Lead a Fit and Healthy Life
Posts tagged stress
Worn Out WOD
05 months ago
A morning visitor hanging from our garage
I gotta be honest — I am feeling overwhelmed. It’s the busy season for my company, and especially my team which handles new parents enrolling their families in online schools. As a fellow parent, I know it’s stressful sending the kids to school and I can only imagine the extra stress these parents are under, learning a new way to educate their kids. So it’s really rewarding helping them –however you can feel their stress and anxiety, so it’s tough.
So I’m busy at work –home life is busy too. Kids are back in school in a few short weeks. I had to scramble to find the kids camps for next week. Apparently even though school doesn’t start yet, camps stop offering sessions a week prior. What are working parents supposed to do?
And on that note — what’s up with camps ending at 330p? Can’t they do at least 4p? I want my kids to be able to experience some of the super fun camps but does it have to be at my expense. I have to leave an hour earlier this week to pick HB up from her camp at 330p. That’s really the middle of my day. It’s very frustrating. Camp is super expensive and if they do offer after care – it costs extra. It’s hard on parents –
I am also feeling overwhelmed just with the house in general. I can’t seem to keep it clean no matter what i do. I am trying to carve out time each weekend with Nate and HB to go through their rooms – organize, declutter and get ready for a new school year. It’s not the doing it –it’s finding the time to do it. That’s the issue with a lot of what I want to do at my house — not enough hours in the day and weekends go by way too fast. I am sure I am not alone –it just gets to be overwhelming at times. I want to do so much more, but the reality is — not everything will or can get done. Sigh.
I am also feeling worn out — going away wears you out. I’m also according to my lady doctor, going through pre-menopause – so I’m all over the map hormonally. Getting older is such a joy — I can only imagine how much harder it would be if I wasn’t in shape. For about a week each month , I feel like a truck hit me when I try to get up in the morning. I know it’s shocking to some of you. I am so trained to get up early — thank GOD i am because if I wasn’t, there would be no way in hell I would get up based on the way I felt this morning. Sluggish, had some rough dreams, unsettled. And it showed in my workout today — I just wasn’t feeling most of it but if I skipped today, then Friday would be my make up day and I enjoy sleeping in a bit on Friday.
Warmup
400m run
x2
10 pushups
10 squats
10 ring rows
Skill
SDHP
WOD
3rep Max SDHP – I did 65lbs because i am struggling with technique and bending my arms too early, muscling it up. I did try 90lbs but went back down so I can work on doing it properly.
As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:
7 Wall Balls 20 lbs
5 Burpees
total: 10+3 (10lb)
We were told that we had to reach the 10ft target for it to count, so I went with a lower weight to ensure I hit it every time. If you have been following me, you know I am not a fan of Wall Balls OR Burpees. So a WOD with them together = evil.
Managing Stress
08 months ago
Our body’s old response to modern stress can be dangerous
I have had lots of discussions about this with my doctor over the years. Our bodies are not designed to handle stress the way we have to deal with it in modern day. Consistent and pervasive stress can cause serious issues – physical and mental. Learning how to manage or alleviate stress is really good for overall health — and guess what? EXERCISE helps with that. (You knew I would go there…)
The chemical reaction to stress in the brain is for short-term danger. Frequent stress weakens the system and causes problems.
It’s thought that when the stress system turns on and off, on and off, on and off repeatedly, controls eventually break down, says Nim Tottenham, an assistant professor of psychology at UCLA. “You start to get a deregulation of the system.” At first, this tends to make people super reactive to any stressful incident, but sometimes, after too long, their systems may become so overwhelmed that they don’t even respond adequately anymore.
An Unexpected Rest Day
011 months ago
It’s been quite a busy day. I woke up all raring to go workout when I realized I couldn’t turn my head to the right. I was dressed and thought oh I will go — then I stopped and said nope, not going to push it! So I went back to bed — so Thursday is officially my rest day. I will go tomorrow morning and of course on Saturday.
I’ve been under a lot of stress at work –it’s good busy stress but a lot of it nonetheless. It’s times like this when you need to make sure you are taking the time to relax and create some sort of order in your life so the stress doesn’t just start taking over and you may make the wrong decisions.
I’m not sure if my neck strain is due to the stress or if it was all that shoulder work yesterday — but in the end it doesnt matter, it is what it is.
Long weekend here I come
11 year ago
by Stephy
in General Reflections
The weeks seem to be be getting tougher for me as the summer moves by – which is not ideal. I need to figure out a way to recharge my battery – exercising works to a point of course but to completely unplug from our current hectic lives and restore the balance in my head. I need to focus on a strategy targeted towards getting me away from the toxic people I have to interact with daily. When you are forced to be around people who in no measurable way meet your criteria regarding quality and integrity – it tends to wear me down. I am trying all sorts of approaches to make it bearable – but there comes a point when it just isn’t anymore – I think I am teetering at that edge and need to find an escape route. And it is up to me — I am the one who is in charge of where I am and where i want to be. I have to keep reminding myself of that and not let mean people get under my skin. Mean People suck.
Running and relieving stress
01 year ago
by Stephy
in Fitness/Exercise
I have mentioned the past few weeks about my stress levels and how high they are right now. Some say running is a great way to way to handle stress. Any exercise is really but here is some info on running and why it’s so good!
Running is particularly great as a stress relief technique for a few reasons:
- Endorphins We may as well mention this one first: these feel-good hormones that are secreted when we run (sometimes leading to what’s commonly referred to as “runners’ high”) can make us feel less stressed and more happy and relaxed even after we stop running or other exercise.
- Release Pounding the pavement can provide a release for negative emotions and an outlet for frustrations.
- Escape One of my avid runner friends has always remarked that she’s ‘running away from’ the stresses of life when she runs. Running does provide a nice change of scenery and a sense of going somewhere else, on top of the other benefits.
- Support There are many outlets for runners to hook up with other runners. There are also opportunities to turn running into a public service, like when participation in a marathon leads to helping a good cause. Support for training is also available to marathon participants, which makes sticking with running a much easier endeavor.
- Fitness Physical fitness does more than just help relieve the stress of bikini season–it can supply energy and stamina to manage the stressors of the day and the challenges of life.
from http://stress.about.com/b/2010/06/02/running-toward-stress-relief.htm
In a Funk
21 year ago
I am officially in a FUNK and it is pissing me off and making me sad at the same time. I got up this AM all raring to go. Not really that tired and wanting to have a good workout. My eating has been on point the past few days and I have renewed focus. And my workout started great — I even was able to do 10 reps of chest press @ 100lbs both rounds. Feeling good…off to a great start.. got through the regular workout great. The final PT station is what screwed me up! I got through round 1 – 100 jump ropes, 30 Tabatas, and 15 Burpees with a weighted vest. 2nd round – 20 jumps into the jump rope, my back started spasming. I had to rush to get the vest off and started to walk around in hopes of loosening it. I tried to restart the jump rope with no vest but realized WTF am I am doing – my back was hurting. So I stopped – and left.
I am so FRUSTRATED. This has been a rough month for me physically and mentally. How do I reset? A friend told me to take a few days completely off to let my body heal. What’s crazy about me is that the thought of that sounds impossible to me. Why can’t I run? Will I gain weight? The thoughts that go through my head are all pretty irrational. TO completely rest, watch TV, relax. WTF does RELAX even mean?
My wise husband told me that we all have peaks and valleys and when you are in the valley, keep walking because you will eventually reach the next peak – even if it’s not the biggest peak in the area.
Just keep swimming…
Warmup:
2 min jump rope
Core:
general stretching
2 rounds:
Stability Ball crunches
ball scissor twists
ball 83s – ball between your legs, legs straight. When you do the sit up, bend your knees with the ball and touch the sides of your ankles.
2 rounds:
reverse crunch on your stomach
stomach back kicks
workout:
2 rounds:
PowerStation: 100lb bench press (10)
OH sit-up
35lb kettlebell figure 8s (20)
75lbs power clean squats
plyo-push-ups
double rope waves
PT Station:
Wearing a Weighted VEST
100 Jump Rope
Tabatas 15, 10, 5 x2
burpees 15, 10, 5
Things that make you go hmmmm
01 year ago
There are times when you wake up in the morning and you mentally and physically aren’t where you need to be to workout. You aren’t feeling it. Sometimes you should ignore the voice, but other times – you should listen. Today was one of those days when I should have listened. I just wasn’t feeling like myself and even on the way to camp, my voice was saying you need to rest. But commitment and routine won out. All was going fine until I started the circuit and whacked the upside of my nose with a 45lb barbell. You can probably imagine how much that hurt. I am grateful that I didn’t break my nose and no blood was seen. So, I stopped to regain my composure, resumed my split jerk, head to jump ropes, finish that and as I am walking to the wall ball squats, I get whacked with a jump rope. I yelled out a loud angry DAMMIT!, stopped again to compose myself and resumed the workout with a lot of angry energy.
My nose still hurts and mentally I am beat up. I do have to hand it to my Plumbline Ladies though. They know when I am not myself and were there to push and support me through the rest of the workout. My girl Kim was there for me all the way.
Anyway – I am happy that’s done for the day. I have to really figure out WTF is going on internally with me. I seem to be out of sorts in all areas of my life right now. The dr office incident, the getting hurt this past month, and Nate has strep. It’s a lot of stress and I don’t seem to be getting a handle on it like I usually do.
Things that make you go hmmmm!
Plumbline Training workout:
Warmup x 2
shuffle
pushups
checkpoints
skip jumps
Core x 2
partner ball toss 14lb
partner situps
25 reverse high 5 pushups
workout
20,16,14,12,10
45lb split jerks
100 jump rope
wall ball squats
200m run
25lb kettlebell swings
Losing your Job can have health repurcussions.
01 year ago
by Stephy
in General Reflections
A growing body of research suggests that layoffs can have profound health consequences. One 2006 study by a group of epidemiologists at Yale found that layoffs more than doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke among older workers. Another paper, published last year by Kate W. Strully, a sociology professor at the State University of New York at Albany, found that a person who lost a job had an 83 percent greater chance of developing a stress-related health problem, like diabetes, arthritis or psychiatric issues
via Trauma of Job Loss Often Includes Health Problems – NYTimes.com.
Quite a few of my friends lost their job this year. It is quite an adjustment and one that takes its toll on your self identity and purpose. For some, it allows them time to stop, breathe, and figure out what can satisfy their hearts. For others, it’s a stress inducing situation that may or may not force them into action. I do find that things happen for a reason, whether we understand what the reason is at the time. This is a good article to read so you are aware of the signs and feelings that people that lose their jobs go through. It’s not an easy time for many of them — but one that tends to work itself out in its own time.
