Weight room intimidation

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Replies

  • thesupremeforce
    thesupremeforce Posts: 1,206 Member
    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
    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: 4,159 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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.
  • christch
    christch Posts: 238 Member
    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
    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: 1,280 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Go at 3 in the morning. You ll be there with only 1 or 2 other people.
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