Getting emotional at the gym?

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  • Wilmingtonbelle
    Wilmingtonbelle Posts: 255 Member
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    When I did a 5k last year, I bawled at the finish line. I never experienced anything like that before. I think I was overcome with emotion that I didn't die!!! :happy:

    I'm not a doctor so I won't give any medical advice. I would suggest that perhaps you keep a log of when it happens and if you feel it's frequent, ask your doctor to see what they advise.

    Sláinte :drinker:
  • cottonta1l
    cottonta1l Posts: 33 Member
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    I get really happy and excited when I work out? I figure it's endorphins.
  • GreenIceFloes
    GreenIceFloes Posts: 1,491 Member
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    Well, I do feel like bursting out laughing during an especially intense workout every now and then. Which I don't because I don't want to be the weirdo at the gym. I blame it on the endorphins. Not complaining though.
  • oneoddsock
    oneoddsock Posts: 321 Member
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    Well, I do feel like bursting out laughing during an especially intense workout every now and then. Which I don't because I don't want to be the weirdo at the gym. I blame it on the endorphins. Not complaining though.

    This. I sometimes find that my eyes water a lot when I'm on the elliptical - it doesn't really feel like crying because my nose doesn't get blocked up but I feel a little bit crazy either trying not to laugh or chugging along with tears streaming down my face.
  • Maryanne1923
    Maryanne1923 Posts: 53 Member
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    Once or twice when I've found a workout very challenging but pushed on and finished it I had an overwhelming feeling like I was going to cry. I put it down to being amazed at myself for actually doing it when I never thought that I would. That and endorphins.
  • dammitjanet0161
    dammitjanet0161 Posts: 319 Member
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    I've sometimes welled up in yoga classes when the teacher is talking through savasanna, for example if I've been having a bad day and they talk about self-acceptance or living in the now etc. I've never filled up in the gym though.
  • Pinkranger626
    Pinkranger626 Posts: 460 Member
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    You could be experiencing an emotional release. These typically happen during massage and other types of body work. It can happen when working out too. It's basically when you release an area where you have stored emotion, often times in your muscles.

    If you're working out you're moving muscles that may not get much movement otherwise, if you happen to carry stress in those muscles then you may find yourself feeling overwhelmed or sad or even laughing for no reason. It's totally normal. I like to think of it as a way for us to release energy and to find balance in our emotional and psychological health. Part of getting fit and healthy is emotional.

    I personally have experienced it in frog pose at yoga. I cycle between laughter and tears. Nothing to be ashamed of or be worried about, it's a good thing!
  • Eleonora91
    Eleonora91 Posts: 688 Member
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    Maybe you're just tired or not relaxed while exercising?
  • Mamoonie
    Mamoonie Posts: 328
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    I've experienced this once!
    It had been after 4 months of intensive training with my personal trainer. I was on the elliptical and didn't have a good day. I wasn't able to get through a work out that I had managed a week before. Just before I started crying, I stepped of and went to the bike to continue with the next part of my work out. Same effect there, I wasn't able to manage the intensity I was supposed to do and which I had done with no problem the week before. I just stopped there and went showering, washing off some tears which I was able to keep until nobody saw me anymore.
    That was the moment my trainer had warned me at the beginning of his work: " there will be a time that I don't want to see you at the gym: you'll need a break and some rest and everything you do during that time will be useless."
    I didn't believe him: after all I asked him to train me to lose weight and become fit, not to tell me that I need a break...
    After a week or 2 of resting and not working out, I was ready to start all over, and managed the intensive workout I wasn't able to do 2 weeks earlier.
    This only happened once! Since that moment, I know when it's time for the next break, and I usually ask for it.
  • kaaaaylee
    kaaaaylee Posts: 398
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    Sometimes when I lift really heavy weights emotions I keep bottled up come up and I get misty eyed. It just brings out things.

    Never for me during cardio, though.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    Please tell me if any of you all have this problem!

    When I'm at the gym, especially on the treadmill, I get really emotional. I'm not having emotional thoughts really, but I feel like I'm going to cry even though I'm not in any sort of pain . . .

    Thankfully it doesn't actually develop into crying but I would feel a lot better knowing it happens to other people. Thanks in advance for any replies~

    Yes, I'm a woman and not that it is any of your business but: it is not my time of the month so that's not the reason.

    Actually I have in the past. For me when I think about my past, being overweight since I can remember, when I workout it used to come back a lot. All the feelings come back.
  • DarkAngel272
    DarkAngel272 Posts: 29
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    I've sometimes welled up in yoga classes when the teacher is talking through savasanna, for example if I've been having a bad day and they talk about self-acceptance or living in the now etc. I've never filled up in the gym though.

    Good God, I have cried my eyes out in yoga!!! I think it's just the freeing relaxation but yeah, I don't cry in public, but have in my studio many times :laugh:
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    Certain yoga poses do that to me. My yoga instructor says it's normal... I don't have any more input than that. :bigsmile:
  • FoodFitnessTravel
    FoodFitnessTravel Posts: 294 Member
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    you are eating too little or training too hard. lack of calories make me emotional, sad, depressed. everything gets better after i eat
  • jrniven
    jrniven Posts: 74 Member
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    Sometimes during a really heavy PR lift Ill start smiling and laughing.
  • One_Last_Time
    One_Last_Time Posts: 125
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    I do this! only i have cried many times. Embarrassing. Not just with the treadmill, I break down and cry all the time at the gym. Another reason i don't go much.
  • unapologetically_crystal
    unapologetically_crystal Posts: 278 Member
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    i would bet there is some emotional healing going on. plus when you lose weight, your hormones do get a little mixed up. i've gotten pretty teared up on some runs or walks.
  • a_stronger_me13
    a_stronger_me13 Posts: 812 Member
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    you are eating too little or training too hard. lack of calories make me emotional, sad, depressed. everything gets better after i eat

    Great suggestion to give while completely disregarding the OP's open food diary which shows she isn't under eating.

    OP, you mentioned seeing someone who was similar to the old you working with a trainer and that made you emotional. I do that too sometimes, or even just when I see someone in there working really hard, getting out of their comfort zone because I know how hard it is to be the clueless out of shape girl and trying hard not to embarrass yourself in front of relatively fit people. I guess I get a little overwhelmed with almost a sense of pride in not only that person but also myself for how far I've come.

    Other days, lifting just pisses me off and I throw my weightlifting shoes or belt, but that's a whole other set of emotions going on.
  • SmaugHugs
    SmaugHugs Posts: 60 Member
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    I get emotional because I feel like I am actually facing my demons when I work out. My father insulted me big time as a kid for my excess weight and I grew up seeing myself through his eyes and his criticisms of me became my own. So when I go to the gym, I am confronting my inner demons and learning to fight through them.

    I had a clarity moment last night realizing how far I have come when I saw myself from the side in a mirror. I rewarded myself by looking and my dream wardrobe board on pintrest and adding a few more cute outfits.

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