Gym Phobia
Options
Replies
-
I workout at home when no one else is home.0
-
I put on my headphones & concentrate on the music. I'm there for me & I know several ppl feel the same way as you do.0
-
-
I put on my headphones & concentrate on the music. I'm there for me & I know several ppl feel the same way as you do.
^^ Yes, I was going to say the exact same thing. My headphones go on the second I walk into a gym, or go running, and I zone out the rest of the world. That moment becomes about me, the music, and my thoughts.0 -
Stop giving other people so much power over you. Even if anyone cared (they don't) all you would be doing is feeding into their game, and letting them win. Hit the gym in a tank with the words "F*** OFF" boldly printed on the front, and go do your thing.2
-
BruinsGal_91 wrote: »sydnisd183 wrote: »Don't pay attention to what others are doing....focus on what you're doing. You're merely one of the dozens of other regular people in the gym getting their workout in.
Even when I see someone do something "embarassing", trip over something, etc I don't laugh....they just tripped or whatever. Big deal. Who cares? (I just hope they didn't damage themselves of course)
Use the opportunity to experience being part of the solution....getting in there like others, and working towards your goal. Glancing around while resting between sets is a great way to get motivation. You yourself may be somebody's "goal weight/shape" just as you are right now!!!
Side note: I like the YMCA because their cardio machines have little TV's installed on them lol.....
Just got to make sure you don't get on the machine where the TV is stuck on the E! channel. After an hour of Keeping up with the Kardashians I was ready to kill someone.
My YMCA has a few treadmills that have the weirdest closed captioning stuck on them...it's like nothing even resembling any language I have ever seen. So bizarre.
I love my Y though because it's full of seniors, people with physical disabilities, and kids from the nearby "alternative" high school making up phys ed credits, and there's no intimidation factor at all. There are definitely some very fit people also, but by and large I always feel super comfortable there because it's such a diverse crowd and the staff are always super patient and kind.
Plus I love the transparent pricing (unlike big box gyms here that seem to have a different price for everyone depending on what day you sign up and pain-in-the-kitten contracts and general shadiness) and the fact that my money goes to support community programs and underprivileged kids and all that.1 -
People always say that no one cares about what you're doing or how you look but I don't think that's the right way to think about the situation. I'd like to meet the person who has never silently judged someone else, they'd be a true saint.
The way I like to think about situations like that is simply this: if someone is judging me negatively, why do I care? Is that the type of person that I want to impress and become best buds with? Absolutely not. Let them judge. I've been happily living my life without their approval up until this point and I'll continue to do so long after.2 -
So don't go to the gym
Go for a walk, do a fitness video
Just can the excuses and move
AlsoMichael190lbs wrote: »The TRUTH IS - NOBODY gives a Crap unless you drop something on them or spray yourself with so much perfume I have an asthma attack..
I don't even give a crap if you have an asthma attack :bigsmile:4 -
So don't go to the gym
Go for a walk, do a fitness video
Just can the excuses and move
AlsoMichael190lbs wrote: »The TRUTH IS - NOBODY gives a Crap unless you drop something on them or spray yourself with so much perfume I have an asthma attack..
I don't even give a crap if you have an asthma attack :bigsmile:
Got to love honesty in its raw form lol- on a serious note not all gyms are equal find a good one for your goals
Caution some foul language
1 -
having a plan and a programme makes a major difference. feeling lost in a gym just gains power over you when you have nothing to fight it back with . . . but when you go in there knowing that you're there to do x, it takes your focus off the environment and puts it onto something that you can actually do something with.
my personal experience is that a genuine phobia DOES respond to desensitization training. i don't have gym fear, but i have an absolutely involuntary, overwhelmingly physical terror of heights. i didn't even consciously know i had it, actually. but one day i set out to ride to work instead of driving, and it came over me when i was already out on the bridge. the only reason i didn't get off the bike and plaster whole body to the sidewalk was because i was too terrified to do even the 'instability' of taking one foot off the pedal and putting it onto the ground. i was actually too afraid of my own fear to give in to it, if that makes sense to you. i spent the whole day at work having involuntary flashbacks and reflex terrors. i kept slamming my back into the back of my chair just to feel i was pressed against something solid and i was safe. and then i had to go home and i had them all night as well.
but i went back the next day and did it again, because my choices were: bike to work or don't bike to work and i wanted to bike to work. it was bad for about two weeks, i guess. and then it began to ease up a little. took me three of four months to become fully comfortable, but it happened.2 -
I felt the same way. I went to all my local gyms and did their free trial week/day until I finally found one I was comfortable at. I even had a free week at one and left before I even finished working out and never went back!0
-
Ease into it..
I get a case of that each time i go back after missing for a long time. What I do is get on the elliptical ..or treadmill..something you know and won't feel weird doing. And just do that for a week or so.. until you feel more comfortable. I go different times and figure out when it is most empty.. and then I work out during those times. and start using a few of the machines..and build up. Before I know it. .i don't feel uncomfortable any longer.1 -
I hated the gym I belonged to in college (when I was pretty fit) because it was a stereotypical "meat market" and no one showed me how to use/do anything. But to be fair, I never asked. I lasted only a few months. When I joined my current gym (3 years ago at age 36) it was night and day. The club manager gave me a full tour, showed me how to use everything and checked in on me for weeks when he saw me in working out. I started with basic cardio with my headset on trying to be invisible but I quickly realized that no one gave a crap what anyone else was doing. There were fit people, heavy people, "meatheads," old people, young people ... and it turns out everyone is really darn nice!
Eventually, I joined group classes and was the worst at everything ... until I wasn't. But all the people were encouraging and I even made friends with people I never would have expected. Now I also do personal training. I still suck at a lot of things but I no longer feel anything but pride when I am grunting to pull a deadlift or almost in tears from weighted hip thrusts because even the "meatheads" who walk by say "Good job, girl!" Or "Keep pushing" ---
Hold your head up high, get some advice or even a couple of PT sessions and just rock it!0 -
I suffered badly from this. Or at least I thought I did. However I have recently come to a realisation: just like all people are different, all gyms are different!
I have been a member of about 6-7 gyms at some point or other. I always found that I'd go a handful of times and then dread it. I recently moved to London and joined a gym that is part of a big 'no frills' chain. I walked in my first day and instantly hated it. It was PACKED. There were those meat-head guys grunting, shouting at each other, roaming in packs and dropping weights on the ground loudly which made the entire area around them shake. I could turn my music so loud I could feel my ears hurt but still hear them.
As this was all I could afford, my work around was going at non-peak times. (You can usually see this on google).
Then I happened across the best thing that has ever happened to my fitness: a women only gym near work.
If they were people, the first would be Kanye West and the second would be Stephen Fry.
I'm so happy to go there. Nobody pays any attention to each other, everyone is courteous and even though the space is a fraction of the size of the big chain gym, it has everything I need.
That is my two cents. Good luck, you got this!2 -
I so get this. I have 75lbs left to lose. I started needing to lose 90lbs. I exercised outside all summer but knew I was going to have to hit the gym this winter. I also really wanted to start lifting weights again as that has always been a good way for me to lose weight previously. I looked at the two gyms in our little town. I had some parameters I wanted a gym to meet (no contract was one of them), etc. When I joined my current gym I specifically asked when their slowest hours were. I did NOT want to be there when there was a ton of people - I was already feeling so self conscious. It's a 24hr gym so I go at 7:00am. Sure enough, there is hardly anyone there and to my great surprise, at that time of the morning the average age is probably 60 (I'm 46) and it was older, heavier set people (like, needing to lose over a 100#'s). There are one or two that are really fit but mostly it's us "oldies." So ask when their non-busy hours are. It really does help with the phobia feeling.
The second thing I did was invest in some workout cloths I was comfortable in. I wear workout tights, but I have gym shorts over them and a longer shirt so I feel like my backside is covered better. It's obvious putting my gym cloths on now that I've lost as everything is much looser. That is also a great motivator for me to keep going.
Then, take a deep breath, and go in. Go to work and ignore everyone else (headphones are great for this) and in a few weeks you'll feel much more comfortable. It also really helps to ask someone to walk you through the equipment (most gyms do this for free) so you can feel like you know what you're doing. You can do it! And you'll be so glad you did.1 -
My fear used to be worse than what you described. I was afraid to excersize if anyone was around that could possibly see me. Then one day i had to excersize do to physical therapy because of spinal fusion surgery. The fear of someone seeing excersize was almost overwhelming but i just kept pushing because i had to and after physical therapy i had to lose weight because of a promise i made myself. I can assure you the fear will go away if you just keep pushing through the fear. Eventually i realized that either people ignore you when you excersize or they will have certain amount of respect because you aretrying to get healthier. Also if there is a piece of equipment at the gym you are not sure about just ask an employee, odds are you will not be the first yo ask.1
-
If other truly cared about what you do at a gym, there would be far too many accidents.
Do you care about what others at the gym do or what they look like?
No? You're like everyone else.
Also, no one started at the gym being pros.0 -
saramichelle89 wrote: »Hi everyone! I know people post about this all the time and I sound like a broken record but I have true gym phobia. I absolutely will not and feel like I "can not" go into a gym where there is 10+ people working out. I have this fear that I will do something wrong and everyone will stare or laugh at me, or I look too fat, or I don't know what I am doing. I will try to if someone is with me, but still find it very hard.
How do you get over that? Do you have any tips to share what helped you or people you know? Its really getting in the way of my personal development because I know I could be so much more than this.. :-(
I'm 30 weeks pregnant and I go to our work gym where there are a bunch of my coworkers questioning why I even try to jog on the treadmill this large. Just ask yourself, what would enterdanger do?
I did start changing in a stall instead of just in the locker room when I hit the 3rd trimester. I don't want to scare these sweet young things with what 7 months pregnant looks like naked.4 -
I used to nearly get panic attacks whenever I would venture into the weight room. It took me sucking it up and convincing myself that I belonged there. I would come in with a lifting plan utilizing only weights/machines that I knew where they were at first. If something was busy I'd just do a different exercise first. While I worked out the first few times I scanned the area for other machines/weights so I knew where everything was and started to incorporate these into my plans. If I ever found myself in a nearly empty gym at an off time, I'd throw out my plan and experiment as much as I could without people looking.
It sounds like a silly problem to some people but everyone has been there to some degree. Another thing that could help is looking on groupon/living social for a personal trainer package. Even a few lessons can help you get more comfortable with the equipment and being in a gym.0 -
I'm the same. Go to a 24 hour gym, go after 9, after 10 etc. There will be hardly any people there and no staff either so means less people! you then do get into the groove and can go earlier1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 393 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.3K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 931 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions