5 Ways Grief Can Impact Your Workout

Grief is holistic.

It touches every aspect of our lives.

We can’t tuck it into a corner to deal with later. We can’t put it on a shelf while we work, and we can’t leave it at home when we go to the gym.

Grief lives in the body, so it is with us wherever we are. That includes our workouts.

Here are 5 ways grief can impact your workout.

(1) Workouts Can Feel Harder and Heavier

When you’re grieving, it’s normal to feel uninspired, disillusioned, and disconnected from the world. Grief can strip away our sense of purpose and meaning, and reduce our motivation to do things we typically enjoy.

This can make it extra hard to start or sustain a workout.

Grief is often accompanied by mental resistance, fatigue, and increased sensitivity to pain. This combination adds an invisible weight to the bar that can make warm-up sets feel more like a top set.

(2) Reduced Mobility and Range of Motion

The weight of grief isn’t just emotional; it can show up in your body as well.

Elevated levels of cortisol and adrenaline associated with grief can cause inflammation, making joints feel stiff and achy.

This inflammation, combined with heightened pain sensitivity that also arises with grief, can restrict mobility. The brain interprets pain signals as a need to stop moving, reduce intensity, or “tighten up” as a protective mechanism when it doesn’t feel safe. This reduces range of motion.

Simple movements can feel like a struggle, whether you’re lifting weights, doing yoga, or even just taking a walk.

(3) Breath and Endurance Challenges

Grief literally takes our breath away.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, grief is associated with the lungs. You might notice a heaviness in your chest, even at rest. When we cry, our breath is typically more shallow.

Western medicine has linked grief to a wide range of physical symptoms, including heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, or feeling lightheaded. Modern studies support that stress can lead to shallow breathing or even breath-holding, which limits oxygen intake. This impacts endurance and stamina, leaving you winded more easily — even during routine or lighter cardio or strength sessions.

(4) Impaired Coordination

Grief clouds the mind, bringing with it brain fog and mental fatigue that can deplete concentration, and reduce focus.

IT can become more difficult to maintain the mind/body connection, which can impair coordination.

This can make complex movements and high-intensity exercises — like Olympic lifts or dynamic yoga sequences — feel overwhelming, disjointed, and frustrating. It can also lead to injury if your form or technique are off.

(5) Slower Recovery

Grief often disrupts sleep, and disrupted sleep impairs recovery. Without proper rest, muscle repair is delayed, and energy levels remain low, making it harder to bounce back for the next session. This can leave you feeling sore and fatigued for longer after workouts, making it harder to bounce back for the next session.

Grief can also impact our appetite, which may lead to poor choices in our diet. When my grandpa died, we received so much food from the community: full meals, sweets, and comfort foods that feel good in the moment but aren’t great for performance or recovery.

In addition, elevated levels of cortisol and adrenaline that accompany grief can compromise the immune system. This can make us more susceptible to illnesses and cause the resurgence of chronic issues, all of which take their toll on our workouts and recovery.

Effects, Not Excuses

None of these effects of grief is a reason to skip your workouts. It’s crucial for your self-care and well-being to maintain consistency in your workouts, even when you’re grieving.

In Part 3, I’ll share tips for how to navigate these potential effects of grief and maintain consistency in your workouts even when you’re grieving.