On a regular day on just about any college campus, you can spot students heading over to their local gym or recreational center.
Working out and staying fit is a big part of the college lifestyle.
College is an adjustment and a new way of life, so adding or maintaining a healthy routine can help students feel more comfortable and less stressed.
Moreover, it’s easy to gain the dreaded “freshman 15,” so establishing a consistent gym pattern helps students avoid the inevitable weight gain.
However, many new students have been going to the same gym back home, and they now have to get used to a new one, which can be intimidating.
Personally, I am not the biggest fan of the gym. I always seem to push it off, but once I am there, I remember that working out is a great stress reliever.
My go-to gym is the Rec Sports Center because it is close to my classes and right on campus.
Furthermore, the Rec Sports Center offers free workout classes such as Zumba, hip-hop fitness, core and spin.
One problem I always seem to experience at the gym is the underrated pressure to look good or trendy.
No one seems to address this problem, but when I look around at the gym, I constantly see people in expensive, matching work-out sets, patterned sports bras and other trendy outfits.
What happened to the gym being a place where you can look and feel however you want?
When I am working out, I don’t want to be worrying about how I appear.
However, in today’s society, it’s evident that appearances often take over.
People should be fixated on having a successful work out rather than giving off an image based off of the way they dress.
With the typical addiction to social media captivating many teens, people prioritize posting the perfect picture in the perfect workout outfit to appear a certain way to their followers.
While style and fashion may actually motivate people to work out, it also intimidates the people around them.
A survey found 65% of women don’t go to the gym due to anxiety and pressure over feeling judged, and 49% of women avoid working out because of outfit choices.
Seeing people in certain attire at the gym often gives off the vibe that they are very in shape and can make others feel self-conscious.
In today’s age, we live in a phase of athleisure clothing, which means people even wear workout clothes when they aren’t going to work out to feel and look good.
People should continue wearing their trendy attire if that is what motivates them to stay fit and work out, but our society should stop being so concerned with comparing ourselves to the people that surround us.
The problem is not what people are wearing but how people react to others’ appearances.
The gym is most certainly not a place where people should feel anxious or worried as they look around the room.
If anything, the gym should just be an escape and a place where people can just focus on themselves and their own goals, without having to constantly compare themselves to their peers.
My advice is to remember that appearances and outfits are not everything and can often be deceiving.
Therefore, when I go to the gym, I try to focus on my own personal goals and relieve my own stress rather than get caught up with my surroundings.