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Exercise

TRE™ works well alongside exercise and athletic training. While exercise builds strength and endurance, TRE™ releases the tension that accumulates from physical exertion. Together, they support a body that is both capable and relaxed.

How exercise and TRE™ work together​

Exercise strengthens the body through stress, but that stress can accumulate as tension in muscles and fascia. TRE™ releases this tension, supporting recovery and preventing the chronic holding patterns that can lead to injury.

What exercise offers TRE™​

  • Warmed, activated muscles that tremor more easily
  • Body awareness from physical activity
  • Baseline fitness that supports practice

What TRE™ offers exercise​

  • Faster recovery between sessions
  • Release of chronic tension patterns
  • Reduced injury risk from accumulated holding
  • Better sleep for recovery
  • Processing of performance stress and anxiety

Integration​

Before exercise​

TRE™ before exercise is generally not recommended. Tremoring can leave you too relaxed for intense physical effort, and you may not have the activation needed for peak performance.

Gentle TRE™ on the morning of a rest day is fine and won’t affect later activity.

After exercise​

This is the optimal time for most people. Benefits of TRE™ after exercise include:

  • Muscles are already warm and fatigued
  • The body is primed for release
  • Tremors often come easily
  • Supports the transition from exertion to recovery

How to do it​

  1. Complete your workout and cool-down
  2. Move into TRE™ exercises (or skip to tremoring if already fatigued)
  3. Allow 10–15 minutes of tremoring
  4. Rest and hydrate

On rest days​

Using TRE™ on days you don’t exercise supports recovery and maintains your practice. This can be a good time for longer or deeper sessions.

Practical guidance​

For athletes​

Athletes accumulate physical and psychological stress through training, competition, and performance pressure.

Timing​

  • After training sessions (not immediately before competition)
  • During recovery days
  • Post-competition (give 24+ hours for acute recovery first)
  • Before bed if sleep is an issue

Competition periods​

  • Reduce TRE™ intensity and duration
  • Focus on maintenance rather than deep release
  • Prioritise sleep and recovery

Performance anxiety​

Competition stress lives in the body. TRE™ helps discharge this physiological activation, allowing you to compete from a regulated state rather than an anxious one.

Post-competition processing​

Win or lose, the nervous system activation of competition needs somewhere to go. TRE™ provides a way to complete the stress cycle and return to baseline.

For recreational exercisers​

You don’t need to be an athlete to benefit from combining TRE™ with physical activity.

  • After workouts — A brief TRE™ session helps your body release and recover.
  • On rest days — Supports recovery and maintains your practice.
  • When you can’t exercise — During injury, illness, or breaks from training, TRE™ maintains connection with your body and supports healing.

For specific activities​

  • Running and endurance sports — Runners often develop chronic tension in the hips, lower back, and legs. TRE™ can help release these patterns.
  • Strength training — Lifting creates significant muscular tension. Regular TRE™ supports mobility and recovery.
  • High-intensity training — HIIT creates significant nervous system activation. TRE™ helps discharge this and supports parasympathetic recovery.
  • Yoga — See Yoga for detailed guidance.

Considerations​

  • Don’t do TRE™ immediately before intense exercise or competition
  • Allow adequate recovery between very intense workouts and deep TRE™ sessions
  • Listen to your body: some days call for movement, others for release
  • TRE™ complements stretching and foam rolling but works at a deeper, neurogenic level
A different relationship

Athletes are often conditioned to push through discomfort and override body signals. TRE™ invites a different relationship: listening to what your body is telling you rather than suppressing it.