Gym, Depression and Anxiety

[Thelema]

Yesterday I shoulder pressed 90 pounds with my right arm...yes I'm just bragging. My conditioning has gone so far in a short time. I can jump rope better than Rocky. I can just keep going stronger and stronger where a month ago I would have lost my lunch. I do olympic lifts like one hand snatches of 60 pounds. I'm practicing hand balancing and nail bending. I drink half a gallon of milk a day...no drugs or supplements.

 

[louieann34]

Certainly,it's an evidence that the phisical exercises reduce the anxiety overall if we practice every day.
I think that the aerobical exercises as walking,swimming,etc.. are more effectives than no- aerobical .
When I am very depressed,Ia m going to the mountain 2 or 3 hours and when arrive to my home I am an other person .

Hi Elparanoic,

I love your idea of overcoming your anxiety...I always want to do that, going to a mountain and express all your feelings in there and when you return home, all is well.

 

[viperbeam]

I thought losing weight, would help me out, but once I dropped 60lbs and notice that nothing emotionally changed, I just started to get depressed again. I still go to the gym 4 times a week. Man, was I disappointed.

 

[Thelema]

Today I bent my first nail, with my bare hands. I've bent a total of 3 today....wanna arm wrestle? :twisted:

 

[Thelema]

Exercise most definitely helps temporarily alleviate symptoms of depression. Or at least from my experiences is does. I've just started powerlifting and the feeling of accomplishment you get from lifting progressively heavier and heavier weights is great for your confidence. Also, taking martial arts classes helped as well, knowing that you can take out most (not always all) of the potential attackers around you using brutal palm strikes, knees to the chest and groin and stiff punches to the solar plexus certainly helps alleviate some depression. My point is, just try to stay physically active and be the best person you can be all around and that should help curb many (but probably not all) of the negative attitudes you have towards yourself.

Powerlifting is really cool. Sadly, I couldn't find any powerlifting gyms around where I live

 

[Thelema]

Actually, nail bending isn't very hard if you train for it. It puts a lot of stress, in a strange way, on your wrist. Sledgehammer levering and some grip training is all you need. I went searching for big nails and bent all of them hehehe. I bent probably 20. I don't have any money to buy more nails for a few more days...I can't wait

It's kind of gives me a fuzzy feeling to know, if I wanted to, I could cause serious damage to someones hand just by squeezing it. You would never know I was anything but a skinny kid if I have a shirt on though

Bruce Lee is one of my idols. If I could have any body, it would be his.

I've been seeing a huge jump in my strength since I've started taking protein powder. I did 12 one arm push ups today, double my previous personal best. I also curled a 45 pound dumbbell for 4 sets of 3 and 45 pounds feels strangely light. I remember when I could barely curl 45 pounds once and that wasn't with strict form.

I've wanted to take something like JuJitsu, but I don't have the guts to actually admit to it and show up for it.

That reminds me of Arthur Saxon. He was so strong, while he was wresting he would pick up his opponent and throw them. People would complain that he was too strong to wrestle against. I wouldn't want to wrestle against the strongest man in the world either :lol:

 

[Syloko]

can i ask if anyone has tried weight lifting or just going to the gym to help with their anxiety?

I done a bit of weight lifiting once and got myself to a decent level of fitness and muscle,this made me feel great,my confidence was on a high and i just felt so much better. the only reason i stopped is that i dont have much motivation and now iam back to my skinny little self and hate wearing tshirts cause my arms are so skinny
One of the reasons i have no self confindence is due to my build iam very underweight for my height and it depresses me at times,especialy in the summer when everyone is wearing tshirts and iam too self concious too.

I have read somewhere that going to the gym (ive never been to the gym i have the stuff at home) does help with depression aswell.
Iam thinking of starting to do weights again and just wondering if anyone has any opinions on the subject

Hello Scottish Player,

Joining a gym can be scary, but like what someone mentioned previously no one really notices you, everyone else is too busy working out.
You mentioned that you find it hard to notice a difference. Each person is different and diet and exercise are very important, one can not work without the other. If you are naturally slim you need to eat loads of protein, tuna is an excellent source of protein. Also eat loads of carbs as well. Get a book on diet, it will help a lot.

I hope this helps

 

[Thelema]

I'm leaping with pride to say

Today I bent 2 20d nails at the same time. I am Hercules come back to earth! :wink: :roll:

Proof you can be a scrawny kid and still kick ass

 

[joshueg]

Hi all!, well, i have gone to several gyms in my life and i liked going there, but lately i don' t feel comfortable there, because i am much fatter now than before , when i am very anxious (that' s to say, most of the time), i eat, eat and eat with no limits
Anyway, i am thinking very seriously about going back to the gym, because that is important for my selfconfidence.
If you have all you need home, all the gym stuff, you know, that is great, but perhaps it would be better if you try to go to a gym, you will see that many people are as thin as you are and that' s why they go to the gym.
Have a nice day! :wink:

 

[kristy85]

Some people do have the habit of divertion to overcome stress, depression or anxiety, in that case Gym may be also one of them.

Drug Rehab Program

 

[Lionheart]

Im not going to a gym because it would be a waste of money and my anxiety holds me back to...im training at home for like 3 hours a day it helps me a little to stop thinking im such a looser and im looking bad such thinks.

 

[x000x]

I tried going to the gym several times last summer with some people I knew from school. I found that I got very anxious around everyone and panicked a bit most of the times I went. So I stopped going.

 

[Uber Schnitzel]

I've been working out (on and off - my motivation isn't 100% there yet) at home for the last month or so and I'm definately starting to feel better. Today I'm doing my induction at the gym and then later this week me and some of the guys from work are gonna hit it. Gotta say I'm a little nervous about the whole thing, having never been to the gym before and the fact I'm out of shape doesn't help much either but I'm quite looking forward to it. I'll perhaps post here with my progress sometime in the next few weeks

 

[da_illest101]

I find it helps alot, I'm way less stressed and depressive after a good work out. Unfortunately i don't always have the motivation to go. Every time i go back i always ask myself why i stop going in the first place

 

[Solo Dolo]

lifting weights works wonders psychologically. i walk around 10 times more confident because im in better shape than the majority of the population. it also helps depression overall. it helps to relieve any stress or other emotions of the day as well. something that would work great for you since you are skinny is a weight gainer. i took a weight gainer when i was bulking up, and put on 20 pounds. you should do the same. and i HIGHLY recommend weight lifting. it will improve your quality of life. period.

 

[fife_girl]

Scottish_Player , I have been working out every single night since end of December, in the hopes that a more fit body would mean more fit mind. But I only will work out in my basement, would never have courage to work out at a gym. I lift weights (light ones :wink: ) and do treadmill, crunches, that kind of thing. For me, it works for short-term, feel really great right after, but long term, hasn't affected my anxiety the way I had hoped .

yea i go out cycling, its good for a short period after, id say a couple of hours for me, iv yet to notice a long positive affect but then angain each time that happens it will start to have a longer affect??
hmmm

 

[fitftw]

The gym helps a little bit, but the incense and cigarettes that I smoke, coupled with my pretty bad eating habits, cancels it out.

 

[mikebird]

It's something I'll never be able to stop doing!
Big part of life.

When I was a kid, I was told to never play contact sports because I had an autoimmune disease. That was all bull****. I never got involved in sport art school, and I think that has a seriously negative impact on life.

I wouldn't have started on gym, unless I spent a year in jail for intent to supply. While I was there, I found out what it means to put something into improving your body. It will never be as good as that year inside. It takes others to shout at you and encourage you to push harder, when you've used all you strength, and you can do another rep when someone supports the bar for you just a tiny bit, shouting at you to do one more, and put it down!

It'll never be as good as that year again. I'm just doing it by myself. I'm putting something back in, to make up up for the years at school.

Now I do more aerobic than weights, wanting to get rid of the weight. Feeling fit.

It makes me feel so good after a session, but I will admit I'm not so comfortable in a busy weights room. It's better than in a ... supermarket, because we have something in common. It's good to meet known friends once in a while, at random, but still anxious among strangers, a bit.

One thing I haven't got at my gym is a boxing ring or any punchbags. That would be the ultimate release of anger, and anxiety, which is currently huge. Running, rowing, pull-ups, bench... none of it is as good as smashing my knuckles into something heavy all day.

There's nothing I can attach a punchbag to at home - the ceiling isn't up to it. I can fix it to a tree trunk, but I need something overhead to hang it from. No floorstander.

Does anyone know a way to hang a punchbag?

 

[Apersonalan]

I thought this was a reference to Jersey Shore then I realized the threads from 2005.

The best cardio workouts are bicycling and running I think 60 minutes is around 800 calories.

Building muscle is far better a bucket of fat that weighs 5 pounds can be compressed into a tiny ball weighing the same when converted to muscle.

The only problem is working out with ocd puffs you out more and makes you more hungry as you lose energy and besides who needs a shake weight, you know what I mean?

 

[man on the hill]

Ive got my own weight bench and alot of weights at home that I use. I dont think I could ever go to a gym and work out like I do with my own weights. about a year ago I lifted weights every night after work (2nd shift) for about 20 or 30 mins untill I got burned out, done this for about 2 or 3 months. I was doing upper body only, mostly bench presses and curls and working on making my arms bigger mostly. I never told anybody that I was lifting cause I was always doing it alone and at 1AM every night. After about 2 months I guess, somebody at work asked me if I had been working out, and I asked em "why would you say that?" then he said "cause your arms are alot bigger then they used to be". That made my day right there cause I had not told anybody what I been doing and all the hard work I had been doing actually paid off and was noticable.

I wish I still had the motivation to work out like that again....now im like "whats the point of even doing it when its not really gonna change me or make me feel any better about myself". ocassionally I might lift a couple times a week but I cant seem to stick with it and get in a routine.