From my experience it is hard enough to get motivated for the gym, and that’s without taking OCD into account. With OCD, it can quickly be more complicated, stressful, overwhelming.
What looks like a simple workout from the outside can involve intrusive thoughts about contamination, harm, symmetry, responsibility, or being judged, alongside urges to repeat movements “correctly” or avoid certain equipment altogether. These experiences are often invisible to others, which can make going to the gym feel isolating as well as exhausting.
My experience
OCD tends to peak when I am mid workout. An example being when I am doing leg extensions, when my legs are extended and the weights are feeling their heaviest, I will experience various intrusive thoughts about injury or feel a desire to make some kind of movement until it feels ‘just right’.
This is of course a risky place to experience OCD due to the risk of injury, but I assume that is why it hits me so hard here.
I also experience health OCD, here, regularly checking my heart rate and have fears of a heart attack. This usually occurs more on a treadmill or other forms of cardio.
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