Honestly, do you feel good after your exercise?

It depends, like if I felt like I pushed myself to my limit and finish how ever long I have set, which is usually 45 mins I get so emotionally excited I can hardly stop from crying because I feel so proud of myself, and sometimes I just don't want tobe at the gym at all and only go about 60% the whole time and am usually just glad to get out of there.
 
Hi hi shawnnam. Thanks for sharing your experience and big thanks to all the replies :D. Sometimes it's really great to read the comments once in a while to get my "exercise" spirit up. I've been off the exercise route for a couple of years and just got serious again about 6 months ago. Just when I thought I'm getting "bored" with exercise, I wrote down my goals and one of them is running a full marathon at least once in my life :p. So I'm motivated again. I'm aiming for a half-marathon this year. So I'm running for about 30min-2 hrs.

And back to the question. I'm running longer and I feel a sense of accomplishment during my run and after I finish the run. Well, I feel a little of "now I can do anything" feeling and feel that running helps to build my mental strength. Ok, I searched the term runner's high :

The use of the term "runner's high" became popular in the 1970's after appearing in The Complete Book on Running, by Jim Fixx. However, throughout the following years, research has shown that this phenomenon is not limited to runners only. Other athletes, including skiers, football players, surfers, etc., have also known feelings of bliss during intense, lengthy exercise.

What does a runner's high feel like? Some people have described it as an "orgasmic" feeling. Others compare it to the way getting high on drugs might feel. Some athletes have said that, when they reach this state, they feel invincible and happy. They feel capable of superior performance. The problem with describing a runner's high, however, lies in the fact that a "high" is a matter of perception. Does a high even really exist? What one person considers a high may not be a high, at all, to another person.
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The last few sentences really describe my sentiment. But I guess I'm doing longer workout but they're not really that intense. I feel invincible and maybe I can say I'm happy that I complete the workout. But happy like laughing and smiling? Hmm... gotta think about it. Maybe if my body is fit enough, I'll try the intense lengthy exercise.


Hey I was on another site:


Yiannis Kouros who could be classified as a legend in the world of Ultrarunning once explained what he was feeling when he was running. In an article he wrote published by Ultrarunning magazine in March of 1990 he stated,

"Some may ask why I am running such long distances. There are reasons. During the ultras I come to a point where my body is almost dead. My mind has to take leadership. When it is very hard there is a war going on between the body and the mind. If my body wins, I will have to give up; if my mind wins, I will continue. At that time I feel that I stay outside of my body. It is as if I see my body in front of me; my mind commands and my body follows. This is a very special feeling, which I like very much. . . It is a very beautiful feeling and the only time I experience my personality separate from my body, as two different things."

What Yiannis Kouros says, is that when he is running for a long enough time his body and mind separate. .....Generally, most people claim that a runner's high is when the mind takes over the body and the unconscious leads the mind. Yet, there are many more aspects that people attribute to runner's high.

This question, about whether or not runner's high exists, is brought on mainly because there is not set definition for runner's high. Many people have never experienced it or say they have never had a "high" and yet do not know what one feels like. Some people have compared a "high" associated with running to a "high" from drugs. But again one must question even what a high from drugs feels like. Statistically, more people are doing drugs in which they can get a high than the number of people running 20 or 30 miles (the average at which people seem to get a high), therefore there are more cases of feelings associated with drug highs recorded.

In conclusion, in can be stated that while running there is a point when a person's body undergoes some type of change. The cause of this change may be because of environmental aspects and/or because of the biological aspects surrounding it. The feelings that are associated with this change is what is still questionable. With no actual definition of what the runner is supposed to feel it is impossible to generalize as to what that feeling is. Everyone records their personal feelings differently and what may be a high for one person may only be a feeling of happiness for another person. Looking at the different aspects that are associated with runner's high, I personally, have determined that there are periods of contentment that one will feel whether it is from running or other types of physical or even mental activity. I feel that this report can be summed up from a statement I received over e-mail and what was the most common response to my question "What is runner's high?" , "I've been running for 25 years or so, and don't know for sure what runner's high is. On almost every run, and certainly the long ones, there are periods of contentment or reflection when one is on automatic pilot and the terrain goes past unnoticed. Runner's High? I don't know."
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I guess now I know why..coz I'm only running 10-15km. I'll try longer distance and will report in when I finally get to the 20-30miles range (who knows how long I'll take).

Keeps the thoughts rowing and thanks again for sharing. :D
 
In all honesty I feel amasing! It gives me such a high. I do work out very hard though....I don't know if that has anything to do with it? :coolgleamA:
 
I really do feel amazing after exercise and got really depressed the past few months as I did nothing, which is why I've started this new programme. Yes sometimes I feel sore and tired and achy the next day but it's so worth it. My husband also is really moody when he doesn't get to the gym 4-5 times a week. I don't know if it is different for different people, I guess it must be, but I do get a real buzz out of a kick ass work out.
 
Before I start Exercise especially cardio I really feel bad...... not feel like even seeing any of the equipment but once completed then I feel so Happy... a sense of accomplishment comes...... make me do more and more....
 
I always feel a sort of high & a sense of accomplishment after exercising, but getting myself to start exercising is the hardest part. I just hate it, but I do feel better after....if I'd been exercising all these years I never would have gotten where I am now.
-SOAB
 
I don't necessarily feel great after a workout but I feel more fit and healthy every day. Exercise wears me out and I feel whooped. But when I'm at work or playing around, I feel more fit and seem to have more stamina which makes me feel happy.
 
i always thought that exercise makes me tired and lethargic, hence if possible i would avoid exercise.. thinking that it was a pain. But recently, i was on my new diet and i keep track of what i ate. During my diet, i forced myself to do exercise at least 3 times a week. Basically doing jogging for 1 mile. The first two times, i felt really tired, may be due to my mindset. During the 3rd time, i felt totally different, and the more i do, i felt great, i felt the blood rushing through my body and i felt energetic. The very surprising thing i discover is my food consumption on the days i did exercise is way lower than the day i don't. Today, i exercise 5 times a week - jogging for 3 miles (about 30 minutes per day) - not including stretching. i feel great :)
 
When I feel tense, pissed off, depressed, I jog/run, lift weights or do cardio. I feel like God after. Sounds pretty good to me. I guess that's ChiefBear's high.
 
Honestly? No, I feel exhausted and in need of a shower. But I'll agree that there's a real sense of accomplishment :)
 
I have in the past (27 years ago) and I'm getting back to that same point now, after several months of cardio, and now weight training.

At first, my body was like, "WTH are you doing here !!!" But now, by the time it's time for my workout, or hill climb, it's like my muscles start getting ancy. They almost itch.... like they need to be worked out !

Then, after I have had a good, solid work out, I feel relieved, accomplished... a little tired, sure, but in a good way. And mentally, I feel so much better.

Peace,
Fish
 
people who feel a sense of accomplishment from exercising would feel good. more of a psychological thing, it's not from the endorphins.
 
lalal said:
people who feel a sense of accomplishment from exercising would feel good. more of a psychological thing, it's not from the endorphins.
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I can only speak from my own view...but exercising DOES PHYCIALLY make me feel better! Its gets my blood circulating better, stretching and using my muscles, breathing is accelerated...I love it :)
 
I think the endorphins thing is highly exaggerated. I can feel it kick in, especially after a hard area of cardio, and then a slow down. I know people are built differently, but I'd hardly call it a high, more like a mood swing toward a good direction.
 
I would agree with a lot of what has already been said. I find that now that I have been working out for several months straight (minimum 5-days/ week), that I get an anticipation of completing the workout (usually the run).

endorphins are the bodies own opiates, they act as natural pain-analgesics, and they also are "feel good" nuerotransmitters. I know that after my run, I don't feel high, but I know that when I can't workout for a longer period of time (because of travel, etc.) I don't feel as good as the weeks I do.

I definitly can't sit down and quantify the level of mood elevation though! :)
 
I get that high after exercise. Im not sure I remeber feeling quite as good when i first started but now that i run/swim/bike at a higher level 8+ hrs a week I get a very noticable calm/relaxed/high from it all and am defanitily addicted.
 
To eccent (the OP),


I, too, have never experienced the alleged exercise endorphin rush.


I've been working out daily for the past 4 months. However, this is the first time in my life I've needed to lose weight. While I had a pretty active lifestyle as a younger person, I didn't exercise for the sake of exercising, and I maintained my weight naturally, without trying.


After one of my very strenuous, daily workouts now, I'm as weak as a little kitten, and exhausted - physically and emotionally. Just walking down the stairs is almost life-threatening, given how shaky and weak my quad's tend to be, after a workout. I'm also not hungry after my morning workout, and have to intellectually choose to eat breakfast, rather than really desiring it.


I don't look forward to exercising, but am resigned to the knowledge that my acquired insulin resistance means if I don't diet and exercise, I will get fatter and fatter on even a modest amount of food. I do what I can to find exercise routines that are fun or, when on the treadmill for ages, watch something interesting on television. (When I watch a good movie while I'm on the treadmill, I typically do twice the distance I normally would.)


At my age, I no longer wonder if I'm "doing it wrong." I think there are multiple factors involved. I suspect those who really enjoy exercising for the sake of exercising are probably more likely to feel good after a workout.
 
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