Many people are addicted to their training routine. If they don’t get the feeling that they’re used to from lifting heavy, sweating hard, or gasping for breath, they think they haven’t gotten a good workout. Similar feelings and behavior to drug addiction follow a training session that doesn’t elicit their preferred stimulus: panic, feelings of depression, a need for more, etc.
Because exercise is considered overwhelmingly healthy, it’s assumed that getting fit is a benevolent act with only up sides. But if training can cause a change in brain chemistry resulting in goal seeking behavior at the expense of your personal health and relationships both at home and at work, isn’t that the same thing as addiction to anything else?
When I first started in fitness many of the excuses people had that hindered their ability to achieve their goals were related to diet, work, or a busy schedule at home. That is starting to shift. Fitness is popular now and many people who are cyclists want to learn to lift weights, CrossFitters want to learn gymnastics, boot camp enthusiasts want to learn strength training.
Some people are open to learning a new style of training. Learning to rest in between sets and train with a low heart rate, or perhaps learning to push themselves beyond their cardiovascular limits for the first time. When an individual is properly motivated they will accept changes to the feelings of training with the understanding that they are working on something new and different. They understand that they will have to sacrifice in one area temporarily to build up strengths in others before moving forward as a whole. When someone is externally focused, or exercise addicted, they do not. The focus is on the feeling acquired from training, the endorphin rush, rather than the training itself.
If you want to learn Olympic Weightlifting, you have to learn the proper technique first. This means lifting 1000’s of reps with a PVC pipe, empty bar, and very light weights. There’s no exhaustion involved, there’s no gritting your teeth to stand up from a squat with a PVC pipe over your head. No endorphin rush is going to happen.
Substitute a balanced and slowly performed lunge with dumbbells at your sides if you’re not familiar with Olympic weightlifting. For a person who does bootcamp classes with no weight, fast repetitions and has never been told anything regarding their technique besides “GOOD JOB!” by someone shouting through a microphone at the front of the class, slowing down to learn how to keep their knee in line with their foot will present the same issue.
The focus being on the feeling of fatigue, or lack thereof, takes the focus away from correctly performing the movement. So even if someone is willing to cut the excuses and try something that can help them towards their goals, they will be so focused on not feeling their endorphins, they won’t even pay attention to how they’re performing the movement. The feeling of learning something new requires mental focus and a step back from the post-workout feels. Learning something new can be very intense, but it is most always calm and aware.
If you’re uncomfortable reading this, then it is for you. There’s no blame to be placed on HIIT, or any other fitness modality. It’s time folks take a look at themselves and their relationship to fitness. If you want to achieve new goals in your fitness, accept that you will have to make changes. And if you aren’t willing to make those changes, accept that you’re in it for the endorphins and stop feeling guilty about not making those gains you always talk about.
