While, I'm awaiting my Fitness and Strength Training For All Sports book to come in, would anyone like to help me on this one? I understand the concept of stress, and I plan it in cycles in my workouts - but how can you measure it? Sure, it can be viewed a multiple amount of ways, including recovery time, volume/time, etc - but what is the best way to gauge how much stress you actually endure when you look at your records (or right after your workout?)
I see where you're going with this and it's a lot more complicated of a problem than simply measuring stress. To be perfectly honest, we can't measure stress itself. There is no unit for stress measurement and the concept itself is somewhat vague. However, there are multiple ways to measure the effects of stress and it really depends on what you're trying to use it for. Fatigue Percents give you a general idea of which volumes are appropriate for you. This is highly related to the stress that the workout induces, but it's not a "stress measurement" persay because it doesn't taken into account anything other than training stress that uses fatigue percents. It adapts to your current capabilities to some degree, but it's far from perfect.
My next project that I'm working on is TRAC (Training Recovery Assessment Computer). As it stands now, when you first wake up in the morning, you do some very basic tests (many which come from medical research to diagnose Autonomic Nervous disorders), put them in the computer, and the computer reads the test to tell you how recovered you are. This is primarily based on the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The functioning of the ANS can basically be used as a barometer to measure the total stress response of the body and it accounts for all stressors. I have some other tests in trial that will also determine the functioning of the Central Nervous System and hopefully the hormonal system. These will all be non-invasive, quick, and cheap. Now, pair knowledge of your biological functionality with a competent training program that accounts for these parameters... that's VERY powerful.
