Anyone with a similar experience?

frando

During a work break today I was sitting with a work college I went to school with. The topic turned to what we did yesterday- I explained with great gusto the time I had at the gym and how I was enjoying getting fit. She then asked 'How come you like to exercise now but hated it at school?'

I was rather large back at school and having to change in front of the slim pretty, regularly *****y, popular girls wasn't enough the teachers picked on me regularly (I'm unsure if that's my warped view or it was true). Anyway I had an awful time, and would protest how I could- when I was made to sprint/run/hurdle I would purposefully walk (at one time I even attempted to moon walk).

Finally I replied 'Because when I'm at the gym it's on my own terms. It's me, my music and the machine- no one else."

Anyone else with the same feelings? Or experiences?

SuperSexyDork

When I was in school, I hated gym from the 6th grade up until 11th grade pretty much.

Elementary school was pretty fun stuff... I played football and soccer at recess, etc.

But in the 5th grade I put on a lot of weight (emotional eating took hold) and discovered I had asthma and just thought that I was doomed.

I'd always liked running but couldn't do it. I couldn't breathe and I was FAT! In the 6th grade, I was 5'7" and 225 lbs.

In the 11th grade, I enrolled in a class called personal fitness. The teacher was brilliant. The class was all girls and we were all the "misfits" that didn't think we could cut it in other classes. We had to be approved to join (having health issues was typically the ticket to get in- think asthma, obesity, disabilities) and we were all really, really accepting of everyone else. The grades for the class were based on setting personal goals and achieving them. Our teacher went out of her way to help everyone make reasonable goals and find ways to achieve them.

I lost 20 pounds and could finally run a mile non-stop despite believing that my asthma would always keep me down.

Unfortunately, after that I made some bad lifestyle decisions and got away from that but I still think it laid the groundwork for my enjoyment of physical activity now. It was also a great introduction to the basics of nutrition. I wish everyone could have had the same opportunity.

lovelyMYlovely

well whenever u are starting to do better for urself there will always be someone who will envy you and wanna bring u down.. because they are jealous... u used to be chubby and now ur working on it. when ever people see someone getting happy a part of them gets jealous because maybe they dont feel so happy with themselves.. it doesnt matter when u change just as long as u are changing and making that effort! god 4 u.. yes i had many friends who would envy me even for things such as pregnancy and shoes and hair.....

Alex_is_Hawks

i enjoyed Gym until about grade 6...that was when puberty hit and well...the boobs got a LOT bigger, the worry about trying to figure out my cycle and would TODAY be the day I get it?

the boys goggling, the gym teacher making fun of my sudden lack of coordination....probably because he didn't know what to do with a suddenly big chested klutzy girl any more than I did...

I just gave it up....tossed in the towel and didn't give ten fvcks....

it got worse from there...grade 10 was the last grade we HAD to take PE...that year, I was slammed into the cinderblock wall no less than 6 times by boys trying to grope a feel, I had boys putting their d!cks on my shoulder in an effort to be "funny" when we were stretching...

i had a PE teacher that was a (at the time closeted lesbian who has since come out of the closet) who ordered our gym suits all a size too smal...

And a substitute coach (chem teacher) that has since been arrested and charged with having inappropriate relationships with his students...

yeah...it was a nightmare...i didn't like it...i still cringe...

but I remember the satisfaction from doing 8 million burpees, or running a mile...

and I'm trying to get THAT feeling back...

LetsMakeupXtina

Oh man I used to hate gym class... kids can be so cruel... it was awful in middle school, I hated changing in front of all the super skinny girls... i felt so uncomfortable. then in high school i joined the tennis team and got more fit and confident so i didnt mind it so much in high school.. but then after high school i gained some weight.. going to the gym these days though is way different than my gym class experience in middle school.. you're right, it's more on your own terms now!

did anyone else have to do the body fat percentage test in gym class in school? i remember that day like it was yesterday... he called us up one by one and measured our body fat with that gun thing that pinches you.. and did it in front of the entire class... talk about embarrassing... ugh, i hated gym class.

DamnImASexyBitch

I always ditched p.e. class because it was last hour ( and I had study hall and lunch before it ) to go get high in the forrest preserve with my friends. I was probably more physically fit then vs I am now.

frando

One of the things I hated was that we were made to do team sports and the age old 'being picked last' issue. I'm not exactly a team player, I'd rather work by myself then in combination with others. Being forced into playing netball, football, doubles tennis, rounders etc. was just terrible.

I forgot to add that my school started to add an hour of 'Dance' into the curriculum pre-GCSEs so I couldn't opt out of it. It meant leotards which made even the skinny girls look a big. I loathed every minute of it. I got kicked out of it, made to study in the library, as I was rather open about what I felt about the lesson. As it was new we were asked to review it; one question was 'what is your favourite part of the lesson?' to which I answered 'leaving it, it's only [worked out how many hours from the end of the lesson to the start of the next] till my next dance lesson'. The real nail in the coffin as it were was when I realised I got my maths wrong and asked for it back to correct it.

Sometimes I think that school lessons like this ruins sport and exercise for people the same way as it does for Shakespeare. It gets drilled into your head in completely the wrong way so you only think of it badly. It's good to see that a lot of us have turned these bad experience around though.

dValkyrie

I was in the misfit camp and hated the kids I had to take class with. They were always mean to me. My parents never did any exercise or sports so it was a forgone conclusion that PE would be a nightmare. When I can afford a gym membership, I don't mind going as everyone there is in their own zone getting fit. There are no cliques or bullies. I wouldn't mind a little more interaction though. The treadmill is terribly boring without someone to talk to.

LydiaBlanar

We share a similar past. I have always Yoyo-ed with weight and had a love hate relationship with gym class UNLESS it was contact sports.. I just turned 40 and It's amazing what happens when you decide to do things for yourself with nothing else behind it. My parents are aging, the roles are reversed and I see them declining. I want to be as healthy as I can to embrace the next 40 with grace. I am not sure at what precise moment my perceptions changed but I remember thinking differently about training when I joined a real gym in my 20s where people cared about health and not hooking up. Good luck with your journey...I need to get back on track after the holidays!:)

LydiaBlanar

I loved reading your stories:) Congratulations on your incredible weight loss! From Montreal..

MissKalhan

Growing up I would get super chubby then hit a growth spurt, this went on for many years. I was super self conscious,nerdy and out of shape. I have asthma soback then it was a huge crutch for me in elementary school. Once I hit high school I found a sport that I fell in love with and actually did good in, wrestling was my saving grace. I got into working out and huge into contact sports, quite a few injuries later I had to stop, drs orders. Gained again over the 2 years after high school and then started losing again, I'm now starting to enjoy running and I'm working on building the muscle in my shoulders so I can go back into boxing and grappling.

LaurySch

Finally I replied 'Because when I'm at the gym it's on my own terms. It's me, my music and the machine- no one else."

This.

I too hated gym, thought I was just naturally bad at every sport/activity and didn't even give myself a chance to see if I enjoyed it. Which is supposed to be the point, right? I also hated the publicity and comparisons - I couldn't do a single chin-up and I was probably the only one in the whole grade who couldn't. Didn't help that the teacher kept telling me to try and do at least one while everyone else stared and waited to beat the current record.

Now I encourage my kids to challenge themselves and not compare themselves to the others no matter what the other kids or teachers do or say. I wish I'd been brave enough to actually try some of the sports because I find that I really enjoy them now, even though I'm still pretty awful it's more fun. My son summed it up when he spent his Grade 7 year on the basketball team (small school, they needed warm bodies :happy: ) and told me that he wasn't going to play the next year because he liked playing when it was just fun, but the other guys were too worried about winning for his taste!!

jess393

I'm the complete opposite, haha. I was always the chubby girl that was totally hardcore picked on growing up, but never in gym class! It was my favorite class in school. And NOW, even though I enjoy the gym, I don't feel like the same as I did when I was a kid

i_am_kate

We share a similar past. I have always Yoyo-ed with weight and had a love hate relationship with gym class UNLESS it was contact sports.. I just turned 40 and It's amazing what happens when you decide to do things for yourself with nothing else behind it. My parents are aging, the roles are reversed and I see them declining. I want to be as healthy as I can to embrace the next 40 with grace. I am not sure at what precise moment my perceptions changed but I remember thinking differently about training when I joined a real gym in my 20s where people cared about health and not hooking up. Good luck with your journey...I need to get back on track after the holidays!:)

40?! I wouldn't have picked you for 30 max.

As for sport in school, most of the time I'd go to class with a note I'd bribed my mum into writing explaining why I couldn't do it. We were forced to wear skirts for phys ed, and being in a class with hormonal boys was not fun. Nor was it fun trying to keep up with the other girls and then at the end of the lesson having them ask why I was so slow.

KittyViolet

Screw Gym class. It has nothing to do with what real fitness and exercise are about. I hated every waking moment of it, except for when I got to bull rush the other girls into the wall during floor hockey. Of course I got in trouble, but hey, what do you want me to do? Elementary school was co-ed, and those boys roughed me up something fierce on the asphalt. Not my problem if some dainty little snots can't take a tackle or slapshot.

Anyway, the onyl Gym class I really enjoyed was grade 7 and 8. We had an older, stocky little Scottish woman as our teacher and she was hella FUN. She had the waist of 3 girls put together, but she ran laps around us, even the cross-country athletes. She once had us learn square-dancing as a class. She never judged, never pointed fingers, never picked on, singled out, or put down anyone. And then real high school hit.

Grade 10 and 11 Gym classes were taught by the most useless, snobby, out-of-shape windbag you will ever meet. I remember one class consisting entirely of pilates. Not even 15 minutes into the workout, I looked over my shoulder to see our wonderful "teacher" had already given up and was sitting on the sidelines. She couldn't do ANY of the things she made us do. She had a penchant for picking on students who weren't exactly athletic (ME, dur). And she FORCED you to do that s***. You could have been lying on the floor in a puddle of your own blood and she'd yell at you to keep running. She actually made a girl cry (she's terrified of heights) because she forced her up a tree at a zip-lining place and wouldn't let her come down, threatening to fail her for the entire year if she didn't do the stupid obstacle course. Not a single person in my class, maybe even the school, even remotely liked her. She was a witch and a half. I never got anything higher than low 70s in Gym class with this crazy woman in charge. Honestly, I didn't care. Gym could go suck a lemon for all I cared.

kimosabe1

I think that is a great way to look at it...........

jerbear1962

wow so many of us didn't like gym class...I hated those presidential tests they forced on us. How many pull-ups, sit-ups, how fast can you run. I wasn't huge in school but big enough to not be the best. I'd usually be the anchor of the rope in tug-of-war. I enjoy going to the gym now because it is on my own terms and no one is forcing me to do what everyone else is doing.

xsmilexforxmex

With my job we have mandatory PT. I hate it and while I push myself most of the time, there's a few excercises I won't and end up behind other people bc That's one of my weaknesses, which in turn gets me more frustrated and less willing to push harder. Bad cycle. But when I work out on my own I go hard and do a lot more than I get from PT. And it's like you said, It's because it's on my terms and I'm not comparing myself to other people.
It's what I want to do and the motivation comes easier that way.

basillowe66

I think you handled it well. But with your present place of working out, I think I would have been honest and told her why you didn't want to change in from=nt of everyone. You faced your problem and aredoing sometnhin about it.

The great thing about working out in a gym, everyone is only interested in themselves. They don't really pay attention to anyone else.

Basil

Freidon

I was chubby and extremely socially awkward. I liked the activities that we could do by ourselves, like jumping rope and Pilates, but hated team activities. Softball, Volleyball, Basketball... hated them. I wasn't good at them, knew I wasn't good at them, and felt awful for letting my team down. Especially since it resulted in the popular girls rolling their eyes and laughing at me.

I had a lot of respect for our PE teacher, though. She took her job seriously and was incredibly fit. She always waved off the kiss-ups, and never singled anyone out unless they were deliberately being lazy. There was one time in Jr. High that we were ordering shirts and some of the other girls hounded me about why I was ordering a large. They were trying to bully me into telling them my weight while being pseudo-nice, with everyone in the locker room listening. The teacher overheard and chewed them out.