because a lot of us as as coaches on this team have been there, and we know that there's a better way that is so much more life giving and health promoting as well. Um, so if this is something that is resonating with you and you feel like you need some guidance, definitely click the link in the show notes to head to a page on my website, where you can learn a little bit more about where to get started with learning more about this Mountain Metabolic coaching, and we would love to connect with you. So again, all of this to say, um, I'm not a medical expert, I'm not a doctor. This is not medical advice, but this is some really solid truth around overexerting ourselves or exercise. Too much stress and some ways that you can manage it, and just some things to be aware of as a female especially. So I hope that this has all been helpful and insightful. Um, if you guys have questions about this, please feel free to send me a DM at Ponytail Underscore on a trail. I would love to connect with you and talk with you about this. Um, it's such a real issue for so many women, and I think it needs to be talked about more. So thank you for being here and I will see you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this, be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at Pony Tail on a trail.com. Happy and healthy trails.