Is all stress bad? No

We’ve always been told stress is bad. Many of today’s stressors, which sometimes feel non-stop, causes chronic stress and inflammation, which can lead to major health issues. And unfortunately, certain types of stress are unavoidable: work, kids, relationships, driving on 285 during holiday weekends.

But can stress be good? Yes, when it’s acute, such as following an intense workout.

In the past, perceived threats and stressors caused chemical and hormonal changes in our bodies that helped our ancestors fight off sabretooth tigers.

In an ideal state, imagine our stress level (because certain stress is unavoidable) as a relatively flat line across a line graph that remains low. A high-intensity exercise program, i.e. CrossFit, creates an acute stress event, and that line spikes for a short period of time.

Those same chemical and hormonal events that helped our ancestors find food and not be food prompt our bodies to change and get fitter in order to better respond to the next stress event. But that only happens effectively when our normal stress levels are low enough that the post-workout spike is significant enough to produce the desired change, such as better cardiovascular endurance, stronger muscles, etc.

If our stress levels are always high, the spike isn’t as significant, and our bodies have trouble adapting and getting better because chronic stress blunts the positive changes we’re trying to make.

CrossFit recently posted part 1 of 2 about what happens to our bodies when we experience stress and how we can manage stress to get the most out of our workouts. Check out this great article about how the body responds to stress, when it’s a good thing, and why we program strength-only days as a part of our regular training schedule.