Stress Weighing You Down?

4 Rounds Each For Time:
40 Yard Prowler Push 90/50 20
Ball Slam 40/25
20/10  Ring Dips
Rest as Needed 

            As a student of Political Science and Psychology it is not often that I can apply my formal education to my passion in health and physical performance.  However, opportunity struck today and now I cannot stop thinking of applications (to psychology… politics is seemingly worthless here).  I like to think of my understanding and application of fitness as a puzzle to which I am collecting the pieces.  I first started collecting when I began running a couple miles with my dad to get in shape for soccer as a kid and learned that fitness can be a positive outlet and help me attain my goals. I then stepped into the local gym and learned that every good gym “routine” consists of 3 sets of 10 reps and chest on Thursdays— I didn’t have many pieces and some of them were turned upside down, but damnit did I ever try to make ’em fit.  About a year and a half ago I heard of this fitness competition that my girlfriend stumbled upon while near Santa Cruz.  After doing a little research I found out this was a competition to find the “Fittest on Earth” by testing athletes across broad times and modal domains.  The puzzle now has its borders and I’m finally confidant that I am beginning to see the resemblance of a picture. I imagine this is how Buddha felt on his path to enlightenment. However, unlike Buddha, I will never reach the promise land (or whatever happens when one reaches enlightenment??) and discover a complete, exhaustive, comprehension of fitness.  I plan to continue sifting through Bulls**t to find as many pieces as possible.

             …And on to the piece I found today.  I imagine I am not alone in having been disinterested in the relationship between stress and hormones (some scientific term doctors use) and health/fitness.  I didn’t think hormones were relevant to my pursuit of optimal performance (except for the king of hormones, testosterone, of course) and figured as long as I didn’t take on any serious gambling debts, stress would never be an issue in my life. The more I learn though, the more I realize how vital and relevant these topics are to my pursuit.  Who woulda thought, school just might have real-world use!

            So let’s dive into it.  First of all stress is a normal, natural, helpful physiological response to our environment and without it we wouldn’t be the beautiful, bright people we are today.  Stress is important for it ignites a fire under one’s arse, whether in a historical sense of escaping a predator or fighting a competitor, or today where it’s helps us meet deadlines and cope with the pressures of life, as we know it. 

How does it do this?  (This is the boring section where if you’re not into science you should skip)

            The brain has various mechanisms that can excite one into action.  These fight or flight responses ready the body by increasing blood flow to the heart and major muscle groups and making energy available for use.  My focus today is on epinephrine and particularly cortisol.  After locating a threat, through neural activation, the brain sends epinephrine to the liver to convert glycogen (fat) to glucose (energy) for the muscles to use immediately.  Epinephrine is responsible for the huge rush of energy one feels when seriously in danger, but this burst is over quickly (2 minutes or so) so the hormone cortisol comes in to pick up the slack.  Cortisol is released from adrenal glands (located above the kidneys).  It’s sent through the blood stream thus it takes longer to act but releases energy for longer (about 2 hours). Cortisol is an anti-inflammatory so if your ankle gets twisted, while running away from a Chupacabra, a full range of motion can be maintained and escape is more likely.  However, when cortisol levels are consistently higher than normal, the same hormone so vital to our species’ survival can wreak havoc on one’s body. 

            Constant pain and lack of sleep raise cortisol release because these are stressors on the body.  Additionally, increased cortisol levels tend to disrupt sleep. It’s a vicious cycle!  One common misconception is that exercise will increase cortisol levels by causing stress to the body.  Though there is evidence to support this in long duration endurance events (remember cortisol is an anti-inflammatory which will kick in to maintain a range of motion in the joints so one can continue to move even when there’s been damage from constant pounding), regular exercise not of this duration will help to regulate cortisol levels through increased metabolism, stress relief, and even pain reduction.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve felt huge stress relief after finishing the open workouts—euphoric really (about 10 minutes after, immediately after I feel like crap).

So What?

            The problem here is that the stresses that our ancestors faced and genetically adapted to (imminent threats) rarely occur in life today.  How often are we chased by enormous cats or do we get into fist-fights (this may be more relevant to some)?  This would be fine if we had different mechanisms to cope with prolonged life stressors, but we don’t, thus our body responds to all threats the same way.  As a result, many of us face constantly elevated cortisol levels.  This results in a compromised immune system (we get sick easier and more often), low insulin levels (prevents storing energy for use when it’s needed because the body thinks it needs energy immediately), faster aging by shortening telomeres (like the plastic part on the ends of shoe laces, telomeres protect cells’ chromosomes from unraveling and when that protection runs out, the cell can no longer divide successfully and will die).  This is why if you see a friend after they’ve been through a particularly stressful period they are likely to look more aged, their body is literally unraveling faster—all bad.  So do yourself a favor and don’t stress out!

But on the bright side….

            Now it is of course expected that we put a certain amount of stress on ourselves every time we do a WOD, in fact it is the goal is to prepare ourselves for the stress that our archaic ancestors faced—who just so happened to have to move large loads long distances to survive (sound familiar?). When we say crossfit workouts are designed to mimic life, we do not necessarily mean your life, but rather the one we are naturally selected to live— crossfit wouldn’t be very effective if it mimicked sitting at a desk for 8 hours 5 days a week now would it? 

            For this reason I think that the more intense, the better.  This means get your butt into competition where you will push to those limits.  I’d bet my left….hand that I’ll be completely focused during the 6^th minute of WOD 11.6 when the time comes because I know I’ll push it.  This is because, for our archaic brethren, in times of intense distress or danger (highly stressful situations) it was necessary to allocate every possible cognitive resource to the task of survival.  Only during times of high stress can we allocate all of our focus on one single task and be in the moment completely.  Life is very simple when all you can think of is one more breath, one more rep, or don’t get eaten by that lion that’s chasing me (basically the same thing).

            I can remember just about every crossfit workout I have ever done because the experience was so intense.  According to Psych141, stress and emotion are closely tied to memory because if an event or animal is important/threatening then it must be advantageous to remember it later on so that it can be avoided (this is probably due to increased glycogen to the brain–that’s another school reference baby!). This is why you vividly remember hearing about 9/11 (I was 11 years old and thought I might not have to go to school, pretty selfish I know) or the first time you did fran (I did it alone as my third WOD ever, decided Crossfit was stupid, laid down mid workout, then got up and finished after 14 of the longest minutes of my life).  This is also why I cannot remember the details of any bodybuilding workout I’ve ever done in the dark-ages B.C. (before crossfit), I’ve never been concerned for my well-being while performing tricep extensions.

            So that’s pretty much my best attempt at applying the day’s psychology concepts to Crossfit.  It may be a bit of a stretch but if nothing else, I tried.  To sum it all up, for those of you who couldn’t comprehend the vast quantity of my brilliant thoughts (that’s what we call a desperate call for attention), don’t get stressed and stay stressed because it is bad for you.   If it turns out that stress is unavoidable then make sure you do your exercises, get your beauty sleep and eat your veggies (nobody mentioned how this would effect cortisol levels but it can’t hurt right?), and live long and prosper.

p.s.  If you read this Ms. Reynaga, try not to grade me too harshly K?

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