Stress Increases Adaptation
When we talk about stress and athletic performance we are talking about training. Training is a stressor. The body does not know the difference between one weight and another. When we are training hard, we are signaling a stress response. This stress response releases a myriad of hormones to help save the body. However, the bounce back from that stressful event is what makes us progress.
When we are training for a sport or an event we need to be applying different types of stress to our bodies, whether it be sport-specific conditioning or strength training. All of these will add to the pile of stress athletes may or may not feel. IT is essential to go through these things to push the athlete’s performance up. Without it, they will stay stagnant.
If we don’t continually push the envelope in training, we are going to be missing out on a whole lot of potential performance benefits. The benefits are why stress is excellent for athletes. Of course, this controlled pressure.
You are not about to kill yourself in the gym two or three times a day for an extended period. That would be asking for injury. That is where stress is too much. Having the right amount of pressure, however, will be the key to progressing in performance. It must be said however a proper recovery system must be in place to bounce back from these stressful training events.
Stress Increases Grit
Stress is a great way to increase your resiliency. If you are going through tough times and you come out the other end, the is no doubt that you will come out stronger than when you went in. Stress can be a transformational event. Again fear is something that the body can not tell the difference. The body can not discern the difference between one type of pressure and another. If you are currently experiencing a level of stress, you’re not accustomed to; then you will have one of two choices to make. Grit up or get taken over by it.
Either way, you will know where you stand. Stress is by no means a horrible thing all of the time. Certain levels of stress can be significant indicators of resiliency. It is also something that can be built up. Putting yourself in increasingly stressful areas will only improve your ability to handle those stressful situations over time.
If you are willing to increase your stress level, then you will reap the benefits in the long run. Those that voluntarily put themselves into situations that test their resiliency will eventually see huge payoffs. They will know where they stand as well as what they can and can’t handle.
Stress Increases Mental Strength
Fear is right for your mental strength. When you re-put into low-level stressful situations, it releases brain chemicals called neurotrophins. These strengthen connections between neurons. These will allow you to athletes to become more attuned to things going on during training, as well as during the game. It will also increase your ability to handle things as they come to you.
Stressful situations are an excellent way for you to increase your experience as well. Mental strength or mental toughness is a learned behavior. Stress is a transformational habit. It is what makes us who we can be. We need to be put in stressful situations to level up in this world. Without stress, we wouldn’t be able to tell our real potential.
Having the mental capacity to handle stressful situations as an athlete is going to increase your ability to be a leader. People will turn to the person who is calm under pressure. The person who has all their mental faculties ready at hand. Those that have a cool head during those times are also going to be the ones who make the best decisions. Those that make the best decisions, in turn, will be the ones that come out on top more often than not.
Stress Increases Productivity
There is nothing on this planet that drives productivity as stress can. It will create two types of people. They will each respond with immense amounts of work, or they will turtle into their shell and not get any job done at all.
Those that are the former will always increase their chances of success. Taking on the stress with a no hold bar attitude and allowing it to drive excellence is the difference. That said, there is always a limit to the amount of pressure on an individual can handle. Everyone is different. You will have to gauge where your edge is. With that said. If you are the type of person who has no problem with leaning into stress, then you are going to reap serious benefits from it.
You will be able to use it as motivation to get more things done. You will treat it like something nipping at your heels. If you slow down, ti will take over. Stress can be a good thing if we allow it to. If we manage the amounts of it, we let in our lives, and we know when to call it quits and to take a second to gather our strength.
Stress is not always a bad thing, and in fact, I will venture to say it is still a good thing. It will all depend on how we can handle the stress as human beings. If we can work through fear, we will see our lives progress forward in ways we could not have imagined!
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