Fearful of the GYM

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paigexxpanic
paigexxpanic Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
Is it extremely terrifying to go to the gym or it that just me? Ever since I started working out at the gym when I was 15, I always thought “woah, I’m so out of place.”

Granted, I feel like that in most places; but at the gym I just felt...more vulnerable than usual. You mean everyone in here is going to see me sweat AND still think I’m a cool human being? All this fear swarmed around me like a forcefield keeping me from progressing and sometimes from even going to the gym. I was letting my fears replace all of the good I was doing for my body.

And then one day I walked in and said *kitten* IT. There wasn’t anything being added to my workouts by freaking out over them. There wasn’t any extra muscle I was building and people still stared at my beat red face the exact same. During that workout, I focused on how my muscles felt, my breathing and the music I was blasting (so I couldn’t hear myself gasping for breath).

Now, I walk in knowing there’s still machines I have yet to conquer and that doesn’t bother me. It also doesn’t bother me that people stare at me because I’ll stare at them back. I’m no meathead, I’m not the next Jillian Michaels, but this is MY gym and MY workout, so *kitten* the haters and all the anxiety that comes with it.

-ph

Replies

  • adarbyem
    adarbyem Posts: 83 Member
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    Good for you! Keep going, you got this. I had to come to that realization myself. If they don't want to see an obese man sweating his *kitten* off for an hour, don't look, period. It's been about two months and i'm down 20lbs so far and have got to know several of the regulars there. It gets more welcoming, believe me. What I have learned is that a lot of people who have been at a gym for a long time see it as a second "home", and strangers bring a level of anxiety with them. It all fades in time.
  • amtyrell
    amtyrell Posts: 1,449 Member
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    Nobody at the gym is paying attention to you. This is freeing. Also who cares if strangers thin you are cool or not. True cool is being yourself and doing you
    Go, over time you will start feeling more at ease.
  • IceQueenThaws
    IceQueenThaws Posts: 27 Member
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    When I used to be at the gym a lot (unlike now being 100 pounds heavier) I can tell you that nobody is giving a crap about anyone about themselves. Sometimes someone really large would come in and I'd say they got a brief look, like a fraction of a second, then folks went back to being self-absorbed. The only people I personally stared down were the men that would never rack their weights when they were done.
  • PurpleCrazies
    PurpleCrazies Posts: 13 Member
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    My teenage fitness obsessed rugby player son gave me some really good advice when I decided to loose weight. "Mum, the thing you need to remember about the gym is that everybody there is on a journey. Its just that some people are further ahead of you." It still took me 3 months to go, having followed Slimming World during that time and exercised at home. When I finally plucked up the courage and went to the gym it was fine.

    Roll forward 8 weeks and I attend a class and another woman comments about how its easy for people like me who are fit!

    My point is I don't notice others but focus on my own effort/form/activities, and my journey. Just as it turns out everybody else is focusing on theirs. And those people who look like they are ahead of you - well they may not even realize that they are being seen that way - I certainly didn't.

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    PurpleCrazies wrote: »
    My teenage fitness obsessed rugby player son gave me some really good advice when I decided to loose weight. "Mum, the thing you need to remember about the gym is that everybody there is on a journey. Its just that some people are further ahead of you." It still took me 3 months to go, having followed Slimming World during that time and exercised at home. When I finally plucked up the courage and went to the gym it was fine.

    Roll forward 8 weeks and I attend a class and another woman comments about how its easy for people like me who are fit!

    My point is I don't notice others but focus on my own effort/form/activities, and my journey. Just as it turns out everybody else is focusing on theirs. And those people who look like they are ahead of you - well they may not even realize that they are being seen that way - I certainly didn't.

    Smart kid<3

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