The Twenty Minutes After a Session

When it comes to stress everyone knows training can help. The effect builds through the session, peaks shortly after you stop, and then either settles into the rest of the day or gets flattened by whatever you do next.

What flattens it is always the same thing. You finish, you pick up your phone before your heart rate has come down, and the first thing you read puts you straight back where you were at ten to six.

Your body is still switching gears at that point. Going from working hard to being calm is not instant. A work email does not undo the training, but it throws away most of what you came for.

The fix: Take twenty minutes before checking your messages.

Cool down, put your kit away, and talk to whoever is in the gym or changing room. That time relaxing and socialising is so important, and it is the first thing people skip when they are in a rush.

`Coaches know exactly who those people are that stick around and those that dash out as soon as the clock finishes.`

If your day starts the moment you leave, five minutes beats none. Just avoid the calls and messages fora small part of the journey.

Same if you're straight to a desk from the 5:30 or 6:30am class? Protect the drive. No work podcast, no calls. Stick on a bit of your favourite artist and let your body have that wind down time.

Training at six or seven in the evening? Those twenty minutes are the handover into your evening. The people who train late and then cannot sleep are usually the ones who go from the last rep to the kitchen table with nothing in between. I know how important a few minutes wind down can be before you go home to a list of problems or a grilling about your day.

None of this needs breathing exercises or an app. It just needs you to not immediately do the next thing.

If work stress is the reason training keeps falling off your week, fifteen minutes on the phone with Jeremy or Beth is worth your time. Free, no obligation, no hard sell. crossfitchiltern.com.