Anxiety-Driven Exercise

I didn’t realize how much anxiety drove my training until it was gone.

For decades, I thought I was being disciplined.

In reality, I was afraid of not doing enough.

That fear showed up as extra sets, extra exercises, and unnecessary sessions—all of it meant to quiet anxiety, not to create adaptation.

Once the anxiety disappeared, the entire experience changed.

Training became quiet.

No urge to add volume.

No second-guessing whether the session “counted.”

No chasing effort for its own sake.

I’m in the studio every day, and I’m completely comfortable training only once a week.

Because the question is no longer “Did I do enough?”

The question is “Did I deliver a real stimulus?”

When the answer is yes, the session is over.

That is the dividing line:

• Anxiety wants more work.

• Reason wants sufficient stimulus.

If five exercises produce the same result as one, anxiety says to do all five.

Reason says one is enough.

My aim is to help others recognize this difference.

Most call their anxiety “motivation,” ”doing the work,” “discipline.”

They don’t see the fear underneath.

But when anxiety stops driving the process, training becomes honest, efficient, and far more productive.

When you stop running from “not enough,” you can finally train for the right reason: to stimulate change, and no more.