To evaluate your stress levels and what's an appropriate workout for you, check out my Stress Load Assessment at the bottom of this post!
One year ago today, I walked out of the hospital after being treated for rhabdomyolysis—a condition I had written papers on in college while studying Kinesiology. I knew exactly what rhabdo was. I understood how it happened, who was most at risk, and why it was so dangerous. I had studied the warning signs, the risk factors, and the physiological processes behind it. And yet, I still found myself in a hospital bed for days, hooked up to IV fluids, being monitored for potential kidney failure.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. I built my career on helping people train safely and intelligently, but here I was—a seasoned professional—becoming my own worst-case scenario. I always thought of rhabdo as something that happened to other people: the overzealous newbie who pushes too hard in their first CrossFit WOD, the military recruit in boot camp doing endless push-ups in the heat, or the athlete who refuses to listen to their body and pushes through warning signs. But me? I trained smart. I knew better.
For those unfamiliar, rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo) occurs when muscle fibers break down too rapidly, releasing their contents—particularly a protein called myoglobin—into the bloodstream. This can overwhelm the kidneys, leading to severe complications, including kidney failure. It’s an incredibly serious condition, but because it often starts with symptoms like soreness, weakness, and fatigue—things that feel normal after a hard workout—it can go unnoticed until it reaches a dangerous level.
The classic high-risk scenarios for rhabdo typically involve:
✔ Extreme endurance or strength training—such as ultra-marathon running, intense bodybuilding sessions, or military-style workouts with excessive volume.
✔ High-rep, high-intensity resistance training—this is why CrossFit, SoulCycle, HIIT bootcamps, and group fitness challenges sometimes get a bad reputation for rhabdo cases.
✔ Sudden spikes in training volume—jumping into an intense workout after weeks or months off, or increasing weight and reps too aggressively.
✔ Heat, dehydration, and electrolyte imbalances—conditions that make it harder for the kidneys to filter out the muscle breakdown byproducts.
✔ Certain medications or predisposing conditions—including statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs), some antibiotics, and genetic factors that make muscles more susceptible to breakdown.
In most of these cases, the workouts themselves are the direct cause—a person pushes too hard, too fast, and their muscles can’t handle it. But for me? The workouts weren’t actually that hard. In fact, compared to my past training, they were moderate. My brother even said, “No offense, Kris, but you don’t work out that hard,” when I told him I was in the hospital.
And that’s the part that really made me rethink everything. If it wasn’t the intensity of the workout that caused rhabdo, then what was it? The answer was clear: chronic stress had already pushed my body to the edge, and exercise was just the final straw.
The Workout Wasn’t the Problem—My Stress Was
I had been living in a hyper-stressed state for months—the kind where your friends start checking in, worried about you because you don’t quite seem like yourself. The kind where your body starts giving you warning signs that something is wrong, but you don’t have the bandwidth to pay attention. The kind where your gut health takes a hit, your sleep becomes fragmented, and your energy disappears.
I wasn’t skipping workouts altogether—I was still forcing myself to move, hoping it would help. But exercise didn’t feel the way it used to. Instead of being a release, a source of energy, or something I looked forward to, it felt like another thing I had to get through. I had to drag myself to the gym, and when I was there, my body felt off. I wasn’t recovering well, soreness lingered longer than usual, and I could feel my strength declining.
And yet, I kept pushing through because movement had always been my go-to coping mechanism. For years, exercise was my stress relief, my emotional outlet, my reset button. But this time was different. My body wasn’t responding the way it used to, and instead of feeling better after workouts, I felt depleted.
That’s because when your body is already operating in survival mode, exercise becomes another stressor instead of a stress reliever. And when your system is already maxed out, that extra stress can tip the balance from “challenging but beneficial” to dangerous.
I didn’t recognize it at the time, but my body was giving me all the signals that it wasn’t safe to train the way I normally would. And when your body perceives exercise as a threat—rather than something it can adapt to—it’s no longer making you stronger.
That’s how I ended up with rhabdo from workouts that, under normal circumstances, would have been completely fine for me. My body wasn’t overtrained—it was under-recovered. And no amount of “pushing through” or “just listening to motivation instead of my feelings” was going to change that.
Recovery Is What Makes You Stronger—Not Just the Workout
Exercise, by definition, is a stressor. When you lift weights, sprint, or push yourself in a workout, you’re not actually getting stronger in that moment—you’re breaking down tissue, depleting energy stores, and sending stress signals to your body. The magic happens after the workout, during the recovery phase, when your body adapts, rebuilds, and becomes more resilient.
But not all exercise is the same, and different types of training require different recovery processes:
✔ Strength training & weightlifting → Recovery time: 24-72 hours
Lifting causes microtears in muscle fibers, which trigger an inflammatory response. This is a good thing—your body repairs those fibers, making them thicker and stronger. But that repair takes time, and if you train hard before your body has recovered, you’re just adding more damage.
✔ High-intensity interval training (HIIT) & endurance workouts → Recovery time: 24-48 hours
These workouts deplete muscle glycogen (stored energy) and challenge the cardiovascular and nervous systems. Without proper refueling and rest, your body struggles to replenish glycogen and repair soft tissues, leading to increased injury risk and decreased performance over time.
✔ Long-distance running & endurance sports → Recovery time: 48-72+ hours
Endurance workouts aren’t just taxing on muscles—they put high stress on the immune system and adrenal glands. Without adequate recovery, endurance athletes often develop chronic fatigue, suppressed immunity, and increased inflammation.
✔ Low-intensity movement (yoga, walking, mobility work) → Recovery time: minimal, can be done daily
These activities promote blood flow, tissue repair, and nervous system recovery. This is why active recovery is so effective—it helps the body heal without adding more stress.
When Recovery Fails, So Does Adaptation
Under normal conditions, this cycle works beautifully: exercise breaks you down, recovery builds you back stronger. But if your recovery window is compromised—whether from stress, under-eating, lack of sleep, or illness—your body never gets the chance to fully rebuild. Instead of adapting, it starts accumulating damage.
That’s what happened to me. My body was already in a chronic state of stress, under-recovered before I even stepped into the gym. When I trained, I wasn’t creating a productive stress-recovery cycle—I was just stacking more stress on top of an already failing system. Instead of getting stronger, I ended up in a hospital bed hooked up to IV fluids.
This isn’t just about avoiding injury or extreme cases like rhabdo—it’s about making sure your training actually works. If you’re stuck in a cycle of overtraining and under-recovery, you’re not going to see progress. Instead of getting fitter, stronger, or leaner, you’ll feel weaker, more fatigued, and more prone to injuries.
The real key to getting stronger isn’t just training harder—it’s recovering smarter.
What Happens After Rhabdo?
I was lucky. My kidneys didn’t fail. I didn’t need dialysis. I just needed aggressive fluid therapy, constant monitoring, and time. After a few days in the hospital, I was released with two strict instructions:
✔ No exercise (until my PCP confirms that my blood levels are fully back to normal)
✔ Get enough rest
That was it. No follow-up plan. No gradual return-to-exercise protocol. No nutritional recommendations.
When I went back for my follow-up appointment, I asked my doctor about how to safely rebuild my strength. Should I continue on a low-protein diet to protect my kidneys? Or should I be increasing my protein intake to rebuild the muscle I had lost? What about exercise—how long should I wait, and how should I reintroduce movement?
Her response? “Honestly, I don’t know.”
She told me that post-rhabdo recovery wasn’t something she (or most doctors) had been trained in, and that I probably knew more than she did about how to move forward. And she wasn’t wrong.
I respected her honesty—because the truth is, most healthcare providers aren’t trained in exercise physiology, nutrition, or stress management at a deep enough level to guide someone through a complex recovery like this. But that also meant I was completely on my own.
As an exercise physiologist and nutrition coach, I had the knowledge to make an educated plan for myself. But what about everyone else? What happens to people who don’t have that background? How many people leave the hospital after rhabdo with zero guidance, only to return to exercise too soon and put themselves at risk for another episode?
Recovery Wasn’t Just About Exercise—It Was About My Entire Lifestyle
At first, I focused on gradually reintroducing movement. I started with walking, gentle mobility work, and bodyweight exercises. I followed general nutrition guidelines–sticking to moderate amounts of protein to stay safe. Over time, I added resistance training back in, but I had to be incredibly mindful about volume, intensity, and recovery.
But here’s what shocked me: I didn’t actually start seeing strength gains again until I addressed the bigger picture. It wasn’t just about easing back into workouts—I had to address the lifestyle factors that got me here in the first place.
✔ I had to take my stress levels seriously. No more pretending that I could push through panic attacks and hot flashes or ignoring what my body was telling me.
✔ I had to prioritize sleep. Quality sleep is when the body rebuilds and adapts—but chronic stress had disrupted mine for months.
✔ I had to fuel my body properly. Changes to my lifestyle and stress levels had resulted in me consuming more processed food than I prefer. I wasn’t eating in a way that was aligned with my values.
✔ I had to prioritize my surroundings. The hardest part of changing a lifestyle is addressing the places we live, the people we associate with, and job factors. These big areas of our lives have serious consequences when we change them. They can be so hard to let go of! But ultimately, if they’re the root of our stress, there’s no way to work around them.
And once I did that? My body responded. My energy came back. My workouts started to feel good again. I got stronger—not just physically, but in the way I approached my health.
The Bigger Picture: Stress Management Is Non-Negotiable
This experience reinforced something I already knew but hadn’t fully internalized: you cannot out-train chronic stress. No amount of workouts, supplements, or “pushing through” will fix a system that’s already overwhelmed.
The foundation of health isn’t just exercise—it’s stress management, recovery, and resilience. If your body is constantly operating in a survival state, even the healthiest habits can backfire. So if you’re feeling run down…If your workouts aren’t making you feel better…If you’re dragging yourself to the gym but not seeing progress…
Listen to your body. Maybe what you need isn’t more discipline—it’s more recovery.
Because trust me, resting before you need to is a whole lot easier than recovering from a hospital bed.
Coming Back Stronger—In Every Way
One year later, I can confidently say that I didn’t just recover—I came back stronger.
My upper body strength? Fully back, and then some. I’m crushing push-ups, flying through pull-ups and inversions on a variety of apparatus, and playing with arm balances that would have been impossible a year ago. My body feels powerful again, not just in the gym, but in dance & yoga studios—where I can finally execute cool tricks that require both strength and control. But more importantly? I feel good. I trust my body again. I respect it in a way I didn’t before.
Rhabdo was a wake-up call, but in hindsight, it was also an invitation—to train smarter, live more in tune with my body, and truly embody what I teach. And for that, I am grateful.
The Stress Load Assessment: Is Your Body Ready to Train?
Before your next workout, take 60 seconds to check in with your body. Rate yourself from 1 to 10 for each of the following questions:
How well did I sleep last night? (1 = terrible, restless sleep / 10 = deep, uninterrupted sleep, 8-10 hours, woke up refreshed)
How stressed am I feeling overall? (1 = completely overwhelmed / 10 = calm, relaxed, in control)
Do I feel energized or exhausted right now? (1 = completely drained, need caffeine to function / 10 = full of energy, ready to move)
How’s my soreness and recovery from my last workout? (1 = extremely sore, joints feel stiff / 10 = fully recovered, no lingering fatigue)
Am I excited to train, or does it feel like an obligation? (1 = dreading it, forcing myself to go / 10 = genuinely looking forward to moving my body)
Total Your Score and See What Your Body Needs Today
🔵 34-50 points → Low Stress (Clear to Train!)Your body is primed and ready! This is a great day to push intensity, lift heavy, or challenge yourself in your workout.
🟡 18-33 points → Mid Stress (Modify Your Workout!)Your stress load is moderate. Consider a lower-intensity workout, such as strength training with longer rest periods, mobility work, or steady-state cardio. Today is a good day to move, but not to max out.
🔴 Below 18 points → High Stress (Prioritize Recovery!)Your body is under significant stress—pushing through could lead to burnout, injury, or poor results. Instead of an intense workout, focus on active recovery (walking, yoga, stretching) or full rest. Your body will thank you for it.
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