Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Gym Fear

I knew it was coming. This week temps are topping out at 100+ and being southeastern PA the humidity is not much lower. I can't run in this...even in the early morning.

So, I joined a gym.

I am not completely uncoordinated. I used to rock a step class like no one's business. That was fourteen years ago. I have fallen off the elliptical in my home and I tripped over my dog last month, spraining my ankle. So getting on machines in front of people makes me nervous. I don't want to be 'that girl that fell off the tread mill' or 'that girl that fell off
Also, that complementary personal training session that gyms give you? Just annoying. Some random PT shows you around and puts you on a cookie cutter circuit and looks very disinterested while doing it. It has ALWAYS annoyed me, in every gym I have ever been to. You are doing your reps and they are looking around, maybe walking away, not at all interested in what you are doing. I always feel like I am bothering them somehow. Maybe it would be different if I was PAYING them but they could at the very least TRY to get me to pay them.

Don't even get me started on the locker room. Talk about judgment. I don't need that much info about perfect strangers and I don't give that much info to people I know.

So all in all, I already have issues with self esteem and body image. They just seem compounded when I enter a gym. I guess the only thing to do about that fear is face it. Go every day, get used to it and walk around in my too big running shorts and tee and not give it a second thought.

...I am not walking around naked in the locker room though. There is only so much judgment my thighs can take.

5 comments:

BS5 Blogger said...

Hey Scargosun,

I can't believe you wouldn't walk tall , sassy and confident into any gym in America, so go for it with well faced grace and ease ( not grace as in G Dog!)

Wow, 100 degrees and too hot to run before work? Can't imagine that!

Have a great end to the week and happy July 4th for last Sunday.


BS5 :-)

Los said...

Yep ... far too hot to risk walking outside. My wife and I have taken up walking after work so that she can get a little more exercise (I also have an elliptical I use), and we haven't been able to go the last two days ... it sucks!

Snooty Primadona said...

Herein lies the reason I do not do public workouts. I prefer to sweat & hurt myself in private. I also don't do the whole judgment thing, thank you.

The ONLY woman I know that doesn't have body issues is my daughter, so apparently I did something right.

I'd be happy to send you some of our odd weather but it has made for a cool (totally not normal) summer thus far. We've only had a handful of days that reached 100 and this is West Texas!

Anonymous said...

Anytime I join a new gym I am nervous as hell. I try to go at odd times for the first few weeks to get familiar with stuff. That way I know what I am doing when it's crowded.

RhodeyGirl said...

I love gyms, and I still get nervous the first few weeks... In a few weeks I am sure that it will get better with time.. Actually I promise that!