Weight room intimidation

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  • chocochip13
    chocochip13 Posts: 15 Member
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    Just wanted to thank everyone who replied. This is some solid advice, really appreciate it. I definitely know what I'll be doing tonight in that gym!
  • ovidnine
    ovidnine Posts: 314 Member
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    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    Just dive in. Once you get past your own mental-block, you'll find you were nervous about nothing. Rock that weight room!

    This!

    It was hard for me at first because I'm pretty damn insecure. It took some time to get over the insecurities, but its totally worth it.

    And like I reminded my wife, everyone has an equal right to the equipment whether you're squatting the bar or squatting 500lbs, you just have to go in and do it!
  • tillerstouch
    tillerstouch Posts: 608 Member
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    If you're intimidated by the weightlifters don't be. You'd be surprised even the most bro looking macho guys are usually actually super nice and friendly. They just look intense because they are lifting hard.

    Most likely the only way you're being judged is if you're doing something wrong or with terrible form.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    lithezebra wrote: »
    Yes. This is me. I'm doing Strong Curves too, and I can't bring myself to writhe underneath a barbell at the gym to do barbell glute bridges, so I'm stuck at bodyweight glute bridges at home. I go to a super friendly gym, and I'm afraid someone will try to help me.

    Really? I would think the cable pull throughs are the most uncomfortable things in that program. That's literally the only thing I'm not keen on trying in the weight room.

    Anyway, don't be intimidated by other lifters. We all start somewhere. When I see someone new I just get excited for them.
  • sistrsprkl
    sistrsprkl Posts: 1,013 Member
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    It took me a good 2 years to get over my fear of the weights area but I'm SO happy I finally did. It is so empowering and really changing my body in amazing ways. So, just dive right in as pp said. It's worth it. I haven't had many interactions with people while lifting, most positive a couple annoying, but no big thing. Most people are friendly.
  • lisalsd1
    lisalsd1 Posts: 1,520 Member
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    I was the only woman in the weight room today; maybe 6 men in there. Today was deadlift day...I may or may not have screamed and peed my pants. Eh, the wet spot wasn't that visible. Anyway, my point is...walk in like a boss and pee yourself if you must.
  • annaskiski
    annaskiski Posts: 1,212 Member
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    bri170lb wrote: »
    Make an appointment with a trainer. It's much easier to feel confident when you have a routine to concentrate on and you know that you are doing it correctly.

    ^^ This.

    Once you've been in there at least once with a trainer, you won't feel so out-of-place....
    Its a good idea to take the program you want to do, and have them check your form anyway...
  • Isca_1
    Isca_1 Posts: 124 Member
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    ^^ that really made me laugh.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    lisalsd1 wrote: »
    I was the only woman in the weight room today; maybe 6 men in there. Today was deadlift day...I may or may not have screamed and peed my pants. Eh, the wet spot wasn't that visible. Anyway, my point is...walk in like a boss and pee yourself if you must.

    Oh, good. I'm not the only one. LOL :D
  • AlisonH729
    AlisonH729 Posts: 558 Member
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    lithezebra wrote: »
    Yes. This is me. I'm doing Strong Curves too, and I can't bring myself to writhe underneath a barbell at the gym to do barbell glute bridges, so I'm stuck at bodyweight glute bridges at home. I go to a super friendly gym, and I'm afraid someone will try to help me.

    I do my hip thrusts in a corner. But I do them! I use a 40 lb preloaded bar right now (I should and probably could do more but I haven't seen a spare ollie bar anywhere...) I've seen one other girl doing them with a 20 lb kettlebell. It's empowering! And I hope other ladies in the gym see us and feel brave enough to do them too. But the first time I did them was on the Friday after Thanksgiving when there were like 5 people in the whole gym, which brings me to my advice for the OP-

    If you can't meet with a trainer, you could ask a gym employee when their slow times are. This might mean you have to go on a Friday night or a Saturday/Sunday morning, but if you can go and run your program while there aren't a lot of other people in the gym you can take your time to learn where all the weights are, how to use/adjust all the machines, etc. then you'll feel more confident going when there are more people at the gym.

  • thesupremeforce
    thesupremeforce Posts: 1,206 Member
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    lithezebra wrote: »
    I've been doing all the exercises that don't look like something from a porno at the gym, and doing my glute bridges at home. At some point, maybe I'll run into someone else who does glute bridges, and try to work out together.

    This reminds me of the guy in my gym who does glute bridges and makes a point of trying to make eye contact with anyone who walks through.

    There are at least a handful of regulars in my gym who happen to be female. More power to them, especially since none of them leave their weights lying everywhere or don't pick up after themselves.
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
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    I've lifted weights since my freshman year of high school. After a long lay off from an injury I felt intimidated getting back into the weight room.

    I felt embarrassed putting on 50% less of my normal weights and feeling like a weakling. Its natural. Start slow. Start on the machine side if the free weights intimidate you.
  • kar328
    kar328 Posts: 4,156 Member
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    I'm relatively new to lifting and felt the same way. I used a trainer for a few sessions to help me go over form and different types of lifts, etc. It was also nice to follow her around the weights section, it made me more comfortable quicker. I am now on my own and tend to go in the early afternoon when it's least crowded, mostly because I don't like people in general :smiley: The intimidation factor is pretty low now, if anything, it would probably be more because of women being in that section of the room, rather than guys - the whole comparison thing. But then again, the other day it was all females in there and it made me smile.
  • monrbrown730
    monrbrown730 Posts: 10 Member
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    I agree with what everyone sad but also wanted to say that if it is something that you cannot get comfortable with, and maybe consider doing homework outs. I love Chalene extreme and I'm currently doing hammer and chisel. Are used to go to the gym and had no clue what to do and felt that I wasted my time. But with a regimented program that tells me exactly what to do every day of the week, I've had amazing results
  • brb2008
    brb2008 Posts: 406 Member
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    I totally get the anxiety, holy cow. It took me a month of having my gym membership to even go. Honestly. I was soooo worried about judgement. Guess what? No one cares! Everyone there is worried about themselves. You can do it, just close your eyes and jump in.
  • sk1982
    sk1982 Posts: 45 Member
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    i do my hipthrusts on a bench in the middle of the weight room surrounded by the boys and their dumbbells. Woe betide any boy who chooses to look funny at me while im doing it.

    Anyways - men are often doing very silly things themselves with dumbbells....often with bad form so i dont care...everyone is there doing their thing....this is just mine ;)
  • ash_law
    ash_law Posts: 70 Member
    edited December 2015
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    People in the weight room are generally very nice and really willing to help out with questions, spotting, etc. Once you get past your own mental block about it, you will realize that - but I understand that the weight room is very intimidating at first.

    That's not to say that there aren't people who get judged/noticed in the weight room. However, the people who get judged/noticed are the ones that walk around with an air like they are total badasses and then have terrible form or do things that are really unsafe, etc. - not the people who are new and just figuring things out for themselves. It's not hard to tell the difference lol.
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
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    It's like anything else new: there's always some form of anxiety. That uneasy feeling lets up after every workout. Good luck!
  • wilsoncl6
    wilsoncl6 Posts: 1,280 Member
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    As people have said before, no one really cares what you're doing in the weight room as long as you're not doing something that is going to get you hurt or someone else hurt, making a spectacle of yourself by slamming/dropping weights, making a lot of unnecessary noise or just going out of your way to get in everyone else's way. I'm typically so involved in my own workout, people may come and go without me even noticing and most people that are there are just the same. People may notice if you're doing something with bad form, but in most cases they'll just offer assistance or advice because everyone is there for the same thing, to lift and change their bodies. So, once you go, you'll realize all the anxiety was for nothing.
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
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    Grab a friend and have them with you. Does two things. Gives you someone to workout with, which is good motivation. And also keeps away any of those super overly helpful people who want to correct everything you are doing.

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