anxiety when exercising

Corinna Lee · Post by **Corinna Lee** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:32 pm

Sometimes, more often then not, I get anxious when I exercise. Almost feels like a panic attack is coming on. It scares me quite a bit because I get worried that beings my heart rate is already up from exercising and then combined with the anxiousness, I get scared my heart will explode or something. I know that sounds rediculous but I've never heard of anyone getting anxious while exercising. I thought it's supposed to calm u down?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:22 am

Hi Corinna Lee,

Maybe what you are feeling is the adrenaline of the exercise and its not anxiety... maybe its excitement that you're feeling and not anxiety... How long have you been exercising? Maybe its that you haven't exercised in a while and your body is still getting used to the process... I mean getting into new things can get us a bit anxious... How about you practice the breathing techniques before your exercise routine... maybe while you're stretching so you can kill 2 birds with one stone and so it won't feel like ur putting too much on ur plate... I'm sure you will do just fine. Try not to put too much thought into it and just practice breathing... if it's too much for you maybe you should slow down a little on the exercising... I don't know what else to say but I wish you well... You are very beautiful by the way

)
Have a great day!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:09 am

Hi -

I joined a gym 5 years ago, and would feel MUCH anxiety about exercising. It was like there were 2 people inside of me-- the one who wanted to do it and the one who was afraid that she would drop over dead. I had panic attacks going there, sometimes while I was there, but I stayed thru them. Somewhere along the line, I found that I felt better for it and now really miss when I can't go. One thing that did help was to have a heart rate monitor and a watch to record the info. Then I could see that my heart rate wasn't to the moon when my anxiety was telling me to stop just in case. You won't explode- I thought that too. Let yourself have enough time to get into shape. Don't try to set a schedule for yourself and have to be "in shape" by a certain day or you are a failure. Then you'll push yourself too hard and you will feel like cr--. You are on your way when you get out there and do the exercise. And when you make healthy food choices. And you let yourself rest a reasonable amount each night. It's a day by day choice.

Good luck with your endeavors at keeping healthy and fit.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:22 am

Thanks E-Lo. I may be confusing the adrenaline with anxiety. Of course I'm gonna think the worst and think it's anxiety rather then adrenaline. Practicing breathing before I exercise is a good idea. I'm gonna try it tonight.

newrunner, I'm gonna steal your idea and invest in a heart monitor. That will give me a little insight as to what's going on while I exercise and probably give me peace of mind!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:04 am

Hi Corinna Lee--
How's it going with the exercising??

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:08 pm

Hey newrunner--
I haven't gotten the heart monitor yet, but I plan to this weekend. Today, I had a great workout without any anxiety or attacks and it was awesome! Hope to see more workouts like this in the future

Carolyn Dickman · Post by **Carolyn Dickman** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:09 pm

that is so cool!! remember to write it down on a notecard where you record all your victories!! Then you really have proof that you can do it when your icky voice tries to tell you that you can't. And you can tell the voice to bug off.

I'm so glad for you.

Malikye · Post by **Malikye** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:23 pm

I feel anxious when I exercise 95% of the time if it's aerobic. When my heart pounds like its supposed to when you exercise and I breathe harder it just scares me silly and I get panicky. I started doing namaste yoga and that was more comfortable for me. I notice that the more I stick with it the less i'm scared and I find that I can do more aerobic things and feel less fear. Sometimes I do have to stop to catch my breath and say positve things to calm myself down. The longer I exercise the less fear happens. Stick with it and do your best to stay positive. Good luck!

Dana Gann · Post by **Dana Gann** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:08 am

I noticed that fast music sometimes exacerbates the problem. When that happens, I turn it off or change the music to something slower and more calming. If that still doesn't help, I try to focus on deep, slow breathing.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:43 am

i do the same thing. i think i associate my heart beating fast with panic attacks. i have found a workout that i don't get anxious about...it's this gym where they do stations of weight and cardio traning. i stay at the station for 45 seconds and then the instructor calls switch. i am so busy trying to do the station right and looking at what the people around me are doing that i am not IN MY HEAD thinking about anxious thoughts. it totally distracts me. i think that was the problem before when i worked out. i would be on the treadmill or whatever alone with too many thoughts. hope that helps.