Exercise is lowkey a psyop

[instormdrains]

I like working out, running, and climbing but I feel like shit if I do it or I dont. Today I walked about an hour and 30 min one way to a construction site to climb a crane. It was too early in the day i just wanted to check the place out but after walking 8 miles I still felt depressed afterwards. Same with working out I feel better with running but only for a bit. Idk im in shape and I eat healthy but im starting to not see the point if I feel bad regardless. Do you guys feel the same or no

 

[SASU-KE]

Lol,well said.I used to workout everyday, seven days a week. Extremely rigorous training, including just about every facet of exercise. Low intensity zone 2 aerobic training. High intensity HIIT. Flexibility,Mobility drills. Hitting the weights.Weighted pull ups and dips with a weighted dip belt.Sauna,cold plunge.
Very healthy diet as well.

Just couldn't be happy no matter what. Although to be honest, in my case I enjoy the exercise. It doesn't really matter. Because it's only a small part of life. What's the point if you enjoy something for half an hour and you're miserable the remaining 23 1/2 hours?

Feels pointless after a time. I believe the most important thing is to be happy. Doing things that give you pleasure is not happiness.Something essential and fundamental is lacking.

 

[ConfusedClouds]

I'm similar. I keep up my training, but atp its mostly an autopilot routine than proactive activity. But I know by completing my sessions, in the long run its actually less exhausting as my brain can't then have a go at me for being super lazy - and its reassured that I still 'can' and I am still 'strong'. Literally every week I doubt my strength and cba but then the weights still defy gravity and I am almost confused how I keep getting stronger when I keep expecting to implode. I have done the same 4 weights sessions weekly for maybe 5 years. Just means zero thinking/analysis paralysis, just turning up and lifting. Plus 1-3 hiit gym classes a week (again, a PT telling me what to do so I don't have to make any decisions for myself).

I also walk/cycle EVERYWHERE and use step count as another way to reassure myself I have 'done' and if I'm struggling to sleep, I can't use laziness/inactivity against myself - or I can 'justify' an early night if I've jumped the hoops/ticked the boxes. And its cheaper not driving!

But thats what it feels like. Life chores/requirement rather than an enjoyable activity of choice.

Sometimes I feel like it might be 'disordered' but I know how much I use it against myself if I don't do it. And its even worse now I'm under investigation for an arthritis related condition that essentially means moving is good for me (so maybe there's an element of self-medication in me building and keeping my routine). But that adds to the confusion and frustration and stuck feelings whenever I 'think' about it. Shut up and just go do the session - I'll zone out and not remember most of it and then it'll be done and I can move on with the day.

 

[Pluto]

 

[Corovaner]

I'm starting to think the same way. Been working out for 8 months, gained 12 kg. Now I can bench press 100 kg, pull ups for 30 reps and what the point? I have to spend a lot of money for food, fucking working on a toilet. I have health issues that becoming worse because of overeating.

 

[Forveleth]

TL; DR: Stay in shape.

Exercise does not solve all of your mental health problems, but it does make you feel better than you would otherwise. I used to be incredibly in shape. I ran daily, lifted, yoga, all that. Then I had the same thought, "I am physically healthy but I do not feel better. Why bother?" So, I stopped working out and I ate like a pig. I gained 60 pounds of pure fat. Out if breath going yo stairs. Can not go out and walk for more than 5 minutes before my feet were screaming. Knees constantly in pain

Let me tell you I regret it. Now, not only do I have all of the same depression I had before, I also now have extra because I feel like a slug. I wish I just would have muscled through and told myself to stay in shape.

In the past few weeks I have started moving again and there s already a marked uptick in my mental health. Am I still depressed af? Yes. But am I slightly less depressed than I was 3 months ago? Also, yes.

 

[starboy2k]

wait hold up…….you climbed a fucking crane?

 

[Neyferuh]

I have been a mobility trainer for almost 20 years and I have felt this way the whole time. It is so programmed into my daily routine that even when I have nothing (a lot of days), I am still waking up at 5:30 a.m. to work out. And I am dealing with an intense illness. I think movement for me is my body´s way of dealing with this world, or at least trying to.

But now I am towards the end of my road and I will ctb sooner rather than later. My inner voice told me today that it was going to "finish strong". I imagine that I will probably work out on the day that I take my final breath.

I have dealt with depression and suicidal ideation my whole life. I always joke to myself that if exercise is good for your mental health, then what would mine look like if I was not so addicted to working out haha.

So when you climbed the crane, did you feel like jumping off? Only asking because I think about that stuff all the time, I was a grafitti artist for many years, it is just where my mind goes when I think about being in random places high up.
Fortunately SN is available where I live...I am too much of a wimp to jump, but it seems to beautiful.

Sort of off topic, but there was a documentary in 2006 called The Bridge, it was about people who jumped off of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
I lived there at the time. I was one of the most popular bridges in the world for people to ctb. This documentary crew got a permit to film because they said that they were filming wildlife in the bay or something, but really they set up cameras to film people jumping and then followed up on who these people were. There was this one guy who jumped in such an artful way, backwards, face up to the sky, arms spread outward.
It was one of the most beautiful and majestic things I have evern seen in my life.

 

[telekon]

I like working out, running, and climbing but I feel like shit if I do it or I dont. Today I walked about an hour and 30 min one way to a construction site to climb a crane. It was too early in the day i just wanted to check the place out but after walking 8 miles I still felt depressed afterwards. Same with working out I feel better with running but only for a bit. Idk im in shape and I eat healthy but im starting to not see the point if I feel bad regardless. Do you guys feel the same or no

yeah exercise is just one piece of the puzzle. you also need friends, nutrition, sleep, sunlight, meditation, nice place to live, a job, hobbies and then you'll not feel depressed anymore.

 

[Thanatos.br]

I kind of relate, i feel shit everyday, but feel shittier when I am sedentary, so maybe you dont feel like shit when you dont workout, but probably will feel way worse if you stop

 

[SASU-KE]

then you'll not feel depressed anymore.

You're Being sarcastic, I hope. I've had all those things too. Didn't change anything.

Like I said, something fundamental is lacking. I feel like my house was built with a few bricks less.

 

[Ethel]

I like working out, running, and climbing but I feel like shit if I do it or I dont. Today I walked about an hour and 30 min one way to a construction site to climb a crane. It was too early in the day i just wanted to check the place out but after walking 8 miles I still felt depressed afterwards. Same with working out I feel better with running but only for a bit. Idk im in shape and I eat healthy but im starting to not see the point if I feel bad regardless. Do you guys feel the same or no

I agree,it's low key not exactly the best to dealing with depression, the only i exercise is because it makes sleeping easier and makes overthinking harder

That's it

yeah exercise is just one piece of the puzzle. you also need friends, nutrition, sleep, sunlight, meditation, nice place to live, a job, hobbies and then you'll not feel depressed anymore.

If only things were easy as that, i really really wish that were true,but the depression doesn't go away even if everything is right, at least not for some people

There is no recovery, there's only tolerance to the bad thoughts every night. There is no correct formula to solving depression, there's only proven ways to effectively dealing with it,when the effective ways fails,what therapy will help you deal with life?