Failing to lift when miserable

lucygoesrawr
lucygoesrawr Posts: 184 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I seem to fail to lift weights when I'm depressed. There's not really a struggle, it's like I just hit a brick wall, I just can't do it no matter how hard I try (and then I sob. Thank goodness I do this at home, right?).

Is this normal?

Replies

  • Elsie_Brownraisin
    Elsie_Brownraisin Posts: 786 Member
    Happens to me - I physically ache for no discernable reason.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    I cut my workout short only 1/5th into it. Tired, sore, think I'm getting sick.

    It happens, build a bridge, get over it, and get back in the gym after a short rest. Give it a day or so, you'll be ok.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    Are you depressed often? is it clinical depression or you just being unhappy? If it affected me that much then id cut it short and take a break as dbmata suggests. I can understand why this happens, so dont be too hard on yourself, if you have other distractions then its hard to be at your best.

    Would you like to lift when you are depressed? If so hen you need to be able to focus imo.
    The more sensible and lasting option is to deal with the depression.
  • ponycyndi
    ponycyndi Posts: 858 Member
    Some caffeine, a walk, and a short warm up (3-5 minutes) of jumping jacks, punching, etc seems to help "get me in the mood".

    Even just getting dressed and going outside, then going thru those motions helps too.

    We all have to take a mental health day now and then, and some of us need more of those days than others.
  • 50sFit
    50sFit Posts: 712 Member
    lucygoesrawr wrote: »
    I seem to fail to lift weights when I'm depressed. There's not really a struggle, it's like I just hit a brick wall, I just can't do it no matter how hard I try (and then I sob. Thank goodness I do this at home, right?).

    Is this normal?
    Solution: never be depressed :)
    Address your problems and conquer depression. You can't just go through life wallowing in misery. Success and happiness are choices.
    Good Luck!

  • TheStephil
    TheStephil Posts: 858 Member
    50sFit wrote: »
    lucygoesrawr wrote: »
    I seem to fail to lift weights when I'm depressed. There's not really a struggle, it's like I just hit a brick wall, I just can't do it no matter how hard I try (and then I sob. Thank goodness I do this at home, right?).

    Is this normal?
    Solution: never be depressed :)
    Address your problems and conquer depression. You can't just go through life wallowing in misery. Success and happiness are choices.
    Good Luck!

    Clinical depression is not a choice.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    It's a treatable chemical imbalance.
  • lucygoesrawr
    lucygoesrawr Posts: 184 Member
    Thanks for the replies. Sometimes I just think that maybe it's not because I'm depressed and that's just a coincidence, and maybe I'm actually really bad at lifting... but that's not really very logical.

    Good to know it's okay to just take a day off from it sometimes.

    I'm not suffering from clinical depression, by the way. A lot of the time I get this miserable because of PMS. Sometimes it's just a bad day - life isn't great at the moment and occasionally I can't cope with it.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Neat thing about a good workout is elevated endorphins causing a pretty awesome feeling afterwards.
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
    There sooo many suggestions to give...

    Clinical depression (and its distant baby cousin, depressed states) are an energy drain.

    There's a lot of causes for depressed moods - stress, poor sleep, eating poorly (i.e. ending up with medium- and long-term vitamin and mineral deficiencies), low-grade illnesses - the list is endless. There's even overtraining, which mimics a lot of the symptoms of clinical depression.

    Overtraining is more about under-recovering. The stresses put on the body from workouts accumulate and, if not fully recovered from between workouts, shows up symptomatically as generalized malaise, minor aches and pains, disordered sleep, inability to focus, wildly varying (and frequently inappropriate) mood states, and so on; it mimics a lot of the same symptoms as clinical depression.

    I ended up under-recovered and it made me an emotional train wreck as my lifts went to *kitten*, my cardio was a chore, and seemingly everything was falling apart around me. I took a week off from lifting and dialed the cardio WAY back, and felt worlds better for it in a few days.

    I'm back in the groove now and watching a bit more carefully how my mood states change to keep from getting there again.

    Good luck!
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    When I'm blue I don't lift as well, then that makes me feel bad and it's kind of a vicious cycle.
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    I love how everyone jumps right to clinical depression. Maybe she's just a little sad?

    OP - we all go through things in life that make us sad sometimes. And, it's not always easy to just "snap out of it." When I'm going through something that makes me sad, sometimes it's hard to motivate the power needed to lift. I just chalk it up to a bad day and try again the next day.
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    50sFit wrote: »
    lucygoesrawr wrote: »
    I seem to fail to lift weights when I'm depressed. There's not really a struggle, it's like I just hit a brick wall, I just can't do it no matter how hard I try (and then I sob. Thank goodness I do this at home, right?).

    Is this normal?
    Solution: never be depressed :)
    Address your problems and conquer depression. You can't just go through life wallowing in misery. Success and happiness are choices.
    Good Luck!

    SMDH.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    Sometimes me too. And I cry a little. Then I get pissed and PR.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Paige682 wrote: »
    I love how everyone jumps right to clinical depression. Maybe she's just a little sad?

    OP - we all go through things in life that make us sad sometimes. And, it's not always easy to just "snap out of it." When I'm going through something that makes me sad, sometimes it's hard to motivate the power needed to lift. I just chalk it up to a bad day and try again the next day.

    For realz. Some people get blue, some of us get sad pretty OFTEN too. There's not always a need to assume clinical depression.
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
    No one seems to have assumed that OP is clinically depressed; any talk of depressed comes down to determining if it's a depressed state or clinical depression, as the potential solutions are different.

    Furrfu.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    CipherZero wrote: »
    No one seems to have assumed that OP is clinically depressed; any talk of depressed comes down to determining if it's a depressed state or clinical depression, as the potential solutions are different.

    Furrfu.

    Oh, got you.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=BinWA0EenDY

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