I do my cardio at the gym and my lifting at home. I am on week 3 of stage 1. I am not sure I will ever be comfortable enough to do the weights in the gym. I will use the machines but the free weights i do at home.I do wish you luck and you find your bravery deep within!

I am a little uncomfortable, but I am so happy with the changes in my body that the feeling that everyone is looking at me makes me work harder. I will give them a reason to look!

jamkat had a great idea. If a trainer isn't available, try a friend who lifts to walk you through it. I plan on checking form with the coaches at my school later this month.

Good luck! You can do it!!!

I can totally understand how you feel. I was sooo nervous at first. I have to say that it helped me massively to get a trainer from the gym to go through the moves with me, I am not sure if I would have done it on my own. Get a trainer to go through it with you. It's almost like having someone taking you by the hand. I felt I had a good reason to be there with him. Yesterday was my first time on my own in the weight section. I was nervous at first but at the same time I felt proud being the only woman in the weight section. And yes people might look at you but not in a bad way or anything. I think they are just interested in what you're doing as it is unusual for them to see just keep that in mind. Overall though I think guys are impressed with a woman being there.
I now know that the program will not just make me physically stronger but also mentally because I had to move out of my comfort zone. Just go and do it and you will feel so proud afterwards!

For my first few workouts, I went to the gym on off peak times - Saturdays and Sundays late morning and after 7:30pm during the week. Now that I'm more comfortable, I don't mind going during busier times but I actually prefer not having to race home after work to change and then rush off to the gym. So I've been sticking to the off peak times.

Are you able to hire a personal trainer or instructer at your gym for a 1 hour session? You could bring your book and ask him/her to show you around the weights and help you with your form on the A and B workouts for Stage 1. That should help you to gain enough confidence to listen when you repeat your "nobody is watching you, nobody cares what you are doing" mantra.

Good luck! You can do it!!!

^^^ this exactly.

I was terrified to move downstairs where the big bad boys play (actually they seem to stand around and chat). So I asked to be shown all the moves from a trainer for Stage 1, and then try and go when it's less busy.

I'm still nervous, and was ultra nervous when I was only lifting the Oly bar but really, I think they are only looking at me because I am a woman and they clearly have never seen such a thing in the gym. Given time, I am hopeful they wil be looking at me and thinking I am a HOT woman.......

I'm not sure I'm even up to the oly bar for squats - I was going to do BW only. And I know I can't do 15 x press ups on the floor yet- the gym doesn't have a thing to do them on:(

So I have decided I will do those two at home just before going out (I cycle to the gym as my cardio warm up so the work out will still be continuous in a way), but will just bite the bullet for the other exercises. A bit terrified about the prone jack-knifes as I've never tried them, and am not very co-coordinated (borderline dyspraxic)..... but will have to suck it and see I s'pose. Hopefully I'll see a pretty good improvement quickly and will be able to transfer all exercises to the gym in a few weeks.

I am due to go back again tomorrow evening, so will let you know if I manage it.....

Good for you! :happy:

I couldn't handle the Oly bar on day 1 for squats either, so I did them with just body weight. Then I did the Smith (d'oh!) before I even figured out what the squat rack was (it looks different than the cage-style ones I'd seen online), and it was workout A3 before I tried the Oly bar, and probably didn't have good form my first few times with that (not sure if I made it quite to parallel or not). By the end of stage 1 though, I was pretty confident I was using good form, and I was up to 70 lb. total by then (45 bar + 15 on each side).

On the jackknives, I also fell off the ball during workout A1. Twice. All you can do is just get back on and try again. If anyone laughs or judges you, just try to forget it, and know you will get better at them as your balance & core get stronger.

*I've fallen off a treadmill, too. Not even running. I think I was walking @ 3.5 mph, but took a classic spill. You get up, pretend it never happened, have a little laugh at yourself, and move on, IMO.

Hang in there.

Yay!!! I'm so happy for you! Well done!

Well done MrsAgi. It's a great feeling isn't it when you overcome your nerves. I was sooo nervous yesterday about the squats and did 3 laps of the free weights area before I finally approached and asked someone to help me get set up with an olympic bar. I also went out and bought a really cheap yoga ball to get the hang of jacknives before I went to the gym.

Bring on the B workout tomorrow!