For most forms of exercise (cardio, weightlifting, HIIT etc.) there’s a a spectrum of default experiences people can have from feeling a drug-like high to grindingly unpleasant. “Runner’s high” is not a metaphor, and muscle pump while weightlifting can feel similarly good. I recommend experimenting to find what’s pleasant for you, though I’d guess valence of exercise is, unfortunately, quite correlated across forms.
Another axis of variation is the felt experience of music. “Music is emotional” is something almost everyone can agree to, but, for some, emotional songs can be frequently tear-jerking and for others that never happens.
Weight lifters feeling “pumped” is similarly literal. I get this from rock climbing more often than lifting, but after a particularly strenuous climb, your arm muscles feel inflated—they’re engorged with blood. It can take a minute for it to subside.
And here I was thinking it was a metaphor. Like, they feel literally inflated? If I’ve been climbing and I’m tired my muscles feel weak, but not inflated. I’ve never felt that way before.
“Music is emotional” is something almost everyone can agree to, but, for some, emotional songs can be frequently tear-jerking and for others that never happens
I’m now curious if anyone thinks “this gave me chills” is just a metaphor. Music has literally given me chills quite a few times.
I didn’t feel chills from music for a long time, and then started to get them again after doing physical therapy and learning exercises to straighten my back and improve my posture. It was a notable enough change that I reported it to my physical therapists, but I don’t recall how I interpreted it at the time (“I’m getting chills again” vs “chills are real??” or what).
I thought the exercise thing (like runner’s high, feeling pumped, etc) were all metaphors, but I was surprised to learn other people actually felt good after exercise. Whatever it is, I’m missing the mechanics, and exercise is pure duty (so I try to get it doing other things I enjoy, such as walking my dog and chasing children around).
I’ve had the opposite experience with music, when I said a harmony made me feel shivers and the other person didn’t realise I was being literal.
Moreover, both the runner’s high and the pump correlate very obviously with the progress of the training, both in session and in the long term. Most forms of training usually start as grindingly unpleasant, then morph into a physical pump that directly causes emotional pump, and finally go back to mild grind once the body is exhausted.
With a repeatable training regimen this is easy to notice. For example, my runs are almost always 5km distance, and the “emotional high” lasts pretty much exactly between 2km and 4km, in near perfect accordance with my bpm and breath stabilizing.
The “high” is even an useful metric of progress: if the high/pump lasts longer than the middle 1⁄3 of the training, you’re probably making it too easy and not progressing anymore, if it lasts much shorter, you are overdoing it beyond your body’s ability to effectively adjust.
For most forms of exercise (cardio, weightlifting, HIIT etc.) there’s a a spectrum of default experiences people can have from feeling a drug-like high to grindingly unpleasant. “Runner’s high” is not a metaphor, and muscle pump while weightlifting can feel similarly good. I recommend experimenting to find what’s pleasant for you, though I’d guess valence of exercise is, unfortunately, quite correlated across forms.
Another axis of variation is the felt experience of music. “Music is emotional” is something almost everyone can agree to, but, for some, emotional songs can be frequently tear-jerking and for others that never happens.
Weight lifters feeling “pumped” is similarly literal. I get this from rock climbing more often than lifting, but after a particularly strenuous climb, your arm muscles feel inflated—they’re engorged with blood. It can take a minute for it to subside.
Wow I hadn’t even considered people not taking this literally
And here I was thinking it was a metaphor. Like, they feel literally inflated? If I’ve been climbing and I’m tired my muscles feel weak, but not inflated. I’ve never felt that way before.
I’m now curious if anyone thinks “this gave me chills” is just a metaphor. Music has literally given me chills quite a few times.
I bet there are plenty of amusics who understand that other people get a lot out of music emotionally but think that that would be hyperbole: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusia#Social_and_emotional
I didn’t feel chills from music for a long time, and then started to get them again after doing physical therapy and learning exercises to straighten my back and improve my posture. It was a notable enough change that I reported it to my physical therapists, but I don’t recall how I interpreted it at the time (“I’m getting chills again” vs “chills are real??” or what).
I thought the exercise thing (like runner’s high, feeling pumped, etc) were all metaphors, but I was surprised to learn other people actually felt good after exercise. Whatever it is, I’m missing the mechanics, and exercise is pure duty (so I try to get it doing other things I enjoy, such as walking my dog and chasing children around).
I’ve had the opposite experience with music, when I said a harmony made me feel shivers and the other person didn’t realise I was being literal.
Moreover, both the runner’s high and the pump correlate very obviously with the progress of the training, both in session and in the long term. Most forms of training usually start as grindingly unpleasant, then morph into a physical pump that directly causes emotional pump, and finally go back to mild grind once the body is exhausted.
With a repeatable training regimen this is easy to notice. For example, my runs are almost always 5km distance, and the “emotional high” lasts pretty much exactly between 2km and 4km, in near perfect accordance with my bpm and breath stabilizing.
The “high” is even an useful metric of progress: if the high/pump lasts longer than the middle 1⁄3 of the training, you’re probably making it too easy and not progressing anymore, if it lasts much shorter, you are overdoing it beyond your body’s ability to effectively adjust.