TheSoko.com - Overcoming Your Gym Fear

Overcoming Your Gym Fear

By Tyler Kalmakoff

[Fitness]

So you have your gym membership, a water bottle and a duffle bag. Now what? Tyler Kalmakoff lays down a plan for overcoming your fitness phobia.

We’ve all been there. It’s getting cold outside, so you went and picked the gym closest to your house, signed up for a membership, packed your bag and now you’re ready to get started. But then it comes time to actually work out and you need a crane to excavate you from your car and plop you into the dressing room. In an ideal world, working out should never be a scary endeavour, but it is for many people, especially for “newbies.”

Gyms thrive off unused memberships. Tonnes of people commit themselves to three to six month programs and end up going only a handful of times because they never felt comfortable or they didn’t have time. Nonsense! Everyone has time to be healthy and no one should ever shy away from walking through the front doors of their local fitness club.

Fitness phobia is a serious problem in society. Being scared of spiders is one thing, but being scared of going to the gym affects your health over the long term. It’s time to get over your fear and start working out. Then start enjoying working out so you keep going back. So let’s zero in on the potential gym problems you may be suffering from and see if I can convince you that really, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

The Locker Room

The rule here is to do whatever makes your comfortable. Just remember that nobody really cares what you look like. If you’re not comfortable changing in an open room, dress in layers so you already have your gym clothes on when you get there.

If your gym isn’t state-of-the-art with private shower stalls, then just wash up at the sink. You can always shower at home. Don’t be intimidated by other gals and guys walking around in the buff. To each their own.

Yourself

You are the biggest reason that going to the gym is a horrifying experience. You’re worried about how fat or skinny you are, how your hair looks, what other people might think, might say, might snicker about to their friends. It’s called paranoia. It’s time to get out of your own head and start working out. This is not high school, you aren’t a freshman with a cowlick and nobody is going to make you push a penny down the sidewalk with your nose.

You already have your duffle bag with a lock and a water bottle. Go change and come out with a plan. Know what you want to do that day. Don’t overwhelm yourself worrying about learning every single exercise. Watch videos online before you come in that day showing you how to work out specific parts of your body. If you come to the gym with an understanding of proper form, your anxiety will decrease significantly.

If that isn’t enough, then buddy up with a friend or sibling. Having the support of one person has been proven to greatly decrease social anxiety and, in this case, fitness phobia.

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