# Anybody here ever exercise compulsively? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-ever-exercise-compulsively/476265 "2008-12-08T17:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-ever-exercise-compulsively/476265/21 "2008-12-10T00:49:31Z")
Not exactly compulsive, but I feel strong negative emotions when I don’t walk. I walk to and from work every day–a 7 mile commute–representing about 2 hours of constant moving and mental “zone out”. It’s become as routine as sleeping or eating. So yeah, when I don’t get it I feel bad. Sometimes I make up for missed hours on the weekends by walking twice as much as I normally would. I’m kind of proud of this, however. For years exercise was an absolute drudgery for me, and now it’s a very well engrained habit that I don’t even have to think about. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-ever-exercise-compulsively/476265/22 "2008-12-11T02:26:35Z")
I’m not a compulsive person. If I were, I’d probably be an alcoholic or other druggie by now, considering my family and genetic background. Still, since I’ve been exercising regularly for the last couple of years, if I haven’t been able to exercise for a few days I do get antsy and probably annoying to be around. I spent a day rained in when on a trip with friend in Nepal after having been pretty active for a few days in a row. If he hadn’t been bedridden with intestinal distress and sleeping most of the time I probably would have driven him nuts. As it was, I did an improvised workout in our room. It pisses me off when I can’t get in a workout due to external events, partly because I can’t actually do a 3-on 1-off schedule like I would like to. I’ve only been able to do an average of 3 days a week most of the time, and that means that I’m roughly a year behind where I would be if I could do that ideal schedule. I would be in awesome shape instead of just pretty good. Anything that cuts into the limited time I do have is intellectually and physically bothersome. For those of you who feel compelled to exercise, remember that longer is not necessarily better. Volume should take a back seat to intensity most of the time. If you’re a fitness fanatic, you’ll probably have to force yourself to not exercise on your off days. Keep your rest days sacrosanct. It’ll pay off big if you do. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-ever-exercise-compulsively/476265/23 "2008-12-11T10:43:05Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Do you have 6-pack abs? I’ve always been warned that if you do it _every_ day your muscles never have time to grow. So I do my sit-ups/push-ups every 2-3 days instead. I’ve heard that too, also that doing hundreds of reps is pretty pointless as abs are like any other muscle and beyond a certain number of reps (30 or so) you’re just working fatigued muscles. But then I don’t have a six pack so can’t speak from any experience. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-ever-exercise-compulsively/476265/24 "2008-12-14T16:55:27Z")
High-rep ab work has been debunked ages ago. Abs are like most other muscles in that they respond (grow) to heavy resistance at moderate reps. Situps are a low-resistance excercise that one adapts to very quickly, so getting a bulging sixpack by hundred rep crunch schemes isn’t gonna happen. Many 6-pack donning muscleheads do nothing directly to their abs, but rely on heavy squatting and deadlifting to take care of them. Low bodyfat is a must for an ab-tastic figure, as everyone knows, achieved by diet and bodyfat-shedding excercise, which situps or crunches are not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-ever-exercise-compulsively/476265.md?page=1)