Is the same tried-and-true exercise routine that used to work wonders for you not keeping your body in tip-top shape anymore? Have you gone on nutrition and exercise programs that worked great for friends, family, or co-workers, but it just didnt seem to work for you? The answer could be found in your stress level and how your body handles stress.

In this three-part article series, Ill explain how overlooked lifestyle choices come together to put a halt on achieving your fitness goals. In this first part Ill explain how stress leads to some unexpected effects on our fitness level. In part two, Ill show you what the latest research has to say about high levels of stress, inadequate sleep, and improper nutrition create a hormonal environment that lead us away from fitness. In part three, Ill conclude with my recommendations for the best ways to manage your stress level and how to make some critical adjustments in your fitness program in periods of high stress so you continuing reaching your fitness goals.

Researchers are beginning to uncover answers to how non-exercise variables including lack of sleep, inadequate nutrition and high stress levels can significantly affect hormone levels that impact exercise recovery, weight management and health. The results you receive from youre your exercise program can be affected by these variables that people often over look. To be at the top of your game, you must be aware of how you rate in these non-exercise variables and the best ways to manage these variables and adjust your fitness program for optimal results.

The topic of stress has received much attention over the last several decades, and there is much controversy over exactly what stress is. There are questions related to good stress versus bad stress and exercise stress versus non-exercise stress. Famed researcher Hans Selyes a definition of stress was "the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it to adapt, whether that demand produces pleasure or pain."

Within the exercise domain, the interaction between exercise and stress gets more complicated. While there are few black and whites within the complex way our body handles stress, its generally believed that low-intensity exercise reduces stress, as compared with high-intensity exercise that tends to increase the release of stress hormones.

While the bodys mechanisms for coping with stress worked wonders to keep us alive thousands of years ago, our body was not built to withstand the chronic stressors that humans face today. In todays high-stress world, people constantly have stress hormones over-stimulated in their bodies. Symptoms of stress are related to many of todays health problems including CHD, hypertension, cancer, ulcers, lower back pain and headaches. Scientific research now suggests that an overlooked physical symptom of stress may be weight gain.

As a fitness professional, its been my experience that a clients lifestyle drastically effects exercise progress and researchers are beginning to support this notion. Clients who have chronically high-stress levels, inadequate sleep and poor nutrition will not be able to recover and adapt to exercise at the same rate that a person with optimal levels of stress, sleep and nutrition would. This is one possible explanation of why fat loss and fitness improvement may grind to a halt in some individuals, while other individuals continue adapting and progressing in their exercise programs. When I sit down for an initial consultation with a new client, I examine their lifestyle choices. After educating the new client on how their lifestyle affect their hormonal health and stress physiology, the client and I then develop realistic and exciting fitness goals that fit within the lifestyle they are willing to commit to.

In part two of this article, Ill dig into some of the latest science behind cortisol, stress physiology, nutrition, and sleep.