Clarice Chastang cannot live without exercising.

After running cross-country in high school, the sophomore communication sciences and disorders major has continued with an intensive workout regimen into college. She is training for a triathlon in the spring, which will cause her to diversify her training, but Chastang’s obsession is primarily with running.

“It’s kind of a mindset, and I don’t know if it’s just myself under the illusion of it, but if I don’t go for a run I feel cranky and angsty later during the day,” Chastang said. “If I don’t do it, I feel horrible later.”

Addiction is not confined to the realm of intoxicant intake. Seemingly healthy acts, such as working out to achieve physical perfection, can be addictive in nature as well.

Chastang’s fears regarding the intensity of her workout regimen aren’t about over exerting herself mentally. Instead, she worries that she might do something that will complicate her knee and ankle, which will prevent her from working out. Chastang injured her ankle and knee running cross-country, and reigniting those injuries is a thought that scares her.

She refers to herself as a “lone wolf” in the sense that she doesn’t know many people who share her need to constantly work out.

A place like Boulder, Colo., largely concerned with health and wellness in everyday life, she said, would be more suited to her needs.

“Hopefully I can move somewhere like there and keep up this lifestyle,” Chastang said. “Maybe a little better.”

Nikki Herbert, a staff member at Planet Fitness on South Main Street since July, thinks a workout based on running, even if done daily, is not a cause for concern. Exercises that incorporate a variety of muscles and don’t place unnecessary strain on just one group do not warrant much rest time, she said.

For Herbert, danger in working out excessively is a habit that is only commonly seen in body builders.

“It’s healthy, but the people that aren’t eating anything to work out and get that muscle mass —  that’s when the whole thing gets unhealthy,” she said.

Christina Cavacas, a staff member of another Planet Fitness located on West Genesee Street, has been working at the gym since August of this year, but has been a member for the past four years. Cavacas, a self-described workout fanatic, recently changed her personal regimen after realizing that rest days are necessary for a healthy body and mind.

Since her own philosophy about working out has changed, Cavacas said she has noticed an unhealthy level of dedication in some of the gym’s members, and one member in particular.

The man Cavacas felt concern for comes into the gym all seven days a week and puts in a five-hour workout each day.

Cavacas and her staff finally felt it necessary to approach the man, and ask him in a tactful manner why he felt he needed to spend so much time at the gym. The man told Cavacas that putting in the time in the gym helped him deal with other problems taking place in his life.

While she didn’t disagree directly with the gym member, Cavacas offered a slightly different explanation for why people get so drawn into fitness regimens.

“Personally, I think it’s an adrenaline high,” she said.

Cavacas noted that the people who worked out were not the types who would succumb to devices such as alcohol, tobacco or other addictive drugs, but still craved the rush.

“I think fitness is for people who get a different high off of it,” she said.

Cavacas sees the benefits of health and fitness and describes herself as fitness obsessed, but she understands there is a line that can be crossed.

She has seen the dangers of fitness lovers over-exerting themselves. For herself, she aims to be better about realizing that it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Said Cavacas: “I knew that I was overdoing it at times, being here for three hours at time. I’m doing my own research and seeing that it’s not a healthy choice to do.”

Published on November 5, 2012 at 1:51 am

Contact Chelsea: cedebais@syr.edu | @CDeBaise124