So yesterday I went a little wild on the elliptical. I'm taking a boot camp class and my cardiovascular endurance is like off the chart, so I thought I was fine. When I got off my legs almost buckled because my calves were dead. I woke up this morning extremely sore, and now I feel intense anxiety for no reason. This isn't the first time this has happened. If I work out to the point of getting reeeally sore, for some reason I get all anxious and my palms sweat and I feel like something bad is going to happen. I know nothing will, so its mostly just annoying. It's very, very strange. Maybe its some evolutionary thing like if a predator tried to get me I wouldn't be as able to run/fight it off so my body wants me to hide haha. Has anyone experienced this before or am I a freak?

I like the predator theory, thats actually really interesting.

I used to get that anxiety, but mostly because I was thinking ok I felt fine and today Im sore, maybe Im not doing as well as I thought I was if I feel like this today.
When in reality, i was sore because I challeneged myself to do MORE than I could before

No, I always laugh at my really sore muscles. They make me feel both proud and annoyed at the same time, so all I can do is laugh.

But I don't think you're a freak. I think you're awesome! Cardio endurance off the chart? Wahoo!! I'd love to be able to say that!! My cardio always feels it way before the muscles ever really get involved. I have to lift to get the muscles involved.

Congratulations for kicking some major butt on your workout! I haven't had anxiety for that reason, but I have been a long time sufferer of anxiety so I understand, I've had anxiety for all kinds of reasons, sometimes even for no reason. :P Anxiety is the pits!

Well, for me it's off the charts. I can work out really hard for a really long time and I'm fine. It's actually weird that 15 minutes doing a hill setting on the elliptical did that to me when I can run for an hour and feel fine haha.

And thanks guys. It's sooo weird. Maybe my predatory theory is right, or maybe it's just my body's way of telling me to take it easy today. *shrug* My body has a weird way of handling things.

A LOT of weird things can cause anxiety issues. I saw a therapist for my anxiety problems a few years ago and he asked me to keep a record of when the episodes happened. Many of them were precipitated by some kind of bodily discomfort--a minor stomach ache, cramps, the beginnings of a cold.

According to him, people prone to panic and anxiety episodes often find that physical changes, even minor ones, precede them. Just knowing that helped ease my panic; knowing that fact meant I could apply a little reason to my incipient anxiety attack.

Another thing to remember (and this has helped me tremendously) is that once an anxiety episode starts up, you're stuck for a little while with the chemical cocktail that it causes your body to shoot into your bloodstream. The adrenaline doesn't just evaporate, so you'll experience some symptoms after the initial onset, even after you feel mentally calmer.

Thinking about panic attacks in terms of physiology really helped me, so I hope it's some help to you to consider this side effect of exercise pestersome, but normal.