Source
r/Fitness•
trihard

Since getting fit, has anyone developed anger issues? Please read.

I'm trying to find a reason for my sudden outbreak of RAGE today. I never get angry, but today I was ready to kill or be killed all because someone was parked in the middle of the road and refused to move so I could get by without risking fucking up my car. (I waited patiently for a number of minutes before honking or asking them to move)

I've always been a bit of a joking, 'Internet Tough Guy,' but today was the first time in real life I absolutely yelled at someone to, "MOVE YOUR MOTHERFUCKING CAR!" then when they ask, "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" I repeated myself with absolute authority.

Why do I wonder if becoming fit may be responsible? Only because after the driver (I had yelled at the passenger who got out) finally moved his car and I passed... All I wanted to do was hit the gym and pump iron (even though I prefer endurance).

I don't know if fitness is to blame. I just can't figure out what happened to me today. It scared me a bit afterward. I would have never thrown the first punch, but I would either given him the beating of a lifetime or gone down giving it everything I had.

If you have any similar experiences, please share details. I'm trying to figure this out.

Note: I am a severely socially anxious person and losing all my reasoning skills to anger is the exact opposite of my personality. That is why this is so troubling for myself.

Posted Jan 23, 2011, 12:53 AM UTC

630
PaperSt•

Sounds like you might have grown some balls and stood up for yourself for the first time in your life. Finally feeling like you could back it up physically might just be the catalyst.

14
trihardOP•

That is kinda what I felt like. I just didn't like it. I don't know if I could have won the fight, but at that exact moment I was willing to see. I don't like losing myself in anger. I rather enjoy my reasoning skills which today seemed completely lost.

3
tanglisha•

Why would you expect to have the coping skills for something you've never dealt with before? Look at it as a learning experience, not something to run away from. You didn't get in a fight, you just had the urge to do so. Urge != Action

3
trihardOP•

Urge != Action

True, however action would have been inevitable if he had thrown a punch. I am certain I would have not thrown the first punch, but I would have thrown the second and beyond. I was ready for a beatdown regardless of which way it went.

2
rangerthefuckup•

Its primal

1
ReeceRockefeller•

Nah, that's not just balls. The first step isn't going to 10...unless I missed something in the story. I can't say whether working out is the root cause, although I feel like I've experienced something familiar.

It could be stress or tension that had built up for a while in life, and just found release. It's a dangerous situation; people have been shot for less just because people are stupid and or crazy.

1
Cr4ke•

Tyler Durden?

0
PaperSt•

You rang?

1
ippwndu•

Testosterone. When I lost a bunch of fat, I felt a less complacent and would rage over shit that I never did before, mostly driving related and how slow-to-react/dimwitted other drivers are

8
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
troublesome•

excess testosterone?

5
juggiesBodybuilding•

No such thing as excess testosterone

6
TH3RM4L-WorkPersonal Trainer•

I think this is the reason. This happened to me at work a few weeks ago. People would not come near me, and i felt like if anyone did I would rip their head off.

went home, took a cold shower and was fine.

2
menuitem★★★•

I'm in the opposite direction. Since beginning working out about 8 months ago, I feel calmer and less excitable.

5
darkdonnieBodybuilding (Recreational)•

Me too. I find the gym to be a great outlet for stress and frustration.

2
dammitmanion•

IMHO: You're depressed, or just had a bad day that day... Now you have confidence in yourself and your physique you express anger and frustration externally instead of internally. You did it because you could. Everyone does it from time to time. Ask anyone who's done a combative sport...you get tempted to use those skills. Don't stress out about it, but keep that shit in check.

I had almost the exact same experience. It's neither bad or good. It just is. Know it's there, know when to use it, know when it could put you in a world of shit.

As for actually controlling it....google Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness. There's tons of resources linked on wikipedia and on reddit. Seriously consider taking up a grappling sport or just hitting the punching bag for a while. Take a deep breath 'cause you're human like the rest of us. Good luck.

PS....If you've never been in a fight and actually got in one without knowing how to handle yourself against a trained opponent, you'd be fucked. Technique is everything.

4
[deleted]•

When people do genuinely stupid things, I turn into a completely different person. A few months ago I was walking along with my girlfriend and our son (2 years) and I was keeping a close eye on traffic, as dads do since sons can't. Out of nowhere, this white truck's ignition sounds and before I can fix my sight on the sound, the fucking thing is backing out of a parking space, right the fuck at us. So I grab my kid, start hopping backward out of the way and hand my son to my girlfriend, and just start yelling at this fucking old guy in the truck like I'm about to rip out his bones and stab his wife with them. I had an urge to smash his window, reach in and shake him. Instead he just looked at me like he was working on the worst shit ever, suddenly punched a fist into his window with his middle finger up, and drove off like an asshole as every car around us honked at his disgraceful driving. I felt like the blood rushing through my body was itching or something. I needed to chase after that truck and fucking throw it 1000 feet.

Moments before I was just bullshitting with my kid, then out of nowhere, I'm not in my head anymore. This scary, fearless, angry, stupid version of me comes out.

So, long story short... I think I know exactly how you feel.

3
xtc46Power Lifting (Competitive), Hulk Smash (Recreational)•

Confidence. Working out give it to you.

Are you taking any supplements?

2
trihardOP•

Supplements? Umm... Beta-Alanine, Sports Legs, glucosamine chondroitin, multivitamin and sometimes caffeine?

1
xtc46Power Lifting (Competitive), Hulk Smash (Recreational)•

meh, probabaly just the excess energy and agression that comes from working out.

Im similar. I get really agressive if I work out a lot.

1
[deleted]•

I absolutely yelled at someone to, "MOVE YOUR MOTHERFUCKING CAR!" then when they ask, "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" I repeated myself with absolute authority.

This is the daily life of someone in New York. I wouldn't chalk this up to rage.

2
trihardOP•

I wouldn't chalk this up to rage.

I don't live in New York. I have never felt like I did today. I have never wanted to rip off someone's head like that.

If this is daily life in New York, I really don't understand it. Why don't people just take other people into consideration? All I needed was for him to move his car one or two extra feet to the side so he didn't block me in. Just be polite, move two feet, hug the curb, done. But no... The asshole refused.

I often pick my friend up down that street. I WILL wait in the street for her to get out there... However, the moment another car pulls up behind me, I either circle around, pull over, or park in a proper parking space. I never intentionally inconvenience another person. I don't understand anyone who would.

3
[deleted]•

If this is daily life in New York, I really don't understand it

I was recently stuck in traffic behind an appliance delivery truck. In the span of 1 minute the entire street was filled with cars idling behind the delivery truck that was blocking an unassuming residential street. That's how busy it can get in Brooklyn in the span of 1 minute, imagine what it's like in Manhattan.

The people honked and yelled for him to 'move the fuck out of the way' but the delivery people were installing a dishwasher in some random house. So a lady in a car took it upon her self to walk up and down the street, find the house the delivery was being made to, knock on the door and proceed to tell the guys to move their shit right now.

I would say in a circumstance like this, it's a question of patience and the desire to confront people that are oblivious to the existence of other people. I would say this scenario is played out every 20 seconds in a place as big and crowded as New York. So don't feel like you're RAGING or this is your problem you were most likely dealing with someone that can't grasp that fact that he's sharing the Earth with other living people, which is completely his own problem.

2
InappropriateIcicle•

Were you hungry? Everyone always thinks I'm high because I'm so laid back, but when I'm hungry I'll bite your fucking head off and smile about it.

2
trihardOP•

Were you hungry?

Nope, I had just eaten.

1
edubationTricking•

I don't know if its because the real world has soured me somewhat, exercise has emboldened me, my job, or if age has matured me, but yeah, I do feel that rage come around a bit more. I almost fought a roommate once, and I also learned what "carrying stress" means. I could feel it in my eyes sometimes.

Never really transferred over into the gym too much.

2
TouchedByAnAnvil•

I've felt the same way: more aggressive, more diciplined, less tolerance for weakness in others.

I theorised it could be bodyfat related. As you go into calorie deficit perhaps you awaken "starvation mode" thinking? I guess try and work out the dynamics of a tribe all experiencing hunger and working down stored bodyfat. Opposite of a "Jolly fat man" which may be true as well. Does having a different level of bodyfat, or losing/gaining bodyfat have a big hormonal effect? Have there been studies on the mental effects of this?

Or it could be because I have developed a sense of dicipline while sticking to doing fitness, and power, ability and looks that come out of it, which altered my sense of self.

2
DSLJohn•

Maybe its your diet? Sometimes when my calories are low I fel like ripping someone's head off.

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
0x7fff5fbff7a8•

Like a boss.

1
Nwolfe•

Actually I've found the opposite to be true. I used to have slight rage problems (all internal, never acted upon) but I think working out is providing an outlet. Try not to kill any one though, you'll make fittit look bad.

0
killstructo•

I use to have anger issues. Really if you cant control yourself then you have a problem. You didn't hit anybody so its basically you chickening out, but good for you and your mochoness, jeez chill out testicle man.

-1