Is Exercise Running Your Life?

                   

It's not talked about often but some women are seriously addicted to exercise, or compulsive exercise addiction. It's when you take working out to a whole new level and your workouts run your day.

Now as a woman who used to workout multiple times a day for several hours this is my problem, but I have a great support group that helps keep me on track. So why do some women become addicted to their exercise routines?

For some it's a desire to have control over their weight and shape, for some it's as if the world will fall apart if they don't workout and for others, they are looking to get a workout "high". 

But it really doesn't matter the reason, being addicted to exercise is not a good thing. It can be bad psychologically and physiologically. For example, when I was in college and dealing with anorexia and exercise addition I ended up breaking my wrist while riding my bike. 

I was biking because I was trying to heal shin splints at the same time. Well, with my wrist in a cast, I had no choice to start running again even though I knew my shins were in bad shape. To make a long story short, they turned in to stress fractures and I had my leg in an air cast while my wrist was in a cast. Do you think it stopped me? Nope, I just started on the elliptical for less stress on my leg. Sad, I know.

So what helped me? 

When I got tired of my workouts and my diet running my life. Enough was enough and I knew that since I was hiding stuff from my friends and family that I had a problem.

What constitutes exercise going overboard?

Exercise addicts allow their workout plans to run their lives. Over family, friends, work, etc... workouts come first. There is no exception: More really is better. If there is more free time then that means more time to train. Nothing holds them back. It doesn't matter if they are tired, sick, injured... they will find a way to workout.

So, how am I today? I admit that I get very anxious if I miss a workout. But I don't have the need to workout every single day. I do have a strict workout routine that I follow and if I get thrown off than I find a way to get that workout in! But overall, I never workout more than 4-5 days a week and I never workout for longer than an hour.

Taylor Ryan is the "women's trainer" with her weight training for women site, The Art Of Weight Lifting to give fat burning workouts, muscle toning programs and more to help you hit your fitness and weight loss goals. Get all the help you need, including nutrition to make a healthy lifestyle and not just another failed attempt to get in shape.

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The Rise Of Anorexia Athletica

                     

The bad news is not all of gentlemen are lucky enough to have such a sculpted body. First of all, we might not be fortunate enough in terms of 'genetic lottery'. You know, when it comes to genes we inherit from our parents, no one can protest in any possible way. Whether our genes are good are bad, we have no option but deal with the reality.

Some men are lucky enough to inherit handsome faces from his father, or inherit the high level body metabolism which makes them less likely to become obese.That's the lovely side but what if your dad gives you 'dark' genes that makes you gain weight easier? Or genes that causes your body height increases slower than your peers? Well, I'd say you have to make peace with yourself because the harder you push yourself the more you'll get hurt.

Secondly, most of us are not able to have enough time and tools needed to keep ourselves fit. It is perhaps the most frequently mentioned excuse but it holds true for people whose daily activities are not related to physical jobs. If you're working 8 hours a day and going into overtime hours after that, no one wouldn't be that surprised to see your beer belly that stores pounds of fats.

But do you know that most men nowadays think that having an athletic figure is a must? Probably you and I are some of those men but hold that thought. Let me tell you an astounding fact that men are now swept away by a wave called 'athletica nervosa'. This is a new term coined by media to refer to a type of anxiety that men commonly have by exercising excessively at gyms. And this is what i just read on a site:

"Men who regularly read 'lads' magazines' are increasingly obsessive about their body image resulting in them doing excessive exercise and possibly taking steroids to improve their physique, according to a study by University of Winchester psychologist Dr David Giles."

'Lads' magazines here are magazines that are usually read by men and boys and most of the content is about how to stay healthy, lean, fit, and of course how to grow more muscles. But I think it's not only 'lads' magazines that endorse the importance of muscular physique. If we are sensitive enough, we'll notice recently there are more and more young, good-looking, muscular male models being featured on TV commercials, banners, ads in magazines, even clothing catalogs (which were assumed to be quite girlie in the past). It may be just a coincidence but I don't think that way.

What strikes me most is that this apparently starts to infect our kids! You can call me a hyperbolic liar but after you read this, you won't. A 5-year-old infant named Giuliano Stroe in Italy has started to become a fitness freak after he regularly accompanied his dad exercising at a local gym.

All these things seem to lead to a complete insanity. And what is initially meant to be an endeavor to get healthier and fitter proves to be a misleading campaign for instant muscularity. Some men who are not patient enough in the journey resort to a shortcut. This shortcut is called steroid. As we know that using steroid is no good especially in the long run.

So is having muscular physique really worth it? Or is it just another mirage men have been tricked into? Being unsatisfied with our appearance is humane and everyone experiences that. But being too much worried about what image people can have in their mind about us is somewhat ridiculous. Gentlemen, in my humble opinion, we should choose health over muscularity. If we're exercising, we must focus more on being healthier, so as to be able to function normally at work and in household. When ego has taken over our sanity, however, we're more likely to get drowned by the endless competition of enlarging biceps, showing off six packs, or how to get larger pectoral muscles.

In the past decades we've already bombarded with a series of news about women developing anorexia nervosa and then dying afterwards. Now men are dealing with the same plague. We now see more women are rebelling against the 'slim is beautiful' dogma. Some of these ladies (who are not as skinny as those female models) are compellingly successful and set their own trends as they appreciate their body figure more than before. It's OK to be plump or a bit obese but as long as they take themselves as they are, nothing is ever problem.

Women have shown their resistance against the 'slimmer is always better' proposition and what about men? Can men have the audacity to say NO to 'beefier is always better' proposition? Ask ourselves.

(quotation: http://www.tricitypsychology.com )

Akhlis Purnomo

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Are You Addicted To Exercise?

                   

To be perfectly honest we could all stand to be a bit more healthy, particularly when it comes to getting exercise. There is, however, a point when a good, healthy habit turns into a harmful addiction that is actually doing damage to the person with the addiction instead of improving their life.

What Is Exercise Addiction?

At it's most basic, exercise addiction is a behavioral addiction, but it really stems from body image issues that can drive the afflicted to push their exercise regime past the point where it's healthy and beneficial to where it can have lasting long-term destructive effects on the body of the person.

While the point at which exercise moves from healthy habit to harmful addiction will vary from person to person, the standard for the shift is when exercising starts having a detrimental effect on the addicts life, including having an impact on their body, mind, work, and social interactions. Whereas a person with a healthy exercise routine will skip a session if work or their personal life impedes their ability to exercise, an addict will eschew work or social interactions just to work out, and will actually have withdrawal symptoms if something prevents them from exercising.

Effects of Exercise Addiction

Unlike addictions to things like drugs or even alcohol and gambling, the ramifications for exercise addiction are different because the addiction can easily progress to dangerous levels before being noticed. In addition to avoiding social and professional obligations in an effort to exercise more, those afflicted with exercise addiction also face real health problems associated with the disease.

While a healthy work out schedule factors in time to let the body recover from the activity, those with an addiction will not only push their bodies past the point of exhaustion within their work out, but will not allow their bodies to recover from the work out before doing another one, which can cause damage to muscle and joint tissue. In addition to damage to joints and muscles, lack of sleep and eating disorders are also closely related to exercise addiction as the addict will not take in the nutrients they need or get a healthy nights sleep.

Treatment

Treating exercise addiction is much like treating an addiction to gambling, as both are focused on the release of endorphins within the brain. While there are no medications approved for the treatment of exercise addiction, exposure and response prevention treatments are the most popular way to help those with the addiction. Those with both an exercise and eating disorder will often receive treatment concurrently since the conditions are often linked and treating them both allows the mental health professional to get to the root of the problem.

If you or somebody you know has an exercise addiction, the best thing you can do for yourself or your friend is to have them reach out to a professional that specializes in behavioral addictions before they do irreparable damage to their bodies.

Aiden Owens has battled his own addictions, including a gambling addiction [http://www.nongambler.com] that pushed him to visit Williamsville Wellness, a leading Virginia substance abuse treatment center. To learn more about Williamsville Wellness and how they can help you with your addictions, visit them online at: WilliamsvilleWellness.com.

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