Share Your Experience with Going to the Gym with Tinnitus

Since my T onset six months ago, I've stayed away from the gym, since the music seems awfully loud. But my body is telling me I need to get back to training. It's not just a question about getting to feel better or having my life back or whatever. My right knee has started to make funny noises, which indicates there's a cartilage degneration coming on. (No suprise since my right leg is a little bit longer than the left one, which causes strain. Unless I train properly, I'll fall the fuck apart.)

So ... today I visited no less than six gyms in the nearby town, hoping to find a fairly quiet one. It worked out poorly. I spent perhaps 5-10 minutes in four of them to confirm that they were too loud. The two others seemed too loud as well, but still a little bit better, so I stayed for maybe half an hour at each. At one of the gyms, they must have turned up the volume, changed the song or something, because suddenly the music felt hurtful. Stubborn as I am, I finished two exercises before I left.

All the time, I was wearing fresh foam earplugs inserted so they entered the inner ear channel, and noise cancelling headphones. But I'm still a bit worried that I overdid things. That bloody music has a lot of bass to it, which means there's room for me to get paranoid about bone conduction

In short, I'd appreciate if TT-members could share their experience on going to the gym with T. Do you do it or do you avoid it? If you do, are you fine with the volume of the music? Have you had any problems with T getting aggravated? Do you wear earprotection and what kind? Etcetera.

 

Gyms I've been to in my area didn't have music playing luckily. I didn't know a lot of gyms have music, that would annoy me a bit.

 

How loud is it? I was over plugging for a long time and too loud was everywhere. Once my ENT talked me into once again exposing myself to louder noises I started to realize what once was too loud wasn't too loud.

Simply playing with wood blocks with my son was painful to my ears. Now he can smack them together and it doesn't bother me at all. Amazing since before it was painful. Same for his cries or a sudden screem.

While a DB reader app on your phone might not be the best. They will still give you an idea of how loud the place is. Download one and test the sound levels

I haven't been to a gym in years since I hate them. Having a home gym is the best thing we've ever done health wise. However back when I use to hit the gym, never once has the music been too loud.

My guess is the gyms I've been to were in the 80-85db range. Between the music and background noise like people talking and working out.

 

Do you have enough space in your place? You could buy some kettlebells and work out at home or at the park.

 

I love my iron master setup. adjustable dumbbells and an awesome bench that allows you to do damn near anything you want and takes up very little space. Lifetime warranty too! We have a full iron master setup in our house, smith machine and all. Love their products and they have more than paid for themselves. both saving on membership fees and time.

45 minutes is about what it takes for me to do a full workout. If I go to a gym, it's closer to 90-120 minutes due to drive time, waiting for what I want to do to be free, and people being my best friend every other set... Hey whats up man!!! *sigh...*

Question is, is the gyms too loud or not? If so, whos to say setting down a rack of weights at a home gym wont make him cringe? I know when I was over protecting it would bother me. I had to be suppppper careful. Lifting to failure is pretty much impossible due to the noise it makes.

 

Regular gym visits have been instrumental to my mental well being, both in terms of tinnitus, and in terms of the myriad of benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms I've endure over the past 2 years.

The gym I go to is in a very professional, upscale part of town, and in general is not crazy loud. The music in the general weight room and machine rooms is not at a volume that bothers me at all; in fact, it's much quieter than people occaisionally dropping weights and grunting and the like.

I will say that there are some classes in the exercise studio rooms, which blast loud trance music. I have never tried to go inside those classes, and don't imagine I'd be able to tolerate it without earplugs.

 

Thanks for your input. I don't know how noisy the gyms are, but since it was a place I used to go to all the time before T, I was surprised to learn just how bloody loud everything seemed. There's no way it surpassed 90 db, and the protection I was wearing should have cut at least 20-25 db, so it seems strange if there were any further harm done. But it sure as hell felt hurtful and my T spiked the fallowing day.

 

I'm having a very bad spike today after being out last night... I was at a restaurant where I obsessively clocked the volume level as ~74 dB average, 80 dB peak, none the less I wore earplugs pretty much the entire time I was there, and yet things are still crazy loud today compared to a couple days ago.

I'm very, very sure I didn't do any harm to myself with volume last night, but am starting to think that my auditory system just does not like it when I wear earplugs for an extended period. So, avoiding those situations may be my gameplan for a while.

 

It's hard to figure out, isn't it? Common sense says that a structure that's already injured should be more prone to further damage, so the limits that apply for others need not to apply for us. On the other hand, if the sound volume was no higher than 80 db AND you were wearing earplugs, how on earth could there have been done damage? Like I wrote earlier, there's no way the sound level in the gym exceeded 90 db (that would have made me roll on the floor by pain), I had effective foam earplugs properly inserted and carried headphones that should have added some extra protection. We should be safe enough.

Still, our ears react poorly, and if the body tells you to stop doing something, more often than not you better pay attention.

Honestly, I struggle to stay motivated. I wonder if I may have a talent for apathy, would I give it a chance.

 

I totally agree with that, so then the takeaway I get is: there are things which can (at least temporarily) spike my tinnitus, without causing any additional damage to my hearing. And, as much as that sucks, it makes sense, because my tinnitus is much, much more significant than my (very minimal) hearing loss.

 

I can fallow that logic, but even so, I'd advice you to play it as safe as you can.

 

Prior to T I worked out in the gym for years. Then I slowly started to getting equipment so that I could train at home as well. In the end I quit the gym. Essentially I figured I can do everything at home and outdoor when ever I feel like it. Best it's for free.

Unless of course you are interested in learning some new techniques like martial arts etc than going to a gym and learn them for some time makes sense. Once you have learned enough you can meet with friends and train outdoor for free again. Of course, if you go to gym for socializing it's a different story.

 

Why else would anyone want to go? lol