In previous articles, I mentioned that I was embarking on the Kayla Itsines workout challenge [update: it has not been going well due to revision], and that got me thinking about the phenomenon known as “gymtimidation.”
If you have not heard of this before, this is the sensation in which a person feels intimidated by the overwhelming presence of fitness buffs when trying to workout. I have to admit, this is something I have suffered in the past and continue to suffer – it is a form of anxiety (not medically recognized, mind you) that I think most of us face.
It can be especially hard when first starting a new regimen or even just beginning to go to the gym at all. This feeling can arise from an assortment of places – I used to think I did not belong at the gym because I wasn’t as in shape as the other people. I was 16 when I got my first gym membership, and I absolutely hated it for the first two months – I got easily breathless on the elliptical, and I did not understand how to use many of the foreign weight contraptions but was too ashamed to ask anyone for help.
It’s convoluted logic to think that you have to be fit to begin with in order to feel at place in a gym, but hey, it’s a common fear and one that should never affect your health or desire to start a workout plan.
After forcing myself to continuously go the gym (the steep prices help), I began to feel much more at ease in my own skin – I didn’t care if anyone was looking at me. I came to realize that my goal was not to impress anyone or to gain someone else’s approval – I was there because I wanted to improve my health and body.
For those of us who experience gymtimidation, there is hope. First of all, no one really gives a damn about you – most people are too focused on their own workouts to pay attention to what anyone else is doing, much less judge them.
Second of all, learning to find your own footing at the gym can be extremely enabling, especially when clad in spandex and other merciless forms of exercise clothes. It may sound cliched, but in regularly going to the gym, you learn to love yourself and to recognize just how much your body is able to endure.
That being said, gytimidation can hit at any time, even for those seasoned gym goers. The bottom line is that you should never let the fear and anxiety of being judged stop you from taking control of your own body.
I hope in reading this article some of you feel more assured and confident – we all have our doubts and anxieties, but I hope that in sharing mine it lessens some of yours. Best of luck with revision, and I hope you crush it at the gym :)