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YahooIt is the beginning of the new year, a time for resolutions about losing weight and getting in shape.
I don't work out because I am lazy. There. I said it. Well, I am lazy and I don't have a gym membership, but did you know that some people don't go to the gym because they have actually have gym anxiety?
Fellow BlogHer CE Sassymonkey sent me an e-mail suggesting I write a piece on gym anxiety. I didn't even know that this phenomenon existed. Just read this part of what she wrote to me:
The gym scares me. It's an intimidating place for a bookworm with pretty much zero athletic ability not to mention I may be the most uncoordinated person you've ever met.
I just joined a gym yesterday and for the past little bit I've been looking for stuff on gym anxiety.
I can guarantee that she isn't the most uncoordinated person I know. I think that I may actually hold that honor.
She wrote little more about it on :
The weight room still scares the crap out of me but it was bound to no matter what... Today should be my first trip to the gym. And it will be. But I’m afraid my anxiety is getting the better of me...
There is a fantastic post about gym anxiety over at Random Thoughts of a Disordered Mind.
...pretty easy for skinny people to do. They put on those cute workout clothes, go to the gym and know how to use the equipment and seem to already know all the choreography in a step class - and aren’t afraid to look at themselves in the mirror. When those of us who are, er, larger come along, it’s hard not to be embarrassed.
She goes on to say:
...it is baffling. The equipment isn’t all that easy to use. When I try to use some of the weight resistance machines, my body just doesn’t fit in the space allowed for it and getting stuck in the gym equipment isn’t conducive to a successful workout.
I strongly encourage you to go read the rest of her post. She even come up with a great alternative to traditional co-ed gyms.
Contributing Editor Sarah also blogs at Sarah and the Goon Squad and Draft Day Suit.
"just do it"
ashleycecil January 3, 2007 - 1:40pm
Ashley Cecil, the Painting Journalist
www.ashleycecil.com
Nike says it all!
I used to HATE lifting weights because I would be the only girl in the weight room and the guys would have to constantly add weight to everything I used (and conversely, I had to take it off). It was embarrassing. I also hated being the clusmy new girl in exercise classes. But after sticking with it, here's what I've learned:
-No one minds making an extra effort to accommodate for your presence in gym. Actually I think it makes people feel good that they can help and/or coach, so let them! They want to!
-Everyone has done what you're fumbling at for the first themselves. So when you're tripping over your step or facing the wrong way during a routine, just remember, every single person in the room, without exception, has been in your shoes.
So, just do it!