To gym or not to gym

I was once, and kind of still am, the extra extra large guy at the gym. No one gave to kittens about how heavy i was. Most people ,outside the occasional ahole, would inquire how my loses were going. I am now at a new gym, most of the members dont know my history, and when they see a heavy person working hard, will actually tell me how happy they are to see someone trying to improve their life. Not sure if some one suggested it. Lift! It won't make you bulky at all. It can actually accentuate curves imho! Best of luck

I love my home workouts but I also love going to kickboxing gym (9 Round). If you have one in your area, you might want to check it out! Great core workout and you use every muscle. Very adaptable to your individual situation to work around injuries or weaknesses. It's a fun workout and you never have time to be bored.

Everyone here has already said what I am going to say. If your goals include something that you can only access at the gym, then go to the gym. I have a very nice treadmill at home. I run on it, and I run outside. I lift weights at the gym because I don't have access to them at home. When I was 100 pounds heavier than I am now no one treated or looked at me any differently than they do now.

I joined my gym for the swimming pool and the weight machines.

I haven’t touched either in months; I’ve discovered that what I really like is classes. Which surprised the heck outta me, I gotta say.

I do all my workouts at home from DVDs, or I go walking. the only things I do in an organised sense are a zumba and a clubbercise class once a week at a local school (pay as you go). If you think paying for the gym would make you go more often/work out more then by all means do it, otherwise maybe just try switching round your exercise (that can often kick-start things a bit). Sounds like you're just a bit bored with your routine and need to give it a revamp.

i have a severe condition called cold urticaria, whereby i break out in welts when it's cold and or windy (i'm usually only good to be outside if it's about 23 C and higher with winds) so i'm VERY limited to outdoor activities without having to overdress *i also live in canada just to add to that equation*

the gym provides me an out *i'm not working and also have cancer* and i only go there to do the recumbent bike and rowing machine. it's imperative for me to be fit. there's people of all sizes at my gym, and everyone leaves everyone alone, except for the folks who are friends there. i have an elliptical in the basement that is doing nothing but taking up space, and our basement isn't finished so it's kind of sad to go down there LOL

i do qi gong and pilates types of exercises to relaxing music every day at home. i find i need both types of atmospheres for my health. i hope you can find the proper place to make yourself mentally motivated for your health journey!

It sounds like a gym would be worth trying for you. Give it a try.

A gym really is not an option for me so I do more walking and exercise videos for exercise. I know that I would procrastinate about going somewhere to exercise unless I was going with someone.

My opinion is that you should be doing some relatively heavy strength training if only to prevent osteoporosis and offset sarcopenia, no matter what your "goals" might be.
Dumbbells will not serve you for very long with many exercises because you will outgrow them, so to speak. They also are not heavy enough for many exercises to begin with.

Strength training would be cheaper and easier in the short term at a gym for most people but cheaper at home in the long term if you buy equipment over time.

Body weight training is harder to load progressively than a barbell and it does not do as much for strengthening your bones as barbell work does.

All the women I coach are required to do barbell work. No, it will not make you "bulky" or any BS like that.

Required reading for the women I coach (includes nutrition advice and a training program): Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body
Free program: https://www.stronglifts.com/5x5/

Your "goals", building muscle, losing fat and strengthening your bones are not all mutually exclusive ideas.

At the very least, you may get out of your comfort zone and build some self-confidence.

sarjenki wrote: »

As far as being fat shamed at the gym, I've never personally seen that happen, and if somebody is a jerk enough to shame someone who is at the gym trying to improve their health, that person isn't worth you worrying over what they think anyway.

^ This

In the gyms I am associated with, if someone belittled a overweight person for working hard and trying to improve themselves then they would get their butts kicked in the gym and then they would be kicked out of the gym.
Granted, I own and coach in fighting gyms.

Putting in the hard work to improve yourself will usually earn you the respect of others who do the work and the envy of those who don't but would rather make excuses.
You will find that most gym regulars are more that happy to encourage you and offer advice.
They can also offer to spot you with challenging weights or even give you pointers on your form and technique.
Unfortunately some of the information and advice from your average gym rat can range from useless to downright counterproductive or dangerous. That is why I recommend the book (above) so you at least learn the basics.

That being said, if you have enough time and energy in the gym to worry about what other people think then you are probably not training hard enough.