ocd, depression, anxiety and stress extremely worst after weight training

[stevow7]

I’m 27. I don’t even train a lot. just one hour of weight training makes my ocd and anxiety sky high and messes me up big time. i have a lot of external stress and anxiety already and bringing training might make things extremely worst? if this is true, idk what to do. i love to weight train and dropping this will become a nightmare lol. i had to take tylennol because i felt mentally burnout.


people say it haves benefits, but dang i have a hard day when i lift.


i reduced intensity, but still feel bad.


i want to do some type of training that makes me more muscular if i need to drop it.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Does the term "exercise anxiety" resonate with you?

It took me a long time to admit it, but I have always had fear around exercise. Admitting it allows me now to push through it, but I tell you, it still rears its head sometimes when my trainer pushes me to do more than I'm comfortable with. The difference is that now I know that it's only that - my self-imposed comfort level. Which is why I pay a trainer every week - to push me - because I know that I will not do it myself.

Mind you, I'm female and 68, so the type of training I engage in is pretty tame (and focused on bone health) but I still get anxious and fearful whenever she wants me to, say, do a deadlift with 45+ pounds, or to push the sled when it has two 45-lb weights added to whatever it already weighs! She made me do that yesterday, and about halfway through the second length of the gym (which ain't much) I could feel the fear bubbling up - and yes, it was a physical sensation. But I just stopped very briefly, took a couple of deep breaths, told myself to get over it, and finished up.

Doing this work successfully means recognizing the fear messages, and calling bullshit on them.

 

[stevow7]

Does the term "exercise anxiety" resonate with you?

It took me a long time to admit it, but I have always had fear around exercise. Admitting it allows me now to push through it, but I tell you, it still rears its head sometimes when my trainer pushes me to do more than I'm comfortable with. The difference is that now I know that it's only that - my self-imposed comfort level. Which is why I pay a trainer every week - to push me - because I know that I will not do it myself.

Mind you, I'm female and 68, so the type of training I engage in is pretty tame (and focused on bone health) but I still get anxious and fearful whenever she wants me to, say, do a deadlift with 45+ pounds, or to push the sled when it has two 45-lb weights added to whatever it already weighs! She made me do that yesterday, and about halfway through the second length of the gym (which ain't much) I could feel the fear bubbling up - and yes, it was a physical sensation. But I just stopped very briefly, took a couple of deep breaths, told myself to get over it, and finished up.

Doing this work successfully means recognizing the fear messages, and calling bullshit on them.

hello! it’s more about feeling wayy tired mentally and physically after training and the days after training. sometimes the anxiety and depression gets worst after training.

 

[s.jp67]

I have never heard of exercise causing those types issues, especially from only an hour of training. Studies have shown that exercise in the long run reduces anxiety and depression and helps with sleep. What is happening to you is what happens to other people with TMS. You have created the belief that the exercise causes an increase in symptoms and you have conditioned your brain to react in a way that actually creates those symptoms when you live out the scenario. It is just like the person who gets really bad back pain when they sit in a certain way or move in a certain way even though there is nothing wrong with their back.

I would recommend that you continue to go to the gym regardless of the symptoms you face. Maybe you will continue to face more symptoms and that's ok, just accept them and don't let them stop you from doing what you want to do. Eventually you should be able to uncondition your brain and begin to feel the real scientific benefits that exercise brings mentally and physically.

 

[stevow7]

i do experience this, like today i woke up feeling ok, went to the gym and after the gym i started to feel more tired, blurry vision and other symptoms and then i blame it on training and started to over think stuff like “should i stop or nah?”. im treating it has tms too. sometimes it’s hard tho, but i will take control . im also planning in trying yoga !

thanks a lot for replying!

 

[Josh Howard]

My bouts on my TMS do see to correspond with more than normal exercise. I live an active lifestyle and when I start to think about exercising too much, I always seem to have a bout with TMS (left leg, hip, back, elbow, ect.) Mine seems to move around a bit, and for some reason I am always fooled that it could be something more serious. Even currently I have been doing chiropractic and PT work for my hip, despite the tests showing only general tightness and possibly some inflammation. It's a cycle that I have been trying to break for the last couple of years, and it's been a struggle but I am re-doing the program. This forum has been nice to read other's triumph stories and experiences.

Plan is to keep doing the things I love and getting to the bottom of my internal rage/emotions. I would strongly encourage anyone going through the same to keep working out, because Dr. Sarno always said/wrote to keep doing the things that we thought brought on the problem.

Thanks for listening. Best of luck.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Hi Josh, and welcome!

for some reason I am always fooled

It's not "some" random reason. It's a very specific reason, which is that your primitive fearful brain WANTS you to be afraid, and you are letting it. It's also part of the distraction process, of course. We are wired to be negative in order to survive in the primitive wilderness, as I learned by listening to the audio program "Meditations To Change Your Brain" (which is mostly lecture, not meditations). We also had very short lives with just one purpose, which was to live long enough to breed the next generation. That wiring in today's modern world with our very long lives simply does not work anymore, but we are dealing with it every day - and in many of us, that wiring goes into overdrive.

and possibly some inflammation

IMHO, "inflammation" is code for "we don't know what it actually is, so we're going to call it inflammation because that sounds medical and like we know what we're talking about". This is pretty easy for them to say, because the truth is that "inflammation" (whatever the hell that is) can't be seen or measured, and although there is supposedly a test for it, the more you understand the physiological processes resulting from long-term emotional stress, the more skeptical you will be (as I am) about tests for systemic changes that are most likely to be the result of long-term stress, rather than some mysterious change that took place for no reason. For the scientific knowledge behind that, I recommend "When The Body Says No" by Dr. Gabor Mate, MD. Because even if they test you for inflammation and find the markers, then what? They still don't have a concrete solution. That's because inflammation is most likely just another symptom of TMS.

You're obviously on the right path, Josh - so don't let your brain lead you down the wrong one! We're all dealing with the same thing, but over time it becomes easier and more automatic to be able to call bullshit on the negative messages.

~Jan