Gym Anxiety is a Real Thing – according to me

I’ll admit it, I have the gym anxiety.  I’ve been to many a gym before as a big girl and I’ve never felt comfortable there.  I’m not one for taking classes, I’m not brave (or insane?) 🙂 enough for CrossFit and I don’t really have a workout routine.

I’ve always been a treadmill rat. I’d go on the treadmill, walk briskly for 30 minutes and be on my way. Occasionally I’d try a stationary bike or get my lungs propelled out of my body on the elliptical (for some reason that one was really hard for me), but I’ve not done weights or anything like that either, I’ve just had no interest in working out at all, mostly because I didn’t think I could.

That’s why I finally chose my workout of choice will be running. Which is still really hard and I feel like I’m working my entire body without having to plan, think and/or wonder how to use what machine and how.

And I’m getting closer to running for a full 30mins and soon hopefully to a 5k, but now I have a sort of guilty conscious about the gym.  I’m basically paying $22 a month to use the treadmill for 30 mins.  Am I really getting the most out of what the gym has to offer me? Is it time to actually make an effort and try and plan an exercise routine? The thought of that gives me anxiety, when I was in the gym yesterday I saw 2 women in the whole place, the rest were dudes lifting weights – for me I still have anxiety talking or being around a lot of guys especially in this kind of environment because I have to convince myself they are not judging me.

But in 2015 I made an affirmation to myself to continue to step out of my comfort zone and I have to try and co-exist with the other gym members politely avoiding them instead of avoiding with misconstrued contempt for fictitious judgment of myself.

I am still a work in progress ok?

So, I digress, I’ve done some Googling and I found an article on WebMD titled The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Exercise – perhaps they can give me some idea to how to fully utilize that damn gym membership I had to get because I’m too much of a wuss to run in below freezing temperatures.

Article can be found here: http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/fitness-beginners-guide?page=4

Once you’re warmed up, experts recommend three different types of exercise for overall physical fitness: cardiovascular activity, strength conditioning, and flexibility training. These don’t all have to be done at once, but doing each on a regular basis will result in balanced fitness.

• Cardiovascular activity. Start by doing an aerobic activity, like walking or running, for a sustained 20-30 minutes, four to five times a week, says Bryant. To ensure you’re working at an optimum level, try the “talk test”: Make sure you can carry on a basic level of conversation without being too winded. But if you can easily sing a song, you’re not working hard enough.
• Strength conditioning. Start by doing one set of exercises targeting each of the major muscle groups. Bryant suggests using a weight at which you can comfortably perform the exercise eight to 12 times in a set. When you think you can handle more, gradually increase either the weight, the number of repetitions, or number of sets. To maximize the benefits, do strength training at least twice a week. Never work the same body part two days in a row.
• Flexibility training. The American College on Exercise recommends doing slow, sustained static stretches three to seven days per week. Each stretch should last 10-30 seconds.

To learn how to perform certain exercises, consider hiring a personal trainer for a session or two, or take advantage of free sessions offered when you join a gym.

So, if you, like me have that gym anxiety forget about it, brush it off and do what you have to do. People are not openly (maybe silently), but not openly judging you they are completely focused on themselves. Gyms bring out the narcissist in all of us just embrace it and do something out of your comfort zone. In the long run it will be worth the anxiety and before you know it you’ll feel 100% comfort when you go to the gym.

I’ll be sure to let you know when I reach that point.