Weight room intimidation

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  • christch
    christch Posts: 238 Member
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    I had been lifting weights about 10 months in a women's only gym before moving to a new gym and for the first week I almost made myself sick about going in. By the time I'd finished second week I wondered what I was scared about. I go at night when it's busy and there's lots of guys and I'm usually the only woman there. The guys are nice and polite and helpful. They realised fairly quickly that I am a beginner and can see I'm working as hard as they do even if my working sets are less than there warm up.
    If you can get a pt for a couple of sessions to show you how to do the lifts and to get you into the weight room. It's worth it.
  • grace173
    grace173 Posts: 180 Member
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    You certainly need to have a bit of confidence to do it, but everyone has some confidence inside them somewhere and then once you find your routine it becomes the norm. The one thing I find men don't like is if I ask if I can share their weights. They don't mind asking me if they can share but I get a mixed response when I ask. My gym needs more weights.
  • wilsoncl6
    wilsoncl6 Posts: 1,288 Member
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    grace173 wrote: »
    You certainly need to have a bit of confidence to do it, but everyone has some confidence inside them somewhere and then once you find your routine it becomes the norm. The one thing I find men don't like is if I ask if I can share their weights. They don't mind asking me if they can share but I get a mixed response when I ask. My gym needs more weights.

    Funny, the only reason I can assume you might get that kind of response is 1) most guys don't like having to break up their routine to allow someone to work in. They may have a set rest period and don't want to have to wait their turn. 2) Some guys may feel emasculated having to share the same weight with a woman, even if she's doing a completely different exercise with the weights. For example, one guy I know got bugged out because a woman wanted to work in with the dumbbells he was using to do flat bench dumbbell presses and he was doing curls. I think it made him feel week to be curling the same weight a woman was doing chest presses with.
  • ltworide
    ltworide Posts: 342 Member
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    I think most of us were intimidated when we first started lifting in the racks/heavy weights at the gym. I've found most of the people either ignore you because they're focused on their own workout &/or are very helpful. I've many guys to thank for their advice & encouragement.
    Btw, I really like strong curves.
  • grace173
    grace173 Posts: 180 Member
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    wilsoncl6 wrote: »
    grace173 wrote: »
    You certainly need to have a bit of confidence to do it, but everyone has some confidence inside them somewhere and then once you find your routine it becomes the norm. The one thing I find men don't like is if I ask if I can share their weights. They don't mind asking me if they can share but I get a mixed response when I ask. My gym needs more weights.

    Funny, the only reason I can assume you might get that kind of response is 1) most guys don't like having to break up their routine to allow someone to work in. They may have a set rest period and don't want to have to wait their turn. 2) Some guys may feel emasculated having to share the same weight with a woman, even if she's doing a completely different exercise with the weights. For example, one guy I know got bugged out because a woman wanted to work in with the dumbbells he was using to do flat bench dumbbell presses and he was doing curls. I think it made him feel week to be curling the same weight a woman was doing chest presses with.

    I do think it is me using the weights for a flat bench press and they use them for curls but I don't get why it would bug them because it is harder to curl that weight, right?
  • threadmad
    threadmad Posts: 190 Member
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    I was totally intimidated on my first visit. I kept cowering behind my trainer. At one point I was struggling (failing!) doing bicep curls with little baby weights when I noticed 2 young guys looking at me and whispering. Just when I was ready to run out crying, they both flashed big grins and gave me thumbs up. In the three months since then, guys I don't remember ever seeing will cheer me on. The first time I was able to bench press just the bar, I got cheers from some of the guys. When I did 150 lbs on the leg press, I got a round of applause from a guy who had been waiting for me to finish - he then loaded what looked to me like a million lbs and went to town. One time did a guy get mouthy with me, and my trainer gave him a look that made him go to another part of the gym. Haven't seen him since.

    I'm a fat (well, not as fat as I was) flabby old woman. To get that kind of support and encouragement from total strangers is part of what keeps me going back. Maybe I'm just lucky with my gym.
  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
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    Walk up to the biggest, meanest looking guy in the room and just kick his *kitten*. It's proven that pound for pound bodybuilder muscle is weaker than non lifter muscle. So you've got this
  • Veronique_337
    Veronique_337 Posts: 11 Member
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    I completely understand how you feel. I decided to try the Strong Lifts 5x5 program. I have never lifted weights before and I've never been a gym member. But like you, I've heard about all the fantastic benefits of lifting and I just had to see if it'll work wonders for my body as well.

    I was so nervous the night before my first gym day, that I barely slept. I was so afraid of how inexperienced I'd look compared to everyone else. I felt like all eyes would be on me with nothing but negative criticism and laughter. So, I thought maybe if I went super early, I'd have the gym to myself or least the weight lifting section. Yet, as soon as I walked in at 5:00 AM the weight area was occupied by about 7 buff guys lol. I wanted to walk right back out! But I hadn't got up super early just to drive all the way back home.

    I pushed my fear aside and just jumped right into my workout with the rest of the guys. Yes, I was the only female. Yes, I was the only overweight lifter. Yes, I made a few mistakes with my form. But guess what? No one laughed, no one bad-mouthed me, no one starred. Everyone was focused on themselves. In fact, the guys were pretty nice and helpful when I needed help or had questions.

    So, I say all that to say this: don't let fear keep you from reaching your goals. You're just like everyone else in the gym that's there to better themselves. I love going to gym and feeling like I've stepped out of my comfort zone to reach greatness and you can too.

  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    Go at 3 in the morning. You ll be there with only 1 or 2 other people.

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