A new study has found that the more stress you undergo outside the gym, the longer it takes for your body to repair and rebuild from the workout.
In the study, subjects performed a bout of heavy resistance. Various metrics were taken to determine how fast they were recovering afterwards. The authors found that the amount of stress the subjects were under correlated with recovery time longer than any other variable, including base level of fitness and training experience.
Conclusions
Considering the deleterious effects that chronically elevated glucocorticoid levels can wreak on the body, it is no surprise that stress plays such a strong role in weight-lifting and fitness. For those who wish to get the most out of their workouts, learning to minimize and cope with stress is one of the most effective things you can do.
References
1 Stults-Kolehmainen MA, Bartholomew JB, Sinha R. Chronic psychological stress impairs recovery of muscular function and somatic sensations over a 96-hour period. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2014 Jul 28(7): 2007-2017.