Has anyone reached a level yet where you count down the minutes each day until you can go to the gym? Or that the gym makes you completely happy and melts away the worries of whatever other bullshit is going on? Or do you even find yourself putting the gym before certain other things because of the utility you gain from it?
I dunno, I think I’ve gotten a little bit obsessed and I absolutely love it, anyone else?
Oh yeah, I’ve been there and still am to a point.
Depending on the person, it can lead to imbalances in life. Just make sure you keep it all in balance with family, spiritual, work and other areas of your life.
Yea over the past couple of months its kind of ridiculous. Some days i cant wait till i go to the gym and i leave and i totally forgot about everything that was going wrong. Other days i dont even want to go and then i do go and i feel amazing after anyway. I’m a gym addict.
[quote]theflowjob wrote:
Yea over the past couple of months its kind of ridiculous. Some days i cant wait till i go to the gym and i leave and i totally forgot about everything that was going wrong. Other days i dont even want to go and then i do go and i feel amazing after anyway. I’m a gym addict.[/quote]
I absolutely agree. My life practically revolves around the gym.
At school I cannot wait for classes to end and to go home for my pre-workout meal before I hit the iron. On the bus to and from school, walking to the grocery store, I think about how my next workout is going to be.
As I lay in my bed at night, ready for sleep, I think about how my training will progress over the next few months, what small tweaks I need to make to my routine (maybe more grip work, have I been neglecting my abs and conditioning for too long?
Should I switch the DB incline to Floor Presses next month for better starting strength?b Etc.) and how my meals are going to be the next day.
And sometimes when I lay on my baby blue pillow I dream about the gym, about failed max attempts and about curb-stomping the squat rack-curlers in my class.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t neglect my schoolwork at all (infact I am working harder than last year), and I have made new friends recently.
But nothing beats the gym. It’s something that I feel nobody else I know understands properly. My jock-friends question my strict diet and my tight schedules (“can’t go to the city today, can’t miss a meal”), why I don’t go to parties and why I spend my meager cash on whey protein, gym memberships and more food.
The guys who I used to workout with literally shook their heads when they saw me squatting alone, instead gravitating to the preacher curl bench and cable flyes like a mob of spoilt children around a christmas tree.
So I changed gyms.
Now I go to a basement which echoes with the sound of iron plates and songs by nameless, metal bands which combine into an ambience that I have so much longed for. I’m the smallest, skinny-fattest, weakest ‘lifter’ there (unlike my previous gym), and I absolutely love it.
And when I get home, and eat my post-workout meal of ground beef, corn and vegetables, I sit down in front of my computer (my real friend) with milk in hand, and snuggle in as I browse these forums.
I’m still small. I’m still hideously weak. But I’m learning. I wake up each day just that little bit bigger and stronger. Just that little bit close to being a T-Man, to winning the battle that never truly ends.
Woah I’ve rambled. I could go on for hours. I could write a book right now. Re-reading all of what I wrote and it all just seems so lame. Well whatever. I suppose it’s explainable. I’m obsessed.
I get really excited about the gym right before i go to sleep. I run over in my mind what my workout will be like. How I’m planning on out doing my prior workout performance. How each additional pound and rep will challenge my body futher than the last. I sometimes can’t sleep because I’m so excited.
Nice post Mys7ical. I can relate. I’m also criticized for my “eating 20 times a day” and so forth. I just laugh it off. I know I’ll have the last laugh. Results will speak volumes, I don’t need to say a word.
obsession used to mean something like ‘besieged’ as if by some outside spirit, in this sense as if the ‘iron bug’ has you in it’s grip. The more modern definition is along the lines of ‘an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone’.
I suppose it’s only unhealthy if it is damaging things you value or would reasonably value - e.g. studies, job, family and friends.
It can also be an oasis of control and progression in an often chaotic world.
Glad to know I am not Nuts(eerk!)I think about the gym all the time. I guess it is kinda like a fling I have away from my wife. The Gym understands when you need to abuse it a little. That is a joke, dont think I abuse my wife!
it is kind of sad, but aside from my family, and a few really close friends,the gym is the one and only thing that honestly keeps me happy day in and day out. It’s funny, most describe insanity in terms of someone being obsessed with something; however, in my case, it is my obsession that in turn keeps me sane.
It’s gonna sound really gay, and straight outa 3rd grade, but I dated a girl for like 4 years, and shit got on and off, and a lot of rocky shit happened, and we just started talking again recently, so there a lot of mixed emotions from love to complete anger.
We talked last night for the first time in six months and she told me that she had had a boyfriend not too long ago, that infuriated me and I really didn’t know why, so what did I do on a friday night? I went and hit the gym from 6-8 and then back from 9-11. It’s like the only good therapy out there.
[quote]whosyobobby wrote:
Nice post Mys7ical. I can relate. I’m also criticized for my “eating 20 times a day” and so forth. [/quote]
Yea my wife says I eat like a baby… every few hours…
But I noted she pays way more attention to my naughty bits when I am a gym going than when I am not…
I would rather go to the gym than almost anything…
My creed:
1st Iron, then G0D, then family and alls that’s left will work itself out in time…
Solid
[quote]Jacked Diesel wrote:
it is kind of sad, but aside from my family, and a few really close friends,the gym is the one and only thing that honestly keeps me happy day in and day out. It’s funny, most describe insanity in terms of someone being obsessed with something; however, in my case, it is my obsession that in turn keeps me sane.[/quote]
On the other hand, I’ve got some extra bad stuff going on in real life and my workouts/diet has suffered the last few weeks…It’s difficult to stay on track when distracted, worried, stressed,depressed (at least it is for me, the extra stress cortisol is likely making me extra super catabolic, putting me in muscle loss/fat gain mode no matter how good my diet/supps regimen is going) …It’s particularly irritating since I had recently locked into a groove of progress…
that sucks man, i hope the shit youre going through isnt too serious. to be honest, i’ve yet to find a problem lifting hasnt fixed, hope i don’t cross that in my life, i couldn’t even imagine the caliber of a problem that could stop me from lifting.
[quote]Jacked Diesel wrote:
that sucks man, i hope the shit youre going through isnt too serious. to be honest, i’ve yet to find a problem lifting hasnt fixed, hope i don’t cross that in my life, i couldn’t even imagine the caliber of a problem that could stop me from lifting.[/quote]
There are a lot of problems that lifting will not “fix” and could cause you to stop lifting. You may have to stop lifting temporarily or it could be long term. Examples would be divorce, death of a spouse or child, losing your home to fire and medical problems (surgery). In some cases it’s best to not lift when you have serious incidents like this happen because you would be so mentally distracted or prepared to train that you could end up getting injured.
I guess if you went to the gym and just went through the motions doing light weights you might be okay. Then again, what’s the point if no gains are going to be made? One would be better off going on a long walk.
I’m 40, married, have a teenage daughter and have been lifting for a long time and competed the last 6 years. I used to think like a lot of you and that’s normal. That’s why I said in my first post that all one needs to do is just keep it in balance. I know from personal experience and learned the hard way. I’m not preaching here, just saying what I wished someone would have told me 12 years ago.
I understand what you’re saying, but at the same time, lifting, especially when you are angry or ridiculous shit is going on, helps a lot.
I’ve had the discussion on achieving ‘balance’ before with people who do not lift. The way I see it, it is very subjective which factors and how much of each would contribute to a healthy ‘equilibrium’ and even if you could find an answer, it would change over time. Add the fact that work and sleep take away the vast majority of your daily time anyway, and this concept becomes pretty moot in my opinion.
I, for instance, do not have and want children and I have no intention on getting married. ‘Balance’ for me would definitely be something different than for someone who has wife and children and who of course wants to spend as much time possible with them.
To me, lifting is a lifestyle and enhances all other aspects of life. It’s more than the time spent training and more than nutrition and recovery. Just like a career lets the boundary between job and free time blur, the ‘bodybuilding or fitness aspect’, for lack of a better word, is always there in one way or another and doesn’t necessarily harm the others, quite to the contrary.
I woke up 2-3 hours too early this morning because I was so excited to work out. I said too early (slept 7 hours) because my gym doesn’t open until 8:00 AM on Sundays. I went a half-hour early and what do you know, the staff opened the gym early so the PTs could get a workout in before their sessions.
After two planes demolished the World Trade Center, the first thing I did after canceling the tutoring session that I was supposed to have that morning (with my student’s consent mind you) was going straight to my university gym and banging out heavy deadlifts. I remember the TVs there showing the second plane crashing into the second tower in a loop. I was born in Tribeca, less than a mile from WTC. Working out didn’t stop me from being depressed for two weeks, but it really blunted the pain.
“The best bodies tend to belong to people who just love to train.” - Charles Staley
i get kind of a weird sensation when i am the only one at the gym at 11:30 pm on a friday and saturday night, it’s amazing and i dont know why, i guess its knowing everyone else is out getting fat and not doing anything while im in the gym pushing forward and bettering myself. i’m not gonna lie, i go out afterwards, but i feel a lot less guilty 
I was telling my mom about this about a month ago. I told her the gym is like Heaven for me. When I’m there I feel like nothing bothers me, it’s just me and the iron and that’s the only thing that fills up your mind. I love it. Also when you have shit going on in your life, the gym is a temporary escape from all that.
More Weight- My anti drug
A friend came over last week and she said that I’ve changed a lot in the last year. “How so?” I asked and she responded “Just look at you.”
Then she went on to express worry because lifting can become an obsession.
There seems to be a negative image of obsession attached to male weightlifting and most girls will tell you that they don’t want a guy that lives in the gym.
I think that a lot of weightlifters, especially those that frequent online forums, are often people with a significant amount of free time on their hands. While Profx had a positive image on the forums, I don’t think he was a real life social butterfly by any means. With all of the free time that many of us have, it becomes easy to obsess about the bodybuilding lifestyle.
It’s about priorities, balance, and time management. Yes, working out is definitely better than playing video games all day…but perhaps going out on weekends (you can stay sober) and being social has more benefits than hitting the gym at 11:30 PM.
Either way, I’m not here to tell anyone how to live their lives. I struggle with many of these issues, but like everything else in life I feel an importance to constantly work towards improvement.