In other words, lifting as a coping device. In and of itself, that’s not a bad coping device to have. In the face of stress, you try to improve yourself. And like any other coping device, it can be abused. Just remember what your goals are, and don’t lift to try to impress anybody.
Garage Dweller,
I read the title of your post and I have to reply yes, yes, yes.
I myself relieve stress from everyday life by pounding out some sets in the garage. I’m not a hermit, and I really don’t have anxiety issues, but the general public is so ignorant and disrespectful I don’t care to go anywhere for fear I might snap and beat soemone with a sack of apples at the grocery store.
Example, the other day my wife and kids are at the grocry store, were casually walking throught the aisles, my wife has our youngest child in her cart and I have our two year old in my cart, as we’re coming through the aisle My wife and I were side by side talking as we approached other customers we went single file until we passed them and then continued on side by side talking. One lady had the nerve to jump on me for moving her cart when she had it in the middle of the aisle. I told her to fuck off and we carried on about our business.( note the following is generally a southern indcident and it’s relative to mexican heritage, please do not take offense). In Texas the mexicans have a theory they call OJO, it’s apparently a hex or spell that is put on shildren by jealous people. The way this works if someone sees your child,a newborn, they must come up and touch the child, if not the child will become cranky and have OJO. It’s not bad but I am 100%, White, Honkey, Cracker, caucasian, Smith call it what you will, my wife is the same. I get sick and tired of these fucking people putting thier grubby ass hands on my kid, and then when you tell them not to touch the baby they look at you all fucked up. Call me an asshole, but fuck you, ask before you go around gropeing other people kids. It would be completely different if they would ask, I know the theory, but ask first.
Then people stare at us all fucked up when we are at the store, my wife is 6 years younger than me she’s 23, but looks about 15-16, people give me that look like I’m some kind of child molester. She’s only 5 foot tall and 95 pounds and I’m 5’4" and 200.
I don’t hate anyone in particular, but society in general is a bunch of whiney ass good for nothing give me a free hand out, self loathing, pieces of shit.
End of rant, yes I do workout in my garage alone, and yes it is a whole lot cheaper than therapy,
Bullpup
My main questions are this- Are the slights that cause the feelings real, or percieved?
Is there some expectation of acceptance or behavior on the other people?
That aside, People are like wolves- We need to find our own packs to run with.
Some social settings make my skin crawl through no fault of the people around me. They just aren’t my kind of people. Other situations- I couldn’t feel more at home with.
Whatever makes you happy man. There is nothing wrong at all with wanting some alone time. A lot of people in school would have considered me an “overly social” person. However, I tend to prefer being alone and read or something, whether it be a book or on the internet. I don’t blame you one bit for not going to parties, all it is is a popularity contest. My friends always ask me to go to “big parties” but I tell them I’m busy or not interested. If I’m going to drink, I prefer it to be only 2-3 other people.
Cosider yourself lucky to be independant. But it’s always nice to have a good friend or two around when you need them.
[quote]Garage Dweller wrote:
Hello. Does anyone experience problems when in social settings with other people, and do you turn to lifting either to replace socialising, or to channel the anger/frustration you feel towards something productive and self-improving?
In the movie ‘Pumping Iron’, Mike Katz would speak about how he’d leave parties early, resolve to ‘show them all’, and run laps of an oval or lift weights. I feel much the same way as he felt, and I virtually never attend social events (virtually never get asked either). Last night (Friday night), while people were partying and having a ‘good time’, I was in my garage, doing overhead presses to failure. Does anyone else do anything like this?
There are various reasons why I’m not skilled socially, the foremost being that I’m hearing impaired and find it hard to talk and listen to people in a loud noisy party setting, but whatever the cause is, I’m most comfortable lifting weights than socialising. Sometimes I harbour a ‘me-against-them-all’ attitude, somewhat similar to what I imagine Mike Katz would have felt, and I try to use it as motivation to get bigger and stronger.
Does anyone else feel or act like this?
It’s Saturday night, and while all of my ‘friends’ have gone out, I’m going to head into the garage again and force out some more presses (I did deadlifts and presses this morning, and I’m too tired to do deadlifts again!).[/quote]
Well sometimes we can all feel that everybody is against us. MAybe it’s true.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with people.
Do your weightlifting before going out, try out the low rep schemes so you won’t get all fatigued but rather stimulated. you will go out with a higher self esteem and lots of confidence, plus all kind of nice feeling hormones and neurotransmitters.
If you don’t enjoy going to loud parties and drinking etc don’t go. Don’t resent the people who enjoy that activity however and lift to get back and them.
Lifting is a great way to deal with anger/depression. It is surely a far better solution than the normal route of becoming a drunk or a junkie.
I know when I have had a particularly shitty day at work. I can’t wait to get to the gym.
I think you should talk to a counselor about your issues. It isn’t necessarily unhealthy for you to turn to lifting when you are angry, but the frequency your doing it sounds like you have some underlying issues you need to take care of.
You were going to do DL’s twice in one day? I feel sick.