Stress has a bad reputation, and honestly, some of it is deserved. When you feel overwhelmed, it kicks off a cascade of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline—gearing you up to fight whatever threat is dominant, or flee if needed.
If those hormones stay elevated for longer than a short burst, you’re now in chronic-stress mode, which has been shown to have significantly negative impacts on sleep, digestion, fat retention (especially in the midsection), cardiovascular disease, immune response, and mental well-being.
Here’s the good news: Not only can regular exercise lower stress levels in the long term, but you can actually use those temporarily heightened hormone levels to your advantage. In fact, for some people, stress is a performance booster—if you can build enough awareness to see it as fuel and not an out-of-control fire that needs to be quenched immediately.
The next time you’re feeling a stress surge, consider directing it into these strategies:
That fight-or-flight response kicks on to gear you up for action. So, use it. Stress tends to improve performance in high-intensity, short-duration bursts like you’d need for CrossFit, sprinting, and HIIT sessions, according to New York-based trainer Jessica Fuller, owner of CrossFit for the People.
“These intense workouts require people to push themselves to their limits and it can be helpful to have a little extra push from their own adrenaline and cortisol,” she says. “Often, a little stress can help motivate people to challenge themselves more.”
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El Nariz / Shutterstock
Put in the Time
Another big benefit to stress hormones is that they reduce fatigue, which means you may be able to extend your usual workout session.
The Society for Endocrinologypoints out that cortisol assists in controlling the body’s blood sugar levels, and also acts as an anti-inflammatory mechanism. It even controls salt and water balance. All of that can be helpful if you’re taking on longer workouts.
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Oleksandr Zamuruiev
Get Extra Reps
When prepping for a maximal strength day, many people use some kind of amp-up routine, says Arizona-based trainer Ramsey Bergeron, C.P.T. But your body is already in that state, he says, and channeling it can be better than any “perfect song” that gets you in the right mindset.
“Those last few reps are where progress is made, so use that stress and anger to get an extra one or two in there,” he says. “But be smart about it.” Bergeron actually got a hairline fracture in his humerus with sledgehammer swings on a tire, thanks to trying to take out some aggression. As you work those extra reps in, focus on stability and control instead, and never skip warmup, Bergeron advises.
“Use stress to go hard, not to go to the hospital,” says Bergeron. “You can pull a muscle trying to rage bench your 1-rep max without getting your body ready properly.”
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Lebedev Roman Olegovich
Stay Focused
Numerous sources of stress often layer on top of each other and create a sense of distraction, especially if you’re feeling crusty about work, home, family, friends, politics, finances, and on and on. But take all those threads and wrap them up into a nice, barbell-sized coping mechanism.
“Let it fuel your focus and determination,” suggests Fuller. “If you have something on your mind, use that energy and put it into your movement. We all know what it feels like to be tired and at the end of a workout, and feeling like you don’t have anything left. Use the stress in your mind to drive you during those times to push a little further.”
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Just dance
Establish a Habit
It’s impossible to remove stress completely—nor would you want to. A major morning boost of cortisol is what gets you out of bed and moving, and keeps you powering through the most chaotic moments of work and home. But when that switch is always in the “on” position, that’s when the problems start.
By seeing stress as a necessary, and even welcome, part of your everyday life, you can begin to associate workouts with stress release. That means when you begin to flare up with frustration, anger, overwhelm, and resistance, you can tell your brain and body to save that fuel for later. Essentially, you put off your stress response to make it into a natural pre-workout option.
Unlike pretending the stress isn’t happening or channeling it into something much less productive—like getting cranky or opting for early happy hour—seeing that half hour before your workout as your “stress block” becomes a way to have control of when those hormones are releasing, and that can be a powerful resource for better performance and results.
“Channeling stress into your workout is much healthier than a lot of alternatives,” says Bergeron. “As a bonus, the workout itself will probably help you cool off to the point that you’ll be nicer to be around.”
