Dealing with Burnout and Stressful Times

I was wondering if I could ask you a question about stress and recovery.

Due to some mental stress issues I have been feeling rundown for awhile and have been holding onto fat around my lower stomach and back. I have taken blood tests and found my cortisol/hormones are out of wack. Do you have any tips on the type of workouts I can do that will be less stressful on the body but will keep me in the gym? Or certain exercises I can perform that aren’t as taxing on the CNS? (Ex. Lower volume, lower intensity, Less reps, etc.) I have noticed that I feel worse the next day based on how high my heart rate gets during the workout.

I understand your time for questions like these is limited and I appreciate anything you can provide. Thanks again!

I’d cut down to 3 days per week for 30-45 min and don’t train to failure.

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Some of Paul’s thoughts…

Personally find swapping a couple sessions of weights for hard but short HIIT cardio sessions followed by lot of streching and mobility to really help.

x2 As above dont go to failure. Couple weeks just machines/no barbell work another option.

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Dude if you have significantly elevated cortisol levels then you need to stop training hard, stop doing any internals, and find ways to mediate your stress levels back to normal ranges.

You’re stressed out. DEAL WITH THAT FIRST.

Thank you for the response!

I have been training full body 3 times a week but have found that even that is probably too much at this time. I’ve been chronically stressed and working out with it for awhile.

Would you advise to cease all strength training? Or lower even more to 1-2 times a week? Thanks!

I’d take some real time off from the gym and figure out how to cope in a more healthy way from whatever it is that’s causing that much stress.

Training is a type of stress. Right now if you legit have significantly elevated levels of cortisol then training is only going to exacerbate that.