Building resilience whilst building muscle

Imagine you have an invisible bucket inside you that collects all of your stress.

Every time something stressful happens—whether it's work-related issues, family responsibilities, financial concerns, or even positive events like moving to a new house or getting a promotion—some of that stress gets added to your bucket.

The amount of stress your bucket can hold varies from person to person. Some people have larger stress buckets, meaning they can handle more stress without feeling overwhelmed, while others may have smaller buckets, so they feel stressed more easily.

If too much stress is added and the bucket gets too full, it can overflow, leading to feelings of overwhelm, anxiety or burnout.

There are three ways we can mange our stress buckets to prevent it from overflowing:

1.Control some of the flow in - manage or reduce stressors in your life through time management, boundaries, prioritisation, reframing, being solution focused.

2.Empty the bucket - release stress that's already accumulated through relaxation techniques, breathing, physical activity, creative outlets, social connections, sleep, mindfulness.

3.Make the bucket bigger - build your resilience to stress through cultivating a growth mindset, healthy lifestyle, self-care, emotional management and problem solving.

Making the bucket bigger:

When we deliberately expose ourselves to manageable challenges or discomfort, we train our bodies and minds to become stronger and more flexible in the face of future adversity, thus improving our ability to handle stress.

Something I have been enjoying over the last year is taking saunas followed by cold plunges. Much of the benefit of this practice comes from finding my edge and staying in this zone of discomfort, despite my minds urgent pleas to leave.

Our edges are always changing, they may be physical, mental or emotional, and today may be quite different to yesterday. By getting comfortable with this discomfort we build resilience, and in turn our optimal performance.

Which 'edge' do you find most challenging when faced with discomfort?

• Physical
• Mental
• Emotional

Building resilience whilst building muscle

On this weeks EmpowHer.6 group call we discussed the role strength training can play in expanding our capacity to handle stress and grow our stress bucket.

The process of strength training and building muscle helps to develop resilience which can transfer to other areas of our lives:

• Physical Resilience: Strength training boosts endurance, reduces injury risk and improves recovery. Pushing through discomfort in workouts builds tolerance, mirroring persistence in daily life challenges.

• Mental Resilience: Discipline in strength training fosters consistency, goal-setting and mental toughness, helping individuals stay committed and transfer these traits to personal and professional challenges.

• Emotional Resilience: Exercise releases endorphins for stress relief and boosts confidence which carries over to other areas of life. Physical exercise helps so many individuals endure hard times.

• Facing Setbacks: Strength training teaches persistence and adaptability, helping individuals overcome plateaus and setbacks in life.

• Mind-Body Connection: Strength training promotes mindfulness and body confidence, empowering individuals to face life’s challenges with resilience. When people feel confident in one area of life, that self-belief often carries over to their approach in other areas, such as work, relationships, or personal projects.

• Transferable Skills: It builds problem-solving, time management and social support, enhancing resilience in various life aspects.

• Resilience in Adversity: Pushing through difficult workouts builds perseverance helping individuals manage adversity.

“Between the stimulus and response there is a space, and in that space lies our power and our freedom”. 

Are you able to observe, without judgement, how you respond to stress?

Would you like to see yourself responding differently?

Do you challenge your resilience?

If you are a woman over 30 who'd like to experience the benefits of building resilience whilst building muscle, check out EmpowHer.6, six weeks of strength training that could change your life.