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Why you might not be progressing
Even when you´re really trying
At ATTIKA, we speak a lot about strength.
But strength is not built in isolation.
Your nervous system, your hormones, your sleep, your relationships, your workload, your inner dialogue all influence how your body adapts to training.
You can be showing up consistently.
You can be following your program.
You can be eating well.
And still feel like progress has slowed.
Sometimes the missing piece is not effort.
It is emotional load.
What is emotional load?
Emotional load is the invisible weight you carry.
Work pressure.
Relationship tension.
Financial uncertainty.
Big life changes.
Family responsibility.
Even positive stress like planning a wedding or moving house.
Your body does not clearly distinguish between a hard deadline and a heavy set of squats.
To your nervous system, stress is stress.
When overall stress is high, your body prioritises survival over adaptation. And physical progress is an adaptation.
How stress limits physical progress
Strength training is a stressor. A good one.
When stress remains elevated, several things happen inside the body:
Cortisol stays chronically high.
This can interfere with muscle recovery and growth.
Sleep quality decreases.
Even if you are in bed for 8 hours, your nervous system may not fully switch into deep recovery mode.
Protein synthesis can be reduced.
Meaning the body struggles to build and repair tissue efficiently.
Inflammation increases.
Recovery takes longer. Joints may feel more irritated.
Motivation and coordination drop.
You may feel weaker, slower, or less “connected” to movements you normally perform well.
This does not mean chronic stress stops all progress. It means your recovery capacity becomes smaller. If your system is constantly in “fight or flight” mode, it is not in “build and repair” mode. And recovery is where the progress happens. Thats when your muscles start to grow.
If training load stays high while recovery capacity shrinks, progress plateaus or even regresses.
That doesn’t mean train less hard
Don’t get confused. Just because strength training is a stressor doesn’t mean you should stop. In fact, the right amount of physical stress makes you more resilient. Strength training challenges the body in a controlled way, teaching your muscles, bones, and nervous system to adapt and become stronger. Over time, this actually improves your capacity to handle stress outside the gym. The key is not removing the stressor, but making sure it has sufficient recovery. We challenge the system, then we teach it to calm down again. That ability to switch from effort to ease is what builds true resilience.
It also doesn´t mean worrying about your results
Sometimes tracking ´progress´when life is hard just makes life harder. Showing up, moving your body, and teaching it to become more resilient is the best thing you can be doing in tough times. Doing what your body is asking for is not something you have to measure.
“But I’m not stressed… this is just my normal”
For many people, stress does not feel dramatic.
It feels normal.
It feels productive.
It feels like “this is just how my life is.”
When stress has been present for a long time, your body adapts to functioning in that state. Being wired, busy, alert, slightly tense can start to feel baseline.But baseline does not always mean optimal.
If your nervous system has been in a low grade fight or flight mode for months or years, you may not register it as stress anymore. It simply feels like you.
So instead of asking “Is this more than usual?”
Ask different questions:
Do I ever feel truly rested?
Do I wake up calm, or already slightly activated?
Do I feel safe slowing down?
Do I struggle to sit still?
Does training feel like another task to complete rather than something that restores me?
Chronic stress is often quieter than acute stress. It does not always come with panic.
It shows up as:
-Persistent muscle tension
-Shallow breathing
-Difficulty relaxing even on days off
-Regular digestive discomfort
-Frequent minor injuries or niggles
-Feeling tired but wired
-Plateaus in training that do not match your effort
When this state becomes your “normal,” progress can feel frustrating. Not because you are not disciplined enough, but because your system has not had a real window to recover.
The work, then, is not to push harder.
It is to gently expand your capacity to feel safe at rest.
That is balance.
And balance is what allows strength to actually grow.
What to do if stress is high
If you recognise these signs, the solution is not to quit training.
Recover more.
It´s worth assessing how many rest days you are having and if that´s adequate to support the load.
Prioritise sleep like it is part of your program.
Sleep is when adaptation happens. Treat it as a non-negotiable.
Support recovery through nutrition.
Consistent protein intake and adequate carbohydrates help buffer stress and support muscle repair. Under-eating under stress makes recovery harder.
Add nervous system regulation.
-Finish exercise sessions with slow nasal breathing and a calm walk.
-Give yourself short pauses throughout the day. Just 5 minutes every few hours is not going to disrupt your work. It will make it better.
Don’t train every session for results.
Some sessions or even seasons are allowed to be about grounding the body, improving coordination, and leaving feeling better than when you arrived. That is progress too. Maybe life is hard right now, but your sessions aren´t there to make it harder.
Balance creates strength
Sometimes we can’t control the stress that life throws at us. But we can choose to become more aware of what happens to us when it does.
Progress is not linear. At ATTIKA, we believe long-term strength comes from respecting these seasons rather than fighting them.
If physical progress feels slower than expected, instead of asking “Why am I not doing enough?”
Ask: What else am I carrying right now?
Often, the most powerful shift is not adding more.
It is creating more balance.
And from that place, the body builds again.
At ATTIKA, we speak a lot about strength.
But strength is not built in isolation.
Your nervous system, your hormones, your sleep, your relationships, your workload, your inner dialogue all influence how your body adapts to training.
You can be showing up consistently.
You can be following your program.
You can be eating well.
And still feel like progress has slowed.
Sometimes the missing piece is not effort.
It is emotional load.
What is emotional load?
Emotional load is the invisible weight you carry.
Work pressure.
Relationship tension.
Financial uncertainty.
Big life changes.
Family responsibility.
Even positive stress like planning a wedding or moving house.
Your body does not clearly distinguish between a hard deadline and a heavy set of squats.
To your nervous system, stress is stress.
When overall stress is high, your body prioritises survival over adaptation. And physical progress is an adaptation.
How stress limits physical progress
Strength training is a stressor. A good one.
When stress remains elevated, several things happen inside the body:
Cortisol stays chronically high.
This can interfere with muscle recovery and growth.
Sleep quality decreases.
Even if you are in bed for 8 hours, your nervous system may not fully switch into deep recovery mode.
Protein synthesis can be reduced.
Meaning the body struggles to build and repair tissue efficiently.
Inflammation increases.
Recovery takes longer. Joints may feel more irritated.
Motivation and coordination drop.
You may feel weaker, slower, or less “connected” to movements you normally perform well.
This does not mean chronic stress stops all progress. It means your recovery capacity becomes smaller. If your system is constantly in “fight or flight” mode, it is not in “build and repair” mode. And recovery is where the progress happens. Thats when your muscles start to grow.
If training load stays high while recovery capacity shrinks, progress plateaus or even regresses.
That doesn’t mean train less hard
Don’t get confused. Just because strength training is a stressor doesn’t mean you should stop. In fact, the right amount of physical stress makes you more resilient. Strength training challenges the body in a controlled way, teaching your muscles, bones, and nervous system to adapt and become stronger. Over time, this actually improves your capacity to handle stress outside the gym. The key is not removing the stressor, but making sure it has sufficient recovery. We challenge the system, then we teach it to calm down again. That ability to switch from effort to ease is what builds true resilience.
It also doesn´t mean worrying about your results
Sometimes tracking ´progress´when life is hard just makes life harder. Showing up, moving your body, and teaching it to become more resilient is the best thing you can be doing in tough times. Doing what your body is asking for is not something you have to measure.
“But I’m not stressed… this is just my normal”
For many people, stress does not feel dramatic.
It feels normal.
It feels productive.
It feels like “this is just how my life is.”
When stress has been present for a long time, your body adapts to functioning in that state. Being wired, busy, alert, slightly tense can start to feel baseline.But baseline does not always mean optimal.
If your nervous system has been in a low grade fight or flight mode for months or years, you may not register it as stress anymore. It simply feels like you.
So instead of asking “Is this more than usual?”
Ask different questions:
Do I ever feel truly rested?
Do I wake up calm, or already slightly activated?
Do I feel safe slowing down?
Do I struggle to sit still?
Does training feel like another task to complete rather than something that restores me?
Chronic stress is often quieter than acute stress. It does not always come with panic.
It shows up as:
-Persistent muscle tension
-Shallow breathing
-Difficulty relaxing even on days off
-Regular digestive discomfort
-Frequent minor injuries or niggles
-Feeling tired but wired
-Plateaus in training that do not match your effort
When this state becomes your “normal,” progress can feel frustrating. Not because you are not disciplined enough, but because your system has not had a real window to recover.
The work, then, is not to push harder.
It is to gently expand your capacity to feel safe at rest.
That is balance.
And balance is what allows strength to actually grow.
What to do if stress is high
If you recognise these signs, the solution is not to quit training.
Recover more.
It´s worth assessing how many rest days you are having and if that´s adequate to support the load.
Prioritise sleep like it is part of your program.
Sleep is when adaptation happens. Treat it as a non-negotiable.
Support recovery through nutrition.
Consistent protein intake and adequate carbohydrates help buffer stress and support muscle repair. Under-eating under stress makes recovery harder.
Add nervous system regulation.
-Finish exercise sessions with slow nasal breathing and a calm walk.
-Give yourself short pauses throughout the day. Just 5 minutes every few hours is not going to disrupt your work. It will make it better.
Don’t train every session for results.
Some sessions or even seasons are allowed to be about grounding the body, improving coordination, and leaving feeling better than when you arrived. That is progress too. Maybe life is hard right now, but your sessions aren´t there to make it harder.
Balance creates strength
Sometimes we can’t control the stress that life throws at us. But we can choose to become more aware of what happens to us when it does.
Progress is not linear. At ATTIKA, we believe long-term strength comes from respecting these seasons rather than fighting them.
If physical progress feels slower than expected, instead of asking “Why am I not doing enough?”
Ask: What else am I carrying right now?
Often, the most powerful shift is not adding more.
It is creating more balance.
And from that place, the body builds again.
