Concept2 Forum

Who of you feel the need to do some sort of exercise training, whatever that may be, every day simply out of addiction?

I do, there is not a day goes by that i can rest and do completely nothing at all. The thoughts behind what drive me mostly are "i must do this to keep in good shape" even though i really don't need to... it's just how i think. Then once i have done whatever i feel i needed to, i get an enormous amount of satisfaction and good sense of well being from it, even if it's just been a good few sets of pushups and leg raises for example.

Suppose one way to look at it would be that it's not a bad addiction to have

Hahaha, i'm not quite that bad. I don't mind / need a couple of days off a week but anymore and I do get a bit twitchy.

I think part of my issue is having to get up at 4:40am to train. It's not that conducive to training all the time, so I generally have Tuesday (10 miles in the morning and Pilates at night) and Saturday or Sunday off, but I do share that sense of elation when the endorphins kick in.

Like all addictions don't let it control you too much no matter how good it might seem

You are not the only one!

Um....I think you're in the right place Anth. I mean, let's be honest about it erging is fairly solitary sport that to some must be very boring BUT I love it. It filled a gap in my life when I stopped doing competitive biking due to time constraints (what I love about the erg is that I can put on a little size and it will help unlike biking). I am more than happy to take a day's rest from exercise but any more than that and I'm getting a little twitchy. I get the usual endorphin fix from a hard session and always feel mentally better (if a little drained sometimes) afterwards, and derive ALOT of satisfaction from PBing. Right now, I'm combining the erging with more weights work and am looking forward to where I can take that too. I've done a variety of sports over the years and have to say right now I feel about as robust and fit as I've ever done...sure my Vo2max is probably a little bit down but that's down to weight gain I needed to do.

One thing I will say is if you link mental positibity with a particular type of exercise, make sure you always have more things going on or that you can move onto if the original thing has to be left behind e.g. due to injury or boredom etc.

I don't understand the rowing is boring thing... i love it too. Never have i been on the erg and thought yawn this is boring. See if i'm saying the same a few years from now.

Rowing has filled a massive gap in my life tbh! Prior to getting an erg, i did nothing It's given me the motivation to go on and incorporate other things such as weight lifting etc. The rower for me is special, it's the only piece of exercise equipment i really enjoy, and have continued to use. Even biking i get bored quick and most other stuff i lose interest fast... not such the case at all with the rower Even just the thought of "ok i'm going to row an 8k today for example" gives me a great desire to want to get on there just to row those meters down to 0. I like to focus on the numbers too whereas some do find that boring, so that helps in my case.

I'm trying to work on bulking my arms more with the weights so find myself doing lots of arm work just out of habit now.

Anth_F wrote:Who of you feel the need to do some sort of exercise training, whatever that may be, every day simply out of addiction?

I certainly train every day, even Christmas day and usually twice but a lot of it is very easy as I'm mindful of needing to rest between hard sessions.

I do 4 hard erg sessions a week with the other stuff being a mixture of running, wattbike, weights, stepper, roadbike, mountain bike and walking.

I suppose I'm bonkers but I like being bonkers!

Definitely not the only one. Anything more than a day off and I feel like a lazy fat pig.

I'm going to be adding a skierg this Xmas (present to myself). So I'll be doing a few more 2 a days since the two are so antagonistic/complimentary.

Notbonkers at all Rod! I say good on ya... great stuff. No wonder you do so well on the erg

Walking is great... i walk miles and miles per day.

Yeah kini i get that feeling if i don't feel i have done much on any given day. It can even be just something like a 5 mile walk on a non training day and i feel good about myself. I'm addicted to keeping constantly active basically... ain't no bad thing eh. I can enjoy all the tasty foods too because i'm keeping active i'm still staying trim. I do make sure i get plenty healthy foods too though for a good balance. The chocolate and biscuits are my weak points though! Wish i could cut a lot of that out, but it's so hard for me to.

Not an addiction, but if I take more than one day off, I can't sleep, my brain starts slipping into a jittery fog (like an OD of Caffeine and Alcohol) and I feel crappy. Just gotta get out on the road and open that throttle.

excersize and sex...
might explaing the skierg from the wife for christmas...

Nah you're not the only one. It just makes me feel good and that is why I do it too. And not good in the sense of beeing physically better, but good in the sense of feeling good mentally because you are doing it and you are changing your life from what it used to be. So even on weekends I feel the need of heading to the gym.

It has happened to me a couple of times going to my mom's house, opening the fridge and seeing an open can of coke and feeling like taking a sip. Taking a sip or even drinking a coke now and then isn't going to hurt me all that much and I know that. But right now the satisfaction I get by not doing it, is huge, so I just drink some water and move on.

However I know I should be lifting too in order to improve my shape and lose a bit more weight. But I can skip that for weeks and weeks, no problem. It's just the rowing maching the thing I can't skip and It's because it is sooooooo enjoyable

Definitely not the only one. If I spend too long off of rowing I feel bad mentally more than anything. Just had 3 days off and I felt terrible coming back into it.

More than one day off and I get stressed that I will lose progress and slip backwards. It's quite an addiction, but a good one as you say.

Perfect subject, especially for me...
i hate the gym, i hate working out, i live in a south east Asian country and the gym is hot and humid.
i love rowing and i really find myself challenged by my motivation. i find i any excuse not to go to the gym..
but when im on the rower, when i check my weight and body fat percentage and look at my diary and see the weight i lost ( and still hope lose ) - it makes me angry ( at myself ) for missing days of workouts.
there is not a day that goes by that i dont miss rowing...

I'm definitely addicted to thinking about rowing. Every day I think about what I have done, what I'm going to do and planning nights out around erging sessions.