Can’t get through a strength workout without sobbing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would see this happen to people in yoga class, had no idea it was a thing and now i feel bad for internally judging.

A lesson you and many others can take to heart for a lot of different examples. No shade on you but a lot of people seem never to have experienced the same bumps as other people, or experienced bumps in the same way, and they judge the frick out of people. I don’t think you’ll do that anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would see this happen to people in yoga class, had no idea it was a thing and now i feel bad for internally judging.

What were you judging? I don't really understand.

[Anonymous]

I used to cry doing back bends in Bikram yoga. The instructor said it was super common! It is such a weird feeling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would either drop the weights you're lifting to a lower number or do a different strength workout. Yoga can be be surprisingly good for muscles if you build up to the difficult stuff.

Haha I’m using 5 and 8 pound weights! I can’t emphasize that it’s not that I’m exerting myself too much.

Thanks for the advice all. I agree it has to be something chemical/hormonal and maybe even a good release. It’s just really disruptive and annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with me?

I’ve lost a good amount of weight in the last several months, but my only exercise has been walking. 3-5 miles outside or 45 minutes of incline alternating on the treadmill. I know I’ve lost muscle along with fat so decided to start doing some light dumbbell weight videos and omg. 5-10 minutes in I am just an emotional mess. It’s not that I’m in pain pushing myself super hard—when I do my treadmill workouts I do push myself like crazy and don’t get this feeling of despair. I’ve done these kinds of workouts before (10 years ago though) and don’t remember this ever happening. I can’t even describe the feeling. Just crushing overwhelm, inadequacy, etc. And it’s not feeling negativity about the workout itself, I couldn’t care less about my lackluster strength and performance.

It’s making me dread doing these workouts and idk what to do about it.

Why do you think you've lost muscle in this process? Serious question. What were you doing before you lost weight? Were you pumping iron and now aren't because you walk outside?

I just don't understand what could have changed to lose muscle in this process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with me?

I’ve lost a good amount of weight in the last several months, but my only exercise has been walking. 3-5 miles outside or 45 minutes of incline alternating on the treadmill. I know I’ve lost muscle along with fat so decided to start doing some light dumbbell weight videos and omg. 5-10 minutes in I am just an emotional mess. It’s not that I’m in pain pushing myself super hard—when I do my treadmill workouts I do push myself like crazy and don’t get this feeling of despair. I’ve done these kinds of workouts before (10 years ago though) and don’t remember this ever happening. I can’t even describe the feeling. Just crushing overwhelm, inadequacy, etc. And it’s not feeling negativity about the workout itself, I couldn’t care less about my lackluster strength and performance.

It’s making me dread doing these workouts and idk what to do about it.

Why do you think you've lost muscle in this process? Serious question. What were you doing before you lost weight? Were you pumping iron and now aren't because you walk outside?

I just don't understand what could have changed to lose muscle in this process.

Because when you lose a lot of weight via a calorie deficit and don’t make a concerted effort to retain muscle by eating enough, especially protein and doing resistance training, you lose muscle mass along with fat. It’s not easy to retain it on a calorie deficit. And I got dexa scans that show my lean muscle mass has decreased.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would see this happen to people in yoga class, had no idea it was a thing and now i feel bad for internally judging.

What were you judging? I don't really understand.

That someone is so emotionally fragile that they cry at yoga class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would see this happen to people in yoga class, had no idea it was a thing and now i feel bad for internally judging.

What were you judging? I don't really understand.

That someone is so emotionally fragile that they cry at yoga class

It’s common to release and cry at yoga. Band we all have been emotionally fragile at different times in our life. Does it make you uncomfortable to see others cry? It does me, I don’t want anybody to be sad. But try to pull out your empathy and remember those times when you were at your most fragile: break ups, divorce, death, miscarriages, grief, illness, loss. If you’ve been repressing those feelings, your body doesn’t forget. Yoga (or other exercise, I guess) can release them. And you cry. I intentionally did a lot of heart and hip openers once I realized I could release all this feelings I had ignored and bottled up. And I cried a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would see this happen to people in yoga class, had no idea it was a thing and now i feel bad for internally judging.

What were you judging? I don't really understand.

That someone is so emotionally fragile that they cry at yoga class

It’s common to release and cry at yoga. Band we all have been emotionally fragile at different times in our life. Does it make you uncomfortable to see others cry? It does me, I don’t want anybody to be sad. But try to pull out your empathy and remember those times when you were at your most fragile: break ups, divorce, death, miscarriages, grief, illness, loss. If you’ve been repressing those feelings, your body doesn’t forget. Yoga (or other exercise, I guess) can release them. And you cry. I intentionally did a lot of heart and hip openers once I realized I could release all this feelings I had ignored and bottled up. And I cried a lot.

It does make me uncomfortable, and now I’m a little jealous. I have plenty of stress I can’t seem to let go, and would love it if i could find something that works. Daily exercise doesn’t seem to help

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would see this happen to people in yoga class, had no idea it was a thing and now i feel bad for internally judging.

What were you judging? I don't really understand.

That someone is so emotionally fragile that they cry at yoga class

It’s common to release and cry at yoga. Band we all have been emotionally fragile at different times in our life. Does it make you uncomfortable to see others cry? It does me, I don’t want anybody to be sad. But try to pull out your empathy and remember those times when you were at your most fragile: break ups, divorce, death, miscarriages, grief, illness, loss. If you’ve been repressing those feelings, your body doesn’t forget. Yoga (or other exercise, I guess) can release them. And you cry. I intentionally did a lot of heart and hip openers once I realized I could release all this feelings I had ignored and bottled up. And I cried a lot.

It does make me uncomfortable, and now I’m a little jealous. I have plenty of stress I can’t seem to let go, and would love it if i could find something that works. Daily exercise doesn’t seem to help

DP: Were you raised with a "suck it up, buttercup" kind of attitude and were sports or how you handled bodily injuries a part of that? This was my experience with both parents and coaches and which conditioned me to feel "strong" when I ignored pain and stress and led me to somewhat internally judge others who expressed emotions as "weak." As I got older I changed my views and realized the strength in noticing and expressing emotions and the weakness in repressing and ignoring them. If you're like I was, you might have habits of tensing and containing stress during exercise that prevent it serving as stress release. I just tried to notice this in my body and label it and gradually I grew out of it. I don't find myself crying, but I do feel a wider range of emotions while exercising and feel more noticeable sense of stress relief from exercise.

[Anonymous]

This thread is so interesting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would either drop the weights you're lifting to a lower number or do a different strength workout. Yoga can be be surprisingly good for muscles if you build up to the difficult stuff.

Haha I’m using 5 and 8 pound weights! I can’t emphasize that it’s not that I’m exerting myself too much.

Thanks for the advice all. I agree it has to be something chemical/hormonal and maybe even a good release. It’s just really disruptive and annoying.

Yo, I’m using 2.5 and 5. It’s frustrating. It’ll get better. I maybe can compare to massages. I started them and the first few months I would always start to tear up. Sometimes i could keep it in, and sometimes I had silent tears rolling down my face. It was ridiculous, but I couldn’t help it.

If you know your routine well enough, and it’s really bothering you, maybe you could try listening to stand up, or a book by a comedian. Something to try to change the direction of the hormones and chemical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would see this happen to people in yoga class, had no idea it was a thing and now i feel bad for internally judging.

What were you judging? I don't really understand.

That someone is so emotionally fragile that they cry at yoga class

It’s common to release and cry at yoga. Band we all have been emotionally fragile at different times in our life. Does it make you uncomfortable to see others cry? It does me, I don’t want anybody to be sad. But try to pull out your empathy and remember those times when you were at your most fragile: break ups, divorce, death, miscarriages, grief, illness, loss. If you’ve been repressing those feelings, your body doesn’t forget. Yoga (or other exercise, I guess) can release them. And you cry. I intentionally did a lot of heart and hip openers once I realized I could release all this feelings I had ignored and bottled up. And I cried a lot.

It does make me uncomfortable, and now I’m a little jealous. I have plenty of stress I can’t seem to let go, and would love it if i could find something that works. Daily exercise doesn’t seem to help

What works for some people is reading a heavily angst filled book. One that works your heart. Preferably one with a hopeful or happy ending, but is wild emotionally until then. Crying about someone else’s fictional issues still is a physical release for our own brains. Just a little trick.

[Anonymous]

Maybe try team or group exercise? A class where you can see the more fit people and aim for that. And see others who are struggling more than you and silently feel better that you are exercising better than them. Those are not my reasons to take group classes but it does feel a bit better to be around people.

[Anonymous]

OP, may I ask what weight videos you are doing?