Exercise with social anxiety?

I totally get where you're coming from. Sometimes I get too anxious to even visit my friends. I know it won't immediately change but you can take baby steps. I know when I walked home from school, which is pretty long walk, I freaked out or got mad at every car driving by. Then I started carrying my iPod. It helped me to get lost in my little world. And for anyone that saw me, at least I was being active and they had no right to judge. F 'em. But honestly, probably no one cares. I had to tell myself that a lot. I've driven by so many people myself and don't give them a moment's thought, so why would they give it to me? Typically I just work out inside or do my walks. I really want to join a gym but can't climb that SA mountain yet.

after a week or so you will gain confidence and be fine.

I think the majority of people new to excercise deal wtih some social anxiety, especially in a gym settting.

I suffer from social anxiety disorder as well as agoraphobia (among other's lol) so I totally understand where you are coming from! While some days are better than others, there are the days when I am unable to even go to my mail box without having a panic attack. On those bad days I just have to push myself and work through it to get what needs to be done, done. I find that once my initial panic has subsided everything seems a lot better and I am able to push on and I feel so much better that I did, like I accomplished something great and that I didn't let my anxiety get the better of me. There was a period in my life several years ago when I absolutely would not leave the house AT ALL and I think back on that time and remind myself that I don't ever want to be there again. It's all about baby steps...Do what you feel comfortable with and push yourself a little more each day, or each week. I also found that it helps if you have someone with you while you’re taking these steps, someone close to you that you trust and more importantly someone that understands what you’re going through! You'll see, you'll be at the gym in no time
BTW, If you feel that your situation is severe enough that it's interfering with your daily life you can always seek counseling with or without anti anxiety medication which might really help as well...I choose not to take meds for my anxiety but that's just my personal choice. There is nothing wrong with taking medication to help you. You might also find that just having it and knowing you can take it in case you need it in the event of an extreme situation will also help a great deal. In this case I'm talking about a med like Xanax which works in minutes.
Hope this helps a little

I really want to get into a habit of exercising for physical and mental health. But when I plan to go for even a short walk I get freaked out about going outside. There are people out there! They will *see* me!

Did anyone else have trouble overcoming shyness to get on the exercise train? Did you find certain activities worked better or did you just work out inside? Did you wrangle someone into exercising with you?

Thanks!

Yup. Taking up running was hard with man-boobs flopping in the breeze. Also painful, by the way.

The vast majority of people are either not going to notice you at all, admire you for the effort you are putting in, or have their own issues that they are dealing with. The very few nasty ones are the kind of lowlife scum you're better off not getting to know any better anyway.

Sweaty is SEXY. I don't care what weight you are.

Very well said!!!

I battle with that and have found I just have to force myself outside and not think about others. I don't experience it all when I run with others so you may want to look for a workout buddy.

I've been going to the gym since October. I still have to make myself go. Otherwise I'll just stay in and hide because of it. I found it easier to go as soon as the gym opens at 530 when there are not as many people. If I miss a day or two of going it gets harder to go again.

First of all, you're really pretty. So you shouldn't be so hard on yourself! Secondly, someone once told me (after I expressed how slow a runner I was): "Hey, you're faster than the guy on the couch."

The point to that is: at least you're out there doing something!!! That's more than most people can say.

Keep at it!

I workout inside. The only time I go out by myself is to take my daughter to the school bus stop. I would love to be able to walk by myself one day, usually go with my kids. ((my heart is pounding just writing this, and nobody can even see me)

I go when it's dark - I walk. I also work out at home to videos. That way I can try as hard as I need to and no one sees me.

I had REALLY bad social anxiety for a really long time. I just MADE myself do it. Sure, sometimes I felt like crying and running away or just giving up. You get over that eventually. I just had to push through it and eventually I got over it.. for the most part. Sometimes it still bubbles up. I just have to remember that people don't actually care and if they do they don't matter to me anyway, so why care so much? Confidence building helps too. Im sure you could google "confidence building" and see what works for you.

you can workout at home with a dvd, that's what i do, not due to anxiety but because it's best for me to workout early in the am before daylight and probably not safe to walk around outside that early.

Been there. A few years ago, I really wanted to join a gym, but I was afraid everyone would point and laugh at me for being fat. I purchased a few workout DVDs online. Doing those helped me gain some of the confidence I needed to step foot in a pilates or yoga class. (My thinking at the time was at least then I'll have *some* idea about what to expect and won't be a complete newbie!) I decided to try a couple of classes at my local community centre. It was close to my house and I did other things in the building, so it seemed less daunting. Eventually I joined the gym there and now go daily and take weekly classes. I still have anxiety about using gyms other places (such as on vacation) and I CAN'T run outside in front of random strangers walking and driving down the street. For me it's all about comfort level and taking things slowly... Good luck! And you can do it! Just do whatever feels right to you and I guarantee that workout out regularly will help with the social anxiety!

1: Doing inside workouts are awesome, with or without equipment. dvds and workout routines found on the internet are very effective

2: Going to the gym/park with a friend is great too.

3: GET OVER IT! We're fat, it's a fact, AND you're doing something to change it, BIG deal what someone else thinks

I used to have a lot of social phobia.
I would just never talk or anything.

I got over it by just self inflating my ego, and just using a lot of anger at the world to help get over that bump. Its still hard. good luck!

The ego thing works for me too. This sounds horrible but if I think I'm better than people in some way, I can do well socially, so when I TA kids younger than me for example. BUT if I think they are better I suck socially, like when I used to play rugby and wasn't very good at it (and consequently never made friends in 5 years of playing). I use this when I'm at the gym with 20 year old boys too. I KNOW I'm better at sex than they are....