Are You Addicted To Training?

[Barkadion]

That is a good question. To be completely honest..I think I am... Or am I?

They say it is common for a humans

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3210598/

"Exercise addiction cannot simply be reduced to a compulsion or impulse control disorder either. Rather, like other high frequency behaviors that create adverse effects and are maintained by both positive and negatively reinforcement, certain patterns of exercise are best described as an addiction".

[Aelian]

As long as you take regular detox weeks, it's not a bad addiction to have. People that exercise regularly (including hard training elite level athletes) tend to live longer in general.

[Barkadion]

As long as you take regular detox weeks, it's not a bad addiction to have. People that exercise regularly (including hard training elite level athletes) tend to live longer in general.

But it is still an addiction, right?

[Aelian]

As long as you take regular detox weeks, it's not a bad addiction to have. People that exercise regularly (including hard training elite level athletes) tend to live longer in general.

But it is still an addiction, right?

Is brushing your teeth an addiction? It's good for you, you may or may not like doing but most people do it every day. How much I enjoy training waxes and wanes. Sometimes I enjoy it, other times I dread it. But I do it-- like brushing my teeth.

There's people that enjoy alcohol and there are alcoholics. If you're one of these guys that can't take a day off, absolutely has to train during vacations or can't skip a workout when a life priority comes up, then I'd wager it's an addiction.

[Barkadion]

As long as you take regular detox weeks, it's not a bad addiction to have. People that exercise regularly (including hard training elite level athletes) tend to live longer in general.

But it is still an addiction, right?

Is brushing your teeth an addiction? It's good for you, you may or may not like doing but most people do it every day. How much I enjoy training waxes and wanes. Sometimes I enjoy it, other times I dread it. But I do it-- like brushing my teeth.

There's people that enjoy alcohol and there are alcoholics. If you're one of these guys that can't take a day off, absolutely has to train during vacations or can't skip a workout when a life priority comes up, then I'd wager it's an addiction.

Brushing teeth? Well It is for some people. I do know quite a few dentists/dental assistants who are qualified. There are criteria in the article that they've used to qualify:

• - Tolerance: increasing the amount of exercise in order to feel the desired effect, be it a” buzz” or sense of accomplishment;
  - Withdrawal: in the absence of exercise the person experiences negative effects such as anxiety, irritability, restlessness, and sleep problems;
  - Lack of control: unsuccessful at attempts to reduce exercise level or cease exercising for a certain period of time;
  - Intention effects: unable to stick to one’s intended routine as evidenced by exceeding the amount of time devoted to exercise or consistently going beyond the intended amount;
  - Time: a great deal of time is spent preparing for, engaging in, and recovering from exercise;
  - Reduction in other activities: as a direct result of exercise social, occupational, and/or recreational activities occur less often or are stopped;
  - Continuance: continuing to exercise despite knowing that this activity is creating or exacerbating physical, psychological, and/or interpersonal problems.

Well I do know that I am guilty of training withdrawal for sure.. And my training related injury list tells me about "Continuance" part. The same might go for "Time"..

[J-Madd]

Addition? Not in the strict sense used by psychologists, at least not in my case.

A habit? Literally a habitual tendency? Something like a second nature? Definitely. I'm with Aristotle on this one: a habit that moves you away from what is good for you is a vice, and a habit that moves you toward what is good for you is a virtue. Your training habit could go either way. If it interferes with higher goods (family, faith, profession) or causes you to be reckless with your body, then it's a vice. If your training is something you can manager around your more important commitments and doesn't do your body undue harm while also making your a more capable, satisfied, and interesting human being, then it's a virtue.

[Balaclava]

@ Aelian..... I think I just figured out your username. Aelianus? Very clever!

[Blackmetalbunny]

This reminds me of a similar discussion I had on a different topic with a client. Namely, "what are the drivers of your actions"?

What differentiates a habit and an obsession would, IMO, be dependent on what drives or motivates you.

I would say something is a habit, no matter how religiously or stringently you stick to that habit if:

1. You have a definable objective to work towards or maintain
2. You are driven by a quantifiable end goal that is not a moving goal post
3. Changes in this end goal would be driven by external circumstances / definitions and not emotions

In contrast; an obsession / addiction can be identified if:

1. There is no end goal
2. You are driven by emotions
3. Your end goal is driven internally, not by external circumstances.

Situations like the following would probably be training-addiction:
1. I gotta train or ima gonna lose mah gains
2. Gotta keep the pump up
3. Can't be slower than the other guys on the track
4. Need to shave another 5 seconds off my 10km run because I just can!

I would probably wager that your internal driver/motivations influences your attitudes which determines your behaviour. Everything else would probably stem from that.

[BlackPyjamas]

This reminds me of a similar discussion I had on a different topic with a client. Namely, "what are the drivers of your actions"?

What differentiates a habit and an obsession would, IMO, be dependent on what drives or motivates you.

I would say something is a habit, no matter how religiously or stringently you stick to that habit if:

1. You have a definable objective to work towards or maintain
2. You are driven by a quantifiable end goal that is not a moving goal post
3. Changes in this end goal would be driven by external circumstances / definitions and not emotions

In contrast; an obsession / addiction can be identified if:

1. There is no end goal
2. You are driven by emotions
3. Your end goal is driven internally, not by external circumstances.

Situations like the following would probably be training-addiction:
1. I gotta train or pima gonna lose mah gains
2. Gotta keep the pump up
3. Can't be slower than the other guys on the track
4. Need to shave another 5 seconds off my 10km run because I just can!

I would probably wager that your internal driver/motivations influences your attitudes which determines your behaviour. Everything else would probably stem from that.

Extremely well put. What field are you in?

[Blackmetalbunny]

Extremely well put. What field are you in?

I work in market research, the work we do spans a few areas across economics, psychology and marketing, but in a broad sense we study human and crowd behaviour.