Huh
So, a few months back I started going to the gym semi-regularly for the first time ever, in part because I'm ridiculously unfit to the point where if I'm not careful when I'm playing sport or whatever I end up desperately hyperventilating. And around the same time I went back to ballet, where I discovered exactly the same problem there - I'm ok for the slow stuff*, but when we get to the jumps I usually end up gasping by the end.
But then yesterday I went to the gym and used the cross trainer for 20 minutes, felt like I was working hard (lots of sweat, etc) but had the machine telling me that my heart rate was 56 or below for most of the time, and when I got off the machine my heart felt only just barely higher than resting. And at ballet today the jumps didn't tire me out, despite the fact that we did a lot of them and at one point I was goofing off with a friend and trying to do super quick jumps in double time just to see if I could. Then after noticing that I wasn't tired after class, I did a bunch more jumping around in my apartment with a similar lack of effect
I don't see any way my aerobic fitness could have improved so much so abruptly. I didn't get a particularly good amount of sleep this morning (got up early to work on a presentation) so I doubt the factor is well-restedness. Two factors that were definitely different yesterday and today were that I'm feeling less stressed than I've been for quite a long time**, and I was significantly happier today than is usual for me. But I've never heard of stress having a direct effect on fitness.
In other words, I am confused.
* Funnily enough the slow stuff is actually much more work than the jumping. Jumping is straight cardio, the slow stuff is lots of fine muscle control and remembering to keep breathing
** even though I kind of have a mountain of finals to work on and study for
But then yesterday I went to the gym and used the cross trainer for 20 minutes, felt like I was working hard (lots of sweat, etc) but had the machine telling me that my heart rate was 56 or below for most of the time, and when I got off the machine my heart felt only just barely higher than resting. And at ballet today the jumps didn't tire me out, despite the fact that we did a lot of them and at one point I was goofing off with a friend and trying to do super quick jumps in double time just to see if I could. Then after noticing that I wasn't tired after class, I did a bunch more jumping around in my apartment with a similar lack of effect
I don't see any way my aerobic fitness could have improved so much so abruptly. I didn't get a particularly good amount of sleep this morning (got up early to work on a presentation) so I doubt the factor is well-restedness. Two factors that were definitely different yesterday and today were that I'm feeling less stressed than I've been for quite a long time**, and I was significantly happier today than is usual for me. But I've never heard of stress having a direct effect on fitness.
In other words, I am confused.
* Funnily enough the slow stuff is actually much more work than the jumping. Jumping is straight cardio, the slow stuff is lots of fine muscle control and remembering to keep breathing
** even though I kind of have a mountain of finals to work on and study for