Congrats on taking the first step into the weight room! That, for me, was the hardest part. I was one of those "I must get fitter before I work out on the weights area of the gym" and did a lot of my beginning workouts at home with the help of my husband. Then I just started going and doing the workout....tuning everyone else out.

The more you go, the more competent you will feel! It just takes some time, but after a few weeks, it will be so easy to just walk right into the weight room and grab an empty squat rack.

What she said!

It does come and you wil fee more confiden! Many of us have been and are in your shoes - I'm still an overweight chubby girl myself, but I go 3x a week and walk right into that weight room cause I know I am there for only one reason - for me.

So that's what helps me, knowing it doesn't matter what the hell everyone else is thinking, cause this is seriously a solo project.

Good luck! You can do it!

I just started last night - I was so nervous but did it anyway because I promised my friends (and myself) that I would. There were a bunch of young guys in there (I'm 34) and they didn't pay any attention to me at all. They just did their bicep curls, and I did my thing. It felt great! I've found that most people are thinking about themselves and maybe worrying about what you think of them, not really worried about what you are doing.

I'm a 5'3" seriously overweight chic in a room full of guys. So yea, I totally get where you are coming from.

This is what I did:
I read everything posted in this group
I googled videos on form for all the exercises
I asked questions
I went with a friend to start, though most of the time I'm alone
I went in and just tried. I even asked questions of the guys that make me nervous

But you know what, after a couple weeks of going and forcing myself to just do it, I started noticing it was the same guys in there over and over. And I started thinking, even if they dismissed me at first, they can't deny that I keep showing up. And I keep trying. And after a while, you forget about them, concentrate on yourself and you just keep going.

You can do it. Confidence is hard, but you can earn it, you can build it, You just have to keep trying.

But you know what, after a couple weeks of going and forcing myself to just do it, I started noticing it was the same guys in there over and over. And I started thinking, even if they dismissed me at first, they can't deny that I keep showing up. And I keep trying. And after a while, you forget about them, concentrate on yourself and you just keep going.

Totally. And those guys know me and they know I'm not playing around in there. I've even had one guy tell me he thinks its cool that I've always got a plan and a reason for why I'm doing what I do (when he hears me talking to whoever I'm there with, on the days I have a workout buddy).

And also - re: your comment that all the guys in the weight room know what they're doing? No they don't. That helped my husband a LOT - sounds kinda *****y but it did help. He's like you, he HATES the idea that he might be doing something "wrong" and someone will notice, but I spent the first few weeks pointing out all the totally STUPID **** people are doing in there and he felt a lot better. Which, makes no sense. but I guess since I had established myself as the most judgemental person in the room and then told him he was doing well (And we made form corrections for each other as needed) maybe he figured he couldn't be judged any more harshly than by me?

Just watch all the guys doing bouncing swinging curls or shoulder raises because they picked up WAY more weight than they can actually curl. And the guys who do their bench presses 1/3 of the way down and stop because if they actually got that weight anywhere near their chest - or even had to bend their elbows more than a few degrees - they'd never get it back up. And the guys who wear lifting belts to do curls or cable pulls. Or the guys who grab a ridiculously heavy barbell and think they are shrugging it even though they're really doing some kind of weird shrug/calf raise hybrid. Or the guys who come in, chat with their buddies for an hour, do a million curls, shoulder presses, side bends, and calf raises and then leave without training any big muscles. And the guys doing half or quarter squats because they've either never learned to squat properly or they put so much weight on the bar that they literally couldn't bend any more or they'd collapse.

Ha. >_> Oh man. I'm kind of a jerk.

Although the college gym might have a higher ratio of actual athletes that know how to train? But still - EVERYONE who knows how to train properly was a beginner at some point and everyone else doesn't know what they're doing, so they sure as heck can't be judging you anyway. I probably could have just said this part and not exposed how b*tchy I am. Ha.

Fake confidence until you feel it. I love being a little raft of estrogen in a sea of testosterone .

And if that doesn't work imagine you are better at sex than they are....

You probably ARE, to be fair....

A guy said something like this on a similar thread posted on the main forum: if guys in the weight room are thinking anything about it, it's either (a) they are impressed and think it's awesome you are lifting heavy; (b) they are intimidated and feel like they need to step up their game in front of the girl; or (c) they appreciate the eye candy. Most likely, they don't think anything at all!

You are rockin' it. Keep it up woman!

^^ This.

I'm going to post this in the January check in, but I think it's relevant to this as well.

Last night I was doing my SL routine and I knew I was going to be near fail on my bench press after my first set. This was also the moment I've been dreading - I had to ask a guy to spot me. I had to talk to one of the beefcakes. It took me a few extra breaths - but there were a couple guys just shooting the *kitten* by the squat racks and I finally got up the courage to just ask them "Hey sorry - but can one of you spot me?" and they were so incredibly nice about it. The guy who ended up helping was actually like "I think it's awesome when I see a girl in here using barbells because it never happens and it's the best workout". He helped me through the rest of my four sets - the entire time - and now I know that I can do it. And yeah - I think that there is no reason in the world to be intimidated anymore because they are just in awe of us and what we are trying and can do.

Probably one of my best experiences weight lifting wise.

This is so inspiring. Thank you. :-)