Bodybuilding Taking Over My Life

Training Beginners
1

I’ve only been at it about a year, but it has already taken over my life I believe. My daily life is directly affected by my performance in the gym. When I have a good day, I’m happy, confident, and just plain feel great. With a bad day though (like today, and which has been happening more often since I decided to cut), I feel depressed, I’m easily irritated, basically I feel like a big piece of doo doo, the whole day.

My whole life seems to revolve around lifting weights. I’m contantly thinking about my diet, routine, supplements, and cannot stop. I spend hours and hours studying nutrition, theories, different exercises, technique, routines, now that I’ve started to post here even more time. I even quit a job a couple months ago because I felt that it interfered with the gym. I wish my body would allow me to go more often. I think I’m starting to go crazy. My girlfriend always sees me staring off into space, always asking me what I’m thinking about, and every single time it’s the gym, much to her dismay.

Anybody else have this problem, and if so, how do you deal with it? I’m asking for help because this is progressively getting worse by the week…maybe this is normal and I should just get used to it?

2

[quote]crazyman wrote:
I’ve only been at it about a year, but it has already taken over my life I believe. My daily life is directly affected by my performance in the gym. When I have a good day, I’m happy, confident, and just plain feel great. With a bad day though (like today, and which has been happening more often since I decided to cut), I feel depressed, I’m easily irritated, basically I feel like a big piece of doo doo, the whole day.

My whole life seems to revolve around lifting weights. I’m contantly thinking about my diet, routine, supplements, and cannot stop. I spend hours and hours studying nutrition, theories, different exercises, technique, routines, now that I’ve started to post here even more time. I even quit a job a couple months ago because I felt that it interfered with the gym. I wish my body would allow me to go more often. I think I’m starting to go crazy. My girlfriend always sees me staring off into space, always asking me what I’m thinking about, and every single time it’s the gym, much to her dismay.

Anybody else have this problem, and if so, how do you deal with it? I’m asking for help because this is progressively getting worse by the week…maybe this is normal and I should just get used to it?[/quote]

Alright. I have the same problem, actually I HAD the same problem. I think everyone that goes to they gym regularly does. Anyways, yes for anyone the performance in the gym affects the mood. My answer, is to take 7-10 days off from lifting. Just relax. Play some video games or sleep, but remembe to eat on those days. Hope that helps, tell me how it goes. Best of luck!

3

I don’t have this problem. I put in my five hours or so a week training and reviewing my training log and the other 163 hours per week or so I do other things.

I would suggest that maybe you’re just overreacting a little bit. I mean, the average American watches, what, like 20 or 25 hours of television per week. I’ve known people who spend 40 hours or more per week playing MMORPGs. I wouldn’t think that training 6 or 7 hours a week and being preoccupied with thoughts about training and diet is the worst possible obsession.

I guess you just need to figure out if your training is unbalancing the rest of your life. If it is do something about it.

4

I like to think of this as the Allegory of the Cave. You’re pretty much just got information overload, and you’re like OMFG LIEKZZZ TRAININZG IS MY LYFDAZZZ! I think we’ve all gone through that. It takes a while, but once you know what you’re doing, it just becomes routine. The passion is still there, but just like newlyweds, you gotta know when to not be so lovey dovey all the time, and just cool it.

5

For me, the most important parts of training, are both the enjoyment of going to the gym, and the enjoyment of the results it gives me. If i’m not acheiving both of these then I start to get a little grouchy and irritable etc. Normally both of these occur at the same time.

With regards to enjoying training itself, if this begins dwindle, then it is normally a sign that I need to change my training schedule. Take a few days off. Mix it up a bit by changing reps, sets and exercises, training days. Then start again from fresh. I’ve found that there is a direct link between enjoying training and getting results.

If i’m not enjoying the results then I start to overanalyze…looking at the negatives in my physique, rather than where i’ve gained. Take a break from looking into the mirror too often, and give your body time to progress before you start to critcize. It’s very easy to become negative when you don’t progress quickly.

I certainly wouldn’t get used to being in the state of mind you are currently in…I mean, I don’t see the point in repeating unenjoyable behaviours. Life is meant to be enjoyable. Also, once you’ve written or chosen a training programme/diet for a phase, concentrate on it, give it a chance, don’t constantly research and change it. There is nothing wrong with studying, but once you find something you are happy with, and stick at it for 6 weeks or so. As you near the end of a phase, get studying hard ready to design the next one.

If I were you, i’d spend some quality time with your girlfriend and other things you enjoy doing. What did you enjoy doing before you started training a year ago? Time away from training is a must…otherwise it’ll drive you insane. It’s the same with anything…if you start to become completely obsessed, with it causing detrimental effects on the rest of your life, back off a bit, then come at it from a different angle. I’ve a friend who is completely obsessed with training, but he enjoys it, so what the heck, i leave him to it.

Good luck with everything, i’m sure that if you take a step back, organize everything slightly differently, that you’ll not only achieve more in the gym…but you’ll be much happier in general. And your girlfriend will no doubt appreciate it too!

6

I’ve been there and I think that it’s perfectly normal, to be honest. My only concern is that you quit your job for your lifting. What kind of job was it and what made you quit it? Hopefully you found a job with better pay or at least a better schedule and equal pay?

I agree with flip, take an entire week off and don’t even follow your healthy eating pattern, just do the average American eating lifestyle. Your body will NOT regress more than 5% from that layoff assuming that you’ve been as dedicated with your lifting and nutrition as you’ve been posting. If it makes you feel better park at the other end of the lot and take the long walk to work or join a pickup game at the court; keep yourself moving.

Don’t forget about your girlfriend. Sounds like she’d appreciate a date without a mention of the gym, just once.

One thing that helped me not be so anal is by NOT creating my own routine, or trying to. I get obsessive when I do that. My mindset and results have been much better when I just pick a routine from this site and stick to it for six weeks or cycles before switching.

Some may frown on trusting the coaches/gurus that much, but stress affects your physique too. I try to eliminate as much of that stress as I can. If the authors are good enough to get paid to write articles for a site that makes more money if their visitors get results, then they’re good enough for me.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go attend to my food log now.

7

Be careful with the impact your dedication to lifting has on your social life/relationships.

Those things are NOT worth risking over another 20lbs on your 1RM Squat max or 1% less BF.

8

I don’t have this problem. Maybe part of the reason is that I lift at home? I have everything I need there to work out. I just go into my workout room, turn on the music, lift, put the results in my log and get out.

I don’t think about it afterwards at all, until the next time I’m in my workout room.

9

You need to reassess where your life is heading with this. DO NOT become one of those 40 year old guys who use AAS year round to hold 240 bloated lbs because they are worried of coming off for fear of being small, scraping by with a personal training job who has no social life and family support because you couldn’t control your obsession with the gym.

Make it part of your life but not the whole thing. Like clockwork, gym time 3:00 PM Thursday, after that spend the other 23 hours of your day furthering your education, personal life, spending time with your loved ones. That 5 lb PR is going to feel real good but not if 30 years down the line it caused you to miss a nice evening with your mother/sister/brother. You are going to regret one of those things sitting around at 70 and I hope it’s not the PR.

10

Wow, you guys are great! This is better than the psychologist my gf recommended ;).

I’ll be coming to reread this often, lots of good advice here.

A couple of you said that I should take a week or so off, I’m positive that it’s definitely great advice, and probably what I SHOULD do, but at this point in my training I feel that it’s impossible. I think it could happen in a month or two, I just have to get my head straight in there first. I just can’t imagine a whole week off right now…

This has definitely started some serious thinking in my head, scott -your post scares me especially, so I think this has definitely helped me and I’ll be very careful and start thinking a more about where this is leading me.

Thanks guys, a big help.

11

[quote]detazathoth wrote:
I like to think of this as the Allegory of the Cave. You’re pretty much just got information overload, and you’re like OMFG LIEKZZZ TRAININZG IS MY LYFDAZZZ! I think we’ve all gone through that. It takes a while, but once you know what you’re doing, it just becomes routine. The passion is still there, but just like newlyweds, you gotta know when to not be so lovey dovey all the time, and just cool it.[/quote]

I’m a philosopher, and I have no idea how any of that relates to the Allegory of the Cave.

12

[quote]Contrl wrote:
detazathoth wrote:
I like to think of this as the Allegory of the Cave. You’re pretty much just got information overload, and you’re like OMFG LIEKZZZ TRAININZG IS MY LYFDAZZZ! I think we’ve all gone through that. It takes a while, but once you know what you’re doing, it just becomes routine. The passion is still there, but just like newlyweds, you gotta know when to not be so lovey dovey all the time, and just cool it.

I’m a philosopher, and I have no idea how any of that relates to the Allegory of the Cave.[/quote]

That makes two of us

13

[quote]Contrl wrote:
detazathoth wrote:
I like to think of this as the Allegory of the Cave. You’re pretty much just got information overload, and you’re like OMFG LIEKZZZ TRAININZG IS MY LYFDAZZZ! I think we’ve all gone through that. It takes a while, but once you know what you’re doing, it just becomes routine. The passion is still there, but just like newlyweds, you gotta know when to not be so lovey dovey all the time, and just cool it.

I’m a philosopher, and I have no idea how any of that relates to the Allegory of the Cave.[/quote]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

14

[quote]detazathoth wrote:
I like to think of this as the Allegory of the Cave. You’re pretty much just got information overload, and you’re like OMFG LIEKZZZ TRAININZG IS MY LYFDAZZZ! I think we’ve all gone through that. It takes a while, but once you know what you’re doing, it just becomes routine. The passion is still there, but just like newlyweds, you gotta know when to not be so lovey dovey all the time, and just cool it.[/quote]

good post.

15

I’ve actaully read about case where guys would become too obsessed with their training, like to the point where they refused to kiss their girlfriends from fear of getting extra calories. So yeah, make sure you don’t lose your mind over training.

16

Whaaaattt? That has to be a myth. So they never have sex then too I guess because they are afraid of the calorie burn too? lol!

I would say I am addicted to gains more than lifting. But I guess it comes hand in hand.