The mental benefit of hitting the weights

[thebrick]

I've been thinking about a subject that seems to not get discussed much. That is, the mental perks of training.

I heard someone say recently that it was hard to get motivated when "off" and feeling progress in the gym was going to be much more difficult. We focus a lot on progress and looking better and getting stronger, but the mental aspect is huge for me. For example…

Earlier this year I was really stressed and worried because of my health issue. It was a huge mental weight on me, still is. I remember a couple guys in my gym telling me "I can't believe you are in here training during chemo". My response was, yes, it is hard. I have to pace myself, I'm tired most of the time and I am weak, but the benefit is the same. I walk out of here feeling better than when I walked in. I feel better physically and AND MENTALLY. It helped me tremendously to deal with all that.

My point is, we ALL have to deal with worry and stress from time to time. That is life. But doesn't hitting the iron help you deal with it mentally? Don't you love that "second lease" on life feeling you have after training?

 

[Omega-Red]

Honestly there are 3 twilight moments for me in life :-

1. Being with a naked beautiful woman
2. A phenomenal workout
3. An amazing computer game

To expand further on this "twilight", its just when I am in that zone I become totally encompassed with that moment completely removed from everything else. No matter how shit a day I have had 1 of these 3 will cheer me up and totally remove me from dull monotony of reality!

I will never stop lifting purely due to how good it does feel , its like a euphoric release, even when I am cruising or off, still i need to hit it , honestly its like therapy for me.

 

[flexdurden]

The reason I stopped playing sports was because I enjoyed training more than playing the actual sport...

There is something about the moments it is just you and the iron... it is surreal to me... it takes me to a place where there is no worry, there is no stress, there are no obligations... the only thing that matters is the contraction of the muscle and pushing my body to its physical limit. To me, training is much much more than a physical activity, it is spiritual. It builds character and fortitude and teaches me that I am much more capable than I give myself... I allow these traits to carry over in my life outside of the gym. Training helps me stay centered, it takes me away from reality, yet bring me back to reality. By that I mean I am able to stop worrying about things that are trivial in the long run and allows me to leave the gym centered and focused on the things in life that matter.

More recently, training has become a key aspect of how my fiance and I bond. Our relationship would not be what it is if it were not for training. We push one another and share in the special moments when you take your body beyond what you thought you were physically capable, we carry one other through painful sets and lift one another up after collapsing after widowmaker squats.

If there is one aspect of my life that has been there for me through the years, that i can always rely on to pick me up and make me realize how good I have it, it is training. When I have been depressed, the iron was there to pick me up, when I was angry, the iron was there to ease my tension, when I thought my life was crumbling down around around me, the iron was there to remind me I had the strength to bear the burden on my shoulders...

Training is a analogy for life... You are in control and you decide what you make of it.

 

[ajdos]

Honestly there are 3 twilight moments for me in life :-

1. Being with a naked beautiful woman
2. A phenomenal workout
3. An amazing computer game

To expand further on this "twilight", its just when I am in that zone I become totally encompassed with that moment completely removed from everything else. No matter how shit a day I have had 1 of these 3 will cheer me up and totally remove me from dull monotony of reality!

I will never stop lifting purely due to how good it does feel , its like a euphoric release, even when I am cruising or off, still i need to hit it , honestly its like therapy for me.

I like the list, I have one out of 3, was thinking about getting the latest Diablo installment but it means getting a better computer with a better graphics and sound card blah blah blah...
And to add to Bricks OP, working out makes me feel really good, its my therapy and keeps me from being out of control with my temper.
Conversely when my training starts to suck, it really frustrates me and I found it odd that it can actually worsen my mood in some aspects.
But great post just the same, for the most part, the benefits cannot be denied.

 

[alfresco]

Good post M.

I remember when my late father went under hospice care. One of the nurses (a world class female endurance athlete) and I had a talk
pain management. We were all having a difficult time getting on top of my Dads pain, the morphine and methadone did not seem to
be working, and we were administering it to him with ever increasing frequency, actually afraid of ‘overdosing’ him. Aside from the fact
that his cancer was spreading exponentially on a daily basis, I felt we were not doing a very good job of managing his pain.

My Dad was very good athlete; semi-pro baseball player, runner, and after he retired he became a personal trainer. And he was weight
training way before it became popular, when it was thought to make you slower and inflexible. So . . . he was no stranger to pain and
was willing to endure a certain amount of pain associated with his illness in exchange from some lucidity. (He was truly a brave man in
the truest sense of the word.)

What the nurse told me is that typically, athletes require more pain medication because they are used to, accustomed to pain. Pain as
function of their training is a fact of life, part of the deal if you will. And the effect of endorphin's, as Brick alludes to as a function of training
is real and can actually be measured and qualified.

Weird I know, but I have had some of my best workouts when I was sick, not feeling well. The hardest part I always say is getting out of bed.
And with rare exception, I always feel better when I leave the gym than when I entered it.

I know when we talked M, I found it amazing that you were still hitting the weights while going through chemo. But then again, you told me
how it made you feel better and improved your mental outlook, added a sense of accomplishment, discipline and routine in your life. You can
sit around and feel sorry for yourself or you can get on with your life like you did. I am very proud of you. I knew and told you that you were a
survivor.

My Dad continued to work-out with weights, walk, and work in the garden all day long when he was sick. The doctors could not believe how
good he looked, how active and strong he was . . . he was a superman compared to anybody else the doctors had previously encountered.
In fact it was this very ‘picture of health’ that contributed to his being misdiagnosed. He looked so damn good nobody, and I mean nobody could
believe he was as sick as he was so the doctors did not look in all, in retrospect, the obvious places. He fell through the medical cracks. Very
sad indeed. It cost him his life, was clearly a case medical, moral, and criminal malpractice.

When I was taking care of my Dad (emotionally and physically draining), I was not weight training regularly, if at all, and was working a terrible
demanding job simultaneously. But it was forty odd years of weights that were and are like money in the bank; an account that you can draw
upon when the going gets tough. And the mere act of making regular ‘deposits’ certainly makes me feel good, so I think I will keep doing it.

 

[method2madness]

The reason I stopped playing sports was because I enjoyed training more than playing the actual sport...

There is something about the moments it is just you and the iron... it is surreal to me... it takes me to a place where there is no worry, there is no stress, there are no obligations... the only thing that matters is the contraction of the muscle and pushing my body to its physical limit. To me, training is much much more than a physical activity, it is spiritual. It builds character and fortitude and teaches me that I am much more capable than I give myself... I allow these traits to carry over in my life outside of the gym. Training helps me stay centered, it takes me away from reality, yet bring me back to reality. By that I mean I am able to stop worrying about things that are trivial in the long run and allows me to leave the gym centered and focused on the things in life that matter.

More recently, training has become a key aspect of how my fiance and I bond. Our relationship would not be what it is if it were not for training. We push one another and share in the special moments when you take your body beyond what you thought you were physically capable, we carry one other through painful sets and lift one another up after collapsing after widowmaker squats.

If there is one aspect of my life that has been there for me through the years, that i can always rely on to pick me up and make me realize how good I have it, it is training. When I have been depressed, the iron was there to pick me up, when I was angry, the iron was there to ease my tension, when I thought my life was crumbling down around around me, the iron was there to remind me I had the strength to bear the burden on my shoulders...

Training is a analogy for life... You are in control and you decide what you make of it.

What he said

 

[dirtywork]

The mental aspect of training is the only reason I train. Everything else is just a secondary side effect. Coming from a broken family and being cursed with personality disorder, body and mind strengthening is the only thing pulling me out of bed.

 

[irish_sd]

I have been working out since I was 13 years old.
The gym is familiar. It's home. It's where I live. I grew up there. Learned from watching the older, bigger guys. The smell, the sounds, it's what I love.
There is nothing that makes me stronger mentally and emotionally then lifting and working out.
If I don't work out, something is wrong. I am a bit irritable, discontented and grumpy until I get that work out.
The harder and more challenging, the better. That feeling at the end. The confidence that you struggled and put yourself through something that would crush most men.
It's in my blood.

 

[ronnie_2003]

I'm a teacher and after a long day at school and leaving totally mentally drained hitting the weights is the best stress reliever I've found!

 

[flex22]

BRICK just wanted to say this is def an awesome thread you started here. And your post alone seriously no lie man, just motivated the shit outta me.
Now anyways the mental benefits of training just about = the physical benefits for me. I say this cuz I have a severly "addictive personality" as they say. I used heroin and speedballed for many yrs and was doing other HEAVY drugs starting at 15yrs old. When I finally got clean I needed an outlet to put my addiction towards. Well low and behold that was working out and bettering my body and mind by going to the gym. this lifestyle/hobby, has no lie, seriously kept me outta trouble way more times than I can couint and saved my life. And I leave off with this. I truly don't know wherer I'd be if I didnt have "bodybuilding"/ lifting in my life. That is my only outlet/time to ME I have between raising 2 little girls almost by myself and working a bullshit nite job

 

[amc443]

I remember when my late father went under hospice care. One of the nurses (a world class female endurance athlete) and I had a talk
pain management. We were all having a difficult time getting on top of my Dads pain, the morphine and methadone did not seem to
be working, and we were administering it to him with ever increasing frequency, actually afraid of ‘overdosing’ him. Aside from the fact
that his cancer was spreading exponentially on a daily basis, I felt we were not doing a very good job of managing his pain.

My Dad was very good athlete; semi-pro baseball player, runner, and after he retired he became a personal trainer. And he was weight
training way before it became popular, when it was thought to make you slower and inflexible. So . . . he was no stranger to pain and
was willing to endure a certain amount of pain associated with his illness in exchange from some lucidity. (He was truly a brave man in
the truest sense of the word.)

What the nurse told me is that typically, athletes require more pain medication because they are used to, accustomed to pain. Pain as
function of their training is a fact of life, part of the deal if you will. And the effect of endorphin's, as Brick alludes to as a function of training
is real and can actually be measured and qualified.

Weird I know, but I have had some of my best workouts when I was sick, not feeling well. The hardest part I always say is getting out of bed.
And with rare exception, I always feel better when I leave the gym than when I entered it.

I know when we talked M, I found it amazing that you were still hitting the weights while going through chemo. But then again, you told me
how it made you feel better and improved your mental outlook, added a sense of accomplishment, discipline and routine in your life. You can
sit around and feel sorry for yourself or you can get on with your life like you did. I am very proud of you. I knew and told you that you were a
survivor.

My Dad continued to work-out with weights, walk, and work in the garden all day long when he was sick. The doctors could not believe how
good he looked, how active and strong he was . . . he was a superman compared to anybody else the doctors had previously encountered.
In fact it was this very ‘picture of health’ that contributed to his being misdiagnosed. He looked so damn good nobody, and I mean nobody could
believe he was as sick as he was so the doctors did not look in all, in retrospect, the obvious places. He fell through the medical cracks. Very
sad indeed. It cost him his life, was clearly a case medical, moral, and criminal malpractice.

When I was taking care of my Dad (emotionally and physically draining), I was not weight training regularly, if at all, and was working a terrible
demanding job simultaneously. But it was forty odd years of weights that were and are like money in the bank; an account that you can draw
upon when the going gets tough. And the mere act of making regular ‘deposits’ certainly makes me feel good, so I think I will keep doing it.

A beautiful post. Thanks for this. All the best to you and yours!

 

[irish_sd]

... Duplicate post...

Carry on!

 

[rippedyearround]

Echoing what has already been stated.

I love to train. The last two weeks have been mandatory time off for me: no lifting. My wife and everyone around me has noticed a drop in my positivity. I notice I'm less productive everywhere: at work, around the house, in my studies. So glad my off time ends on Monday.

Training is a spiritual thing that is an essential part of my happiness.

 

[Psych069]

I have bad anxiety. I have a hard time just letting things go. I am 46 years old and they have had me on anxiety medicine for a while. I did not like the way they made me feel so I stopped taking them. Going to the gym and working out is the only medicine I need. I always leave tired physically but refreshed mentally.

 

[Laroux76]

I don't post often but...

When I go to the gym I forget about all the shit in my life. All the stress goes away. It's just me and the barbell. I walk out of the gym feeling alive, accomplished and stronger than when I went in. It's my therapy. And doing cardio relaxes me. After my 30 minutes on the treadmill, I've generally sorted through some things i need to do.

Honestly, I don't know how people go through life without working out!

 

[LilMac]

Im also not a frequent poster but this is one post that I can really relate to.

I do shift work in a small town far away from where I grew up and don't know a ton of people. I'm really far away from all of my good friends as well as my family. On top of that I just got out of a long relationship.

I dont know how many of us on this forum do shift work, but it can be mentally taxing as well as creates a lot of sleep and anxiety issues. I have an extremely hard time changing from night shift back to day shift and I have to twice a month for work. I refuse to use any anxiety / sleep medication because I've seen the effects it has on people long term.

If I take time off from working out; when it comes time to try to go to sleep when changing from nights to days I find that my anxiety and mind wont shut down and I'm often wide awake still when my alarm goes off to go work a 12 hour day with 1hr travel each direction.. and this will go on for 2-3 nights in a row usually.. If I'm regular at the gym my anxiety and sleeplessness is much more bearable.. I wouldn't be able to stay up here for work if it wasn't for the gym.

 

[oldDIRTYbastard]

This is a great thread. Everyone has their own reasons for training and it's good to read others motivation.

I started out just rehabing a disc and found something I really enjoy doing. Sometimes when training sounds like the worst idea, is when some of the best training happens.

 

[Crom]

I agree with every post here and the reasons. No pill or medicine can beat the positive physiological and psychological impact training has on us. Our body rewards us with that euphoric feeling from the endorfins reaffirming that we should keep doing this to get that feeling and outcome. Studies also prove the major health benefits from lifting weights.

Having to go through surgery soon on my elbow though will be a major bummer though since I won't be able to work out for 6-8 weeks. Legs will be done of course.

 

[gungalunga]

I'm sure many of you have read this in the past. I like to re-read it every once in a while to put my mind in the right place. It's called "The Iron" and was written by Henry Rollins. I know that I can relate to a lot of what he has to say, and I'm sure many others here on ProM do too. Working out isn't just about how you look or how many pounds you can lift. It's about knowing that no matter what life throws at you........you can deal with it. Sometimes I get out of bed and feel like I must have kicked my own ass the previous day at the gym. But you know what??? I like that feeling....

Here's what ol' Hank has to say on the subject:


Written by Henry Rollins

(not me)

= = =

"I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself.

Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me “garbage can” and telling me I’d be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn’t run home crying, wondering why.

I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time.

As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn’t going to get pounded in the hallway between classes. Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you’ll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me a hard time. I didn’t think much of them either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn’t even drag them to my mom’s car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.‘s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn’t looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn’t want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in.

Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn’t know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn’t say s—t to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn’t until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can’t be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn’t have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone’s shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body.

Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn’t see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone.

It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you’re made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it’s some kind of miracle if you’re not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.

I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs.

Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds."

 

[Gaintrain]

Me personally have used weight training my entire life since I started as a mental health balance to relieve stress, anger, anxiety an give me overall sense well being after the scene result in the mirror! love it its a part of my physical, mental, an spiritual health!:headbang: