I LOVE my work as a personal trainer, I LOVE off-season training, and I LOVE to see NuBody Fitness filled with clients and athletes, but sometimes it gets a little crazy. My team and I prepare for the busy times. There’s a plan in place and we’re ready to roll. But, is it stressful? Some days it can be. Just like yours, my life gets stressful too. How we survive these periods is all about our coping skills and stress management habits.
My goal for this article is to provide a little education about stress and a lot of encouragement for increasing your coping skills and improving your ability to manage stress. But, before we get into managing stress, first we need to understand it. A friend of mine gives what she calls a “whiteboard talk” on stress – in other words, the key points you need to know. I’ve included a few of the most important ones here. If you’ve already got the background, skip this section. If not, definitely read it – you’ll be glad you did. If you would like more on the subject of stress, send me a note and I’ll consider a more in-depth educational piece for a future newsletter.
Managing Stress
I’ve always believed that we can improve our stress management skills if we only attend to four things: exercise, nutrition, sleep, and prayer. These will remain my top four, but there are others to consider. Here are 6 key ideas for improving your coping skills and your ability to manage the stress in your life.
Start with physical conditioning. If you struggle with this, then do it first thing in the morning (5 am or 6 am). Get a trainer, attend a class, set goals, listen to great music, find a workout accountability partner, or get involved in a competition. We just celebrated the completion of our NuBody Boot Camp Spring Challenge and this year’s winner was Kimberly Kraut. She decreased her body fat, increased her pushups (over 140 straight), and drastically improved her core strength all because of her complete commitment to health and fitness. Kimberly’s “all-in” attitude contributed to her first place achievement and the $500 prize money. But, the longest lasting effect of this level of commitment is the impact it will have on her physical and mental health. That’s the real prize.
Make sound nutritional choices. Eat like a king or queen in the morning, a prince or princess at noon and a pauper at night. Follow a plan like Racheal Keesee, who has lost over 30lbs on our Nutrition Is Easy program. Plan ahead for trouble zones: air travel, late night hotel arrivals, lunch and dinner presentations that cause you to miss a meal, etc. Pack some meal replacement bars. Research restaurants that offer healthy options. A great idea I heard from a client is to refuse the menu (too many temptations) and order without one. Ask for simple fish, grilled chicken or petite lean steak prepared without oil or butter, lots of steamed veggies, and a side salad without dressing. Request dressings or sauces served in a very small portion on the side (or not at all) and you can’t go wrong!
Get a good night’s sleep. So many adults have trouble sleeping… insomnia, sleep apnea, the list goes on. Nothing lowers our stress threshold faster than lack of sleep. How much sleep do you get? If you are a 5-hour a night sleeper, I challenge you to get 6 or 7. If you are a 10-hour a night sleeper, I challenge you to exercise more. A healthy adult should not need 10 hours a night. Here’s a good rule: go to sleep relaxed and you will wake relaxed. That means turn off the computer 30 minutes before going to bed, disconnect from all electromagnetic waves that can actually disrupt the quality of your sleep, put some lavender on the pillow, read a great book before retiring to bed, take a hot bath, or just listen to some soft, relaxing music. (Now, that’s stress management!)
Create “holy” time. This is time for YOU. Read, pray, meditate, listen to great music, but take time to nourish your soul. How often do the words, “I don’t have time to think” come from your lips? Hit the pause button daily and feed your mind with words and music that lift you up. We cope better with the reality of today when we have faith that tomorrow will be brighter. I like to have “holy” time in the AM before my day starts up, but the bottom line is just get it in.
Learn to say no. Nothing reduces stress faster than turning off the flow of demands you require of yourself. And, while you’re at it, take some time off! Start small if you have to (half-days, three-day weekends), but be warned! Vacations are addictive. We all need more “down” time. A quiet afternoon, a lazy Sunday, a road trip… It won’t be long before you’re hooked and happier than ever.
Surround yourself with positive people. Research tells us that a strong and loving support system is highly effective in improving our abilities to cope with life stresses. Feeling low or overwhelmed? Phone or visit a friend. Invite a neighbor to go for a walk. Share your life with others and remember the power of laughter – it is the best medicine. Stay connected with the people who lift your spirits. Thank them for the impact they have on your life.
We can’t completely remove stress from our lives. The good would go out with the bad. We need some stress in order to perform at our best. What we don’t need is excess stress – more stress than we can cope with successfully. Most of us struggle with life balance. We are challenged daily by professional and personal demands. The goal is to know our personal threshold for stress and to do our best not to exceed it. For me, the many hats I wear (business owner, leader, trainer, mentor, manager, presenter, coach, etc.) often pull me in opposite directions. Added to this, my role demands that I am “on” all the time for everyone. So, just like you, I seek peak performance but sometimes exceed my threshold for stress, and I too can suffer the consequences. For me, my back and my hydration levels are my barometer for stress and they will often let me know when my stress level is too high. If I listen and pay attention, I am fine. I will go to bed earlier than normal, get a massage, get in a great workout, relax with a good book, or just stop to spend more time with the people I love. If I don’t listen, it could literally put me flat on my back and force me to slow down.
