Broke down crying while working out at the gym

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salad
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24 May 2021, 12:22 am

It was embarrassing and not what I had planned. I went to the gym with the intention of working out for 2 hours, 45 minutes for biceps, 15 minutes for core and another hour cardio. I was determined, hungry and motivated. While actually trying to work out no matter how much I kept telling myself to focus only on completing the workout and not to let anything else distract me or hinder, my emotions and thoughts began to race wildly while in the process of working out and it began to interfere with the workout I had planned. I tried everything to shut up these thoughts and put them on hold, but eventually the thoughts grew stronger and I wasn't able to focus on the workout anymore

My mind was sucked into a vortex thinking of past failures, failing school, the injuries that ruined my life and destroyed my life, as well as emotional sadness thinking about my dead mom and the regrets I have that she died suddenly before I can make things right with her. I dont understand or know why these thoughts decided to bombard me while at the gym, all I know is that they became very intrusive and overwhelming until I couldnt lift anymore and started to break down crying. I eventually went home before I could finish my 2 hours.

I was able to finish 1 hour so far, but I feel like a massive failure only doing a bad hour whose intensity was hindered by pain, instead of the 2 hours I wanted to do so bad.


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Mountain Goat
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24 May 2021, 4:02 am

Sometimes it just has to come out. It has been bottled up, and the exercize was a release....

Remember that it is good to release. You may not realize this, as it feels embarissing at the time, but it is good to release in this way.

Often us men have been taught to become emotionally hard, but the issue with this is that bottling up ones emotions and not being able to release them eventually brings mental breakdowns. By releasing like this, it is like a safety valve on a steam locomotive releasing some of the pressure... While steam locomotives need a little pressure to get them to conquor hills and move heavy loads, too much pressure without a release and they explode beyond repair!

Your mind has a saftey valve and you have just had it in use. There is no shame to it. Do not feel embarissed. It is a release that you have needed for some time. There maybe a few future releases to come. Once they have happened, your mind will be fresh to cope with life again. It is how God made us. It is a natural. It is ok to release.

And keep going to the gym or whatever else you enjoy doing. It is ok... All is well.



magz
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24 May 2021, 4:16 am

It's normal. Yes, embarassing, but normal.

You're in the mourning process after death of your Mother. Who wouldn't be? It takes your "processor time" and it's a real emotional labor to go through it. But it won't last forever, your feelings just need their time to get processed.

Mourning is normal and healthy.


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badRobot
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24 May 2021, 5:20 am

Yes, genuine grief is healthy.

Still it might be relevant, check your protein and BCAA supplements, pay attention to amino acid profiles and check your other supplements for added BCAA. BCAA became a buzzword and manufacturers add it to everything, it's really easy to overdo. Low ratio of tryptophan to other amino-acids, especially BCAA can lead to depression, increased amino-acid uptake is one of the reasons working out helps with depression, supplementing too much amino acids defeats the purpose. There are many reports of people who stepped on this rake.



BeaArthur
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24 May 2021, 7:28 am

I'm sorry you're so sad, but as others have said, perhaps it needed to come out.

I don't think you're a failure, so please try to remind yourself that it's mostly your internal talk that says that, not others.


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Summer_Twilight
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24 May 2021, 8:51 am

salad wrote:
It was embarrassing and not what I had planned. I went to the gym with the intention of working out for 2 hours, 45 minutes for biceps, 15 minutes for core and another hour cardio. I was determined, hungry and motivated. While actually trying to work out no matter how much I kept telling myself to focus only on completing the workout and not to let anything else distract me or hinder, my emotions and thoughts began to race wildly while in the process of working out and it began to interfere with the workout I had planned. I tried everything to shut up these thoughts and put them on hold, but eventually the thoughts grew stronger and I wasn't able to focus on the workout anymore

My mind was sucked into a vortex thinking of past failures, failing school, the injuries that ruined my life and destroyed my life, as well as emotional sadness thinking about my dead mom and the regrets I have that she died suddenly before I can make things right with her. I dont understand or know why these thoughts decided to bombard me while at the gym, all I know is that they became very intrusive and overwhelming until I couldnt lift anymore and started to break down crying. I eventually went home before I could finish my 2 hours.

I was able to finish 1 hour so far, but I feel like a massive failure only doing a bad hour whose intensity was hindered by pain, instead of the 2 hours I wanted to do so bad.


Don't feel bad, my late aunt and I had a falling out about a year before she died and I was planning on taking a break from her for a while. What I didn't realize is that she had dementia and some other issues of her own. There are times where grieving sneaks up on you.

Regarding school, I am really sorry to hear that as college is not for everyone. There are lots of other trajectories that you could look at that might fit your better.

Another thing I want to bring up, autism is often looked at as a negative thing that people are just not willing to understand. Because of that, other people don't know how to be accepting.

As for the gym, I think starting out at one hour a few times a week will help. Also, walking on a tread mill or an elliptical often helps when I feel down.



newme
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26 May 2021, 1:23 pm

I had this exact same thing happen to me at the gym. A therapist I once saw a long time ago told me that when you exercise, that not only does the exercise cause a physical response but also an emotional one. This was completely normal. I would embrace it as something that needed to happen and that probably made you a bit healthier.
Definitely do keep going to the gym. Exercise can only help keep you healthy-along with other things you need to do for your mental health.
As far as your Mom goes, I would either just talk to her in any way you can or you could find a Medium who could help you have a conversation with her.



ACuriousCreature
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26 May 2021, 9:49 pm

Everything newme said about exercise being an emotional release is absolutely true I would add as a bit of personal advice the goal should not be to eliminate or suppress your thoughts if they are interfering with your workout I would try being constructive use your thoughts and emotions to fuel your workouts if at all possible in my teens this improved my results significantly and helped me deal with my problems at the time, if nothing else it would be worth trying out, I hope you feel better soon



ThisTimelessMoment
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27 May 2021, 1:35 am

I believe emotional stuff is largely stored in the body. That's because the body is where we feel emotion. I didn't understand this for the longest time! I hadn't realised that feelings happen in the body. It's connected to my poor interioception.
Moving and working with the body can release that stuff. It's good to release it. The longer I hold onto it, the more I pile emotion on top of emotion and the result is a feeling mass of huge energy that is very difficult to deal with.


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Lizbeth Ann
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28 May 2021, 1:53 am

Emotions don't have boundaries. They just happen. Aspies are good at compartmentalizing. We shoot down our internal experiences because it's easier to cope with life that way. However, emotions are strange sometimes. I think many mentioned in this thread that exercise can cause feelings to surface. Also, when the body is relaxed, it can be more vulnerable to express its ideas. For example, I struggle with these thoughts when I am doing something that I enjoy. I have the worst thoughts before going to sleep. Or in more inconvenient times, like randomly at work when triggered by an idea.
I think journaling helps. If you can identify the emotions, it is better to determine what's stored in the body. Then you can have more control of emotion during a more opportune time.