Leg Day, The Pelvic Floor, and the Brain Chat That Isn’t Actually Yours.
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Every time I train legs properly, and by properly I mean the kind of session that makes stairs a philosophical problem, I noticed a pattern created - I get flooded with an excessive negative chatter in my mind.
Yup / leg day and a few hours later my brain would start chatting.Not useful chat.
Not “good session, well done.”
More like: A station full of bullies shouting at me alone in the files - background criticism, old emotional noise, a sudden urge to review my entire life like it’s gone terribly wrong.
For a while I thought, brilliant — squats now come with an existential crisis.
Turns out it’s not psychological trauma - it’s wiring.
Here’s the context:
A couple of years ago, I’ve had prostate cancer surgery.
When the anaesthetic wore off, I felt everything that the amazing NHS staff had been done inside my pelvic floor. Not slightly discomfort. Not “manageable”. Proper 100 elephants passing through that region feel like, system-flooding pain.
I’ve also experienced sexual trauma in that same region earlier in life.
And before anyone gets nervous — this isn’t a disclosure piece. I’ve done my process, EMDR, the structured recovery, the lot. This isn’t me processing. This is me explaining you some mechanics that most people don’t like to talk about. Because that region is not neutral territory for anybody.
And if you’ve had surgery, medical procedures, or trauma there, stay with me.
What Leg Day Is Actually Doing.
You think you’re training quats - You are not.
You’re loading:
Adductors
Deep hip flexors
Psoas - the emotional muscles
Pelvic floor
Fascia that’s wired straight into your threat-detection system. Fight or flight yes the get the fuck out of there system.
So you in the gym and when you go heavy and proper, that whole pelvic floor lights up.
Blood flow. Pressure. Neural input.
Your nervous system goes:
“Right. We’re back here again. Everyone awake.”
Your nervous system does not care that you’re in a nice gym with good lighting and a protein shake waiting.
It recognises intensity in a region with history.
That’s.
That’s enough.
The Thoughts Are Not the Problem.
This is the bit that changed everything for me.
Disengage from the narratives.
The thoughts that show up after those sessions?
They’re not deep truths.
They’re commentary trying to explain a body state.
Your chemistry shifts after brutal training:
Cortisol moves.
Adrenaline hangs around.
Inflammation goes up.
Blood sugar drops if you’re under-fuelled.
So the brain goes:
“Wtf ! Why do we feel like this?” And instead of saying, “Because we just did walking lunges that violated several human rights,” it pulls an old file - Trauma.
That file might contain:
Shame.
Failure.
Threat.
Whatever your system learned years ago.
So now it sounds like your life is the issue.
It isn’t.
It’s your pelvic floor saying;
“This area has seen some things.”
This isn’t:
“Training is bad for trauma survivors.”
I train hard. Even in my 50’s I’m not swapping squats for scented candles, no mate.
This is about understanding what’s happening so you don’t start negotiating with intrusive thoughts like me when I didn’t have a clue what was going on.
Nothing is wrong with you.
Your system is doing pattern recognition.
Very efficiently, like ChatGPT.
What I Do Now
Now when the post–leg day brain chat starts, I don’t analyse my childhood or question my direction in life.
I run my protocol:
Eat like an adult.
Slow nasal breathing.
Long exhales.
Deliberately relax the pelvic floor — micro movements - most men live there like they’re permanently bracing for impact.
Warm shower. Ibuprofen.
No heroic cold plunge to prove I’m emotionally invincible.
And — this is the key bit —
I don’t believe the narrative.
Because it’s not a narrative.
It’s a body state looking for a story.
Why I’m Saying This Publicly
Because a lot of strong, capable men are walking around thinking they’re mentally unstable when in reality they’ve just:
Had pelvic surgery
Experienced trauma
Or lived years in a braced, hypervigilant body.
Then they hit heavy lower-body training and the system lights up.
No one explains them the link, so they go silent.
Or they stop training. Or they push harder and get more confused.
You don’t need fixing.
You need context.
Relevant support:
For anyone dealing with the areas mentioned above, these organisations offer confidential help:
Stay tuned - All the Best
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