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Agression and fitness..
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joscmt
Posted 2006-10-21 2:54 PM (#67801)
Subject: Agression and fitness..


Have anyone found that more agressive exercise (ie- boxing, sprinting, etc) leads to a more agressive lifestyle? I used to be attracted to boxing (but I also had a little more anger then), but I have found that now that I have backed off this type of fitness for more gentle (but as effective) fitness, my anger has disspelled, I just feel kinder and gentler inside? Could it be a testosterone thing? (I am a woman, BTW)
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tourist
Posted 2006-10-22 11:12 AM (#67832 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..



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I know that back in the 70's there was a big movement around getting anger out into the open, particulalry around women owning their emotions and not repressing them. Therapists and those who liked to think they knew stuff had people bashing each other with foam bats and encouraging beating up a pillow or throwing things so they would get rid of the anger and feel better. It soon became very clear that this was a good exercise for a little while but soon became something that increased violent tendencies.
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GreenJello
Posted 2006-10-22 11:54 AM (#67837 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..


When I was talking Hapkido, I noticed that a lot of the people in class had something I like to call Karate-itis. The worst of the lot was the instructor!

Karate-itis is that need to kick and punch, usually somebody who doesn't know anything about karate, so that you can show your dominance. I got pretty bad too, at one point punching a hole in the wall of my bathroom.

So, when I got into yoga, I was really happy to put a lot of that down. People do what they train themselves to do. So if you spend a lot of time kick and punching, guess what? You're going to want to kick and punch. If you spend a lot of time practicing relaxation, and strenching, you're going to want to relax and stretch from time to time.

BTW, one of the guys who came to the studio was even more serious about it than I was, practicing every day for hours on end. He nearly killed his wife one night when she snuck up on him while he was sleeping. He pulled his leg back, and was about to kick her head off when he woke up.

All that being said, I think it also has a lot to do with the instructor, and how things are presented. My Aikido instructor was the model of calmness, in some cases more than the local yoga teachers. Never had a problem with karate-itis in his classes, or saw anybody with it.
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joscmt
Posted 2006-10-23 9:04 PM (#67979 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..


See that's kind of how I felt. At the time I was learning to kickbox- I wanted to hit a lot of things. Then, once I gave it up (my teacher dropped her class and I moved anyhow), I really lost that urge to hit things. But I bring up the topic because of this- I've been trying to step up my fitness level a little lately. I've hit a bit of a plateau (my nutritionist isn't worried, but I thought I could step up my fitness a little). I didn't want to step it up too much because my tendency is to build a lot of muscle really quickly (my brothers are the same way)- It's cool, because even though the scale # doesn't show any change, my body comp shows quite a bit. But as I am building this muscle and stepping up the exercise, I feel the agression back again. I feel distracted, unsettled.

Maybe there is something else going on in the ol' noggin' that I haven't been made aware of yet.
It's interesting when you become more sensitive to your body and mind as a whole. When things start to shift, it's blaringly obvious. In the past, when I was actively in my eating disorder, blotting out life, and completely out of touch with my body, subtle shifts were completely under the radar. I only noticed big, major changes (or I was in denial of them altogether). I just have to tune in and listen, maybe there is something under the surface that is bothering me. My first thought is that the increased muscle and activity may have increased the testosterone production in my bod- ladies produce it too, right?? Unfortunately, I don't know enough about this to say..
oh well...
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GreenJello
Posted 2006-10-23 9:53 PM (#67984 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..


Yup, women definitely produce the big T, just not as much as men.  I can totally see weight lifting, and other muscle activity increasing the amount of T flowing around.
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samantha77
Posted 2006-10-24 8:07 PM (#68074 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..



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joscmt - 2006-10-21 2:54 PM Have anyone found that more agressive exercise (ie- boxing, sprinting, etc) leads to a more agressive lifestyle? I used to be attracted to boxing (but I also had a little more anger then), but I have found that now that I have backed off this type of fitness for more gentle (but as effective) fitness, my anger has disspelled, I just feel kinder and gentler inside? Could it be a testosterone thing? (I am a woman, BTW)

I used to take Tae Kwon Do, and definitely felt more agressive.  My teacher was a very peaceful person and did not advocate showing off his strength, but just the nature of the exercise made be fee more combative in general.

I was a sprinter on my college track team, and that did not make me feel more agressive in general.  On the track, yes, but it didn't really effect me outside of my races and practices.

Samantha

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joscmt
Posted 2006-10-25 10:06 AM (#68118 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..


I guess I should combine this thread with my "is it weird" thread.. because I guess where I am going with this is that when I do practice yoga everyday, I do find myself feeling more agressive. I try to to act out on that agression anymore (part of my personal growth), but I feel very irritable. I don't know if it's because I am tired (which makes me pretty nasty- like a little kid) or because of this testosterone thing.. can people manufacture too much naturally? I don't take any supplements other than the vitamins my nutritionist wants me to take- multi, etc.

I got pregnant last Nov. and between Oct and March I did little to no exercise other than walking with my dogs- I miscarried in Jan.- which threw me into a little depression which is why the no exercise Feb and March (even though, I know it would've made things better- but tell that to my heart). Since March, I have been more committed to my yoga practice which up to that point, had been off and on for about 4 yrs. Ok, so Oct. 2005-March 2006 (little to no exercise), March to now- moderate exercise- mostly vinyasa yoga 2-3X/week - with the occasional walk.. no weights or anything.. my lean body mass has increased by 8.4%. My nutritionist is very happy with that- she told me that with most people she works with who have lost a lot of weight, usually the muscle mass doesn't increase at this rate (even though, ideally, it should). So I guess that is the cool part- I'm just wondering if there is a correlation between that and the fact that when I try to do yoga daily, I get all fired up. Who knows?!?!?!? Although, I'm going to start walking more to work on the cardiovascular endurance- I was doing tons o' that before I got pregant. Then I was scared to kickbox..
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joscmt
Posted 2006-10-25 10:09 AM (#68121 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..


Correction- the body comp was done in August...not recently.. I keep forgetting that it's almost November!!!
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SCThornley
Posted 2006-10-25 11:02 AM (#68132 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..


I used to wrestle in High School and College--NCAA Division I--

I gave it up when the pain was too great.

Then I started doing yoga, a lot back in the beginning, for pain relief.

I totally changed my personality, and how I stood, breathed...well, everything.

So, like GreenJello said, you practice something enough you become it.

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GreenJello
Posted 2006-10-25 9:18 PM (#68177 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..


You're probably bring back some of that former aggression. A friend of mine used to be a massage therapist. She liked to tell stories about having this big strong construction workers come in for a back massage or something similar. They'd lie on the table, and she'd work them over, and sometimes she'd hit a knot or something in their shoulder that had been there for years, and all of a sudden these big strapping men are balling about something that happened to them when they were 15.

Yoga has a similar effect to massage in helping us to let go of some of the tension and character armor that we hold onto everyday. So, it seems completely normal to me for you to be releasing something that may have happened today, yesterday, or 15 years from now.

It's also possible that you're dealing with some sort of diversion from the ego. It likes to play all sorts of silly games to get you to stop your practice. So, somedays you might feel angry, depressed, upset, tired, manic, or even like kicking something.
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joscmt
Posted 2006-10-26 10:10 AM (#68219 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..


GJ- true true.. **** that ego! It is quite possible that there is residual anger bubbling out of me. Last summer, when I first got into recovery for my eating disorder, I became full of rage- like, scary rage- Incredible Hulk kind of rage. I refer to it now as my "summer of anger". I was going to meetings and sharing about this anger, writing about it, looking it square in the face (because I did't have any substance to hide behind). I distinctly remember the day that I realized that the anger was gone! It was such a miracle! I had ever felt such lightness and release!

I've heard that the hips trap a lot of emotional baggage. I totally believe this to be true..I did a workshop with Baron Baptiste last January. We did a 90 minute session of just hip openers- I almost broke down into tears several times (and not just because it was hard!). All this emotional crap started coming up. At the time of that workshop, I thought I was 10 weeks pregnant. Turns out, that I had miscarried 1 1/2 weeks prior and my body hadn't figured it out yet. I didn't find out about it until my 12 week check-up.
There has, obviously, been a lot of emotional stuff that came with that- my not knowing that I was carrying a dead fetus for almost 4 weeks (my body still had pregnancy symptoms), the fear of getting pregnant again, the waiting to get pregnant again- to be honest, I can chalk up 2006 as being a complete mindf&$k. Maybe that is what is truly going on with me. I've had recent problems with my hips so I have been doing a combination of strength work- and hip opening asana- maybe the anger over what happened (which I thought I had accepted and moved on from) is still gurgling around in there.. GJ- ever thought of being a therapist?!?
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GreenJello
Posted 2006-10-26 12:26 PM (#68236 - in reply to #68219)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..


joscmt - 2006-10-26 10:10 AM
GJ- ever thought of being a therapist?!?

Nah, not enough of a people person. Thanks for the complement thought!

Sounds like you've got plenty to work through that's for sure!
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joscmt
Posted 2006-10-26 6:09 PM (#68285 - in reply to #67801)
Subject: RE: Agression and fitness..


yeah... getting better each day, though! BTW, nice quote.... I can certainly relate!
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