Feeling Awkward in the Gym

[Saffity]

So, as my check in thread has been chronicling, I have tried out and am joining a gym. This is a fairly bare bones gym, no classes, just a cardio section, a circuit you can follow with a bunch of machines, free weights, balance stuff, TRX, and a very small stretching/abs area.

This small stretching area is where I've been doing my Darebee workouts so far, but I feel mildly awkward doing them on my own while everyone else is using the equipment.

Has anyone else found this or dealt with this? Is it just something I need to push past?

 

[AquaMarie]

Oh, yes, that was exactly how I felt when I tried to do Darebee at a local gym for a while. I thought it was just me and my anxiety!

I'm sure you can push past it, if you want! If being at the gym for workouts is something you really want to make happen, then you can absolutely keep going and just do your thing until the awkwardness passes. Some reframing thoughts (like, "I'm not on my own, we're all working out together!" or "Everyone is focused on their own workout, not mine.") when you feel awkward might be helpful, or you can be social and ask any interested looking parties if they'd like to join you .

But if being at the gym for your workouts isn't something you're really set on (like me: the gym's nice, but I have plenty of room at home, and at home I can control the music/TV ), then why be where you feel awkward? After all, you can do Darebee just about anywhere, right? You can explore and find the place you like to workout the best!

Whatever you decide, you got this!

 

[Saffity]

That's awesome, thanks! Yeah, the biggest issue with doing my workouts at home is the two cats, two kids thing. I can sometimes get the kids to join in, but more often than not I'm ending up with them on top of me.

I do try to do some of the standing/lesser intensity workouts at my standing desk at work, but anything that requires sitting down or jumping doesn't work, people would hear me.

I'll just try my best to not worry about what others think, and continue to keep my back to the wall for certain exercizes.

 

[Tranquil_warrior]

Your kid being on top of you is such a funny yet cute detail xD

 

[JohnStrong]

Has anyone else found this or dealt with this?

Yes, it can be slightly awkward at first. Then I became a regular at my spot and now it feels more regular. Eventually it became obvious to me no one gave a dang. In my case I've been working out alone in a large gymnasium.

Half a dozen or so people: walking/running on a track around it's glass walls, could watch everything I'm doing.

Janitor: sweeping around me, just trying to do their job.

Me: High knees, punches, uppercuts, push-ups to fail
*collapses in his own pool of sweat*
*loud gasping for oxygen echoing across entire gymnasium"

Janitor: "Morning"

Me: "Good... morning..."

 

[Saffity]

Your kid being on top of you is such a funny yet cute detail xD

Bridges are their favourite, one sits on my stomach, the other crawls under when I lift... combination of additional weight + longer length of time holding up so I don't squash a kid.

Pushups and planks are similar.

 

[Tranquil_warrior]

Bridges are their favourite, one sits on my stomach, the other crawls under when I lift... combination of additional weight + longer length of time holding up so I don't squash a kid.

Pushups and planks are similar.

Wow! these are so cute >w< How old are theyyyyy?
I have the opposite happening here. I am 23 and getting my mother into fitness little by little. I have started with the "Recovery" program by darebee. She is at day 3. )

 

[Saffity]

Wow! these are so cute >w< How old are theyyyyy?
I have the opposite happening here. I am 23 and getting my mother into fitness little by little. I have started with the "Recovery" program by darebee. She is at day 3. )

My daughter is 5 and my son is 2. You can see a (identity blocked) picture on the last page of my check in thread.

Daughter is called Munchie here because she was a biter when she was little. Son is called Biggie because he's a flipping giant.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Has anyone else found this or dealt with this? Is it just something I need to push past?

This is not something I've personally had to deal with. (As I kid I used to put my parents' cassette tape player in our front window, put on a polka dot bathing suit, tie a large sheet of diaphanous red fabric around my neck, with the corners tied to my little fingers, and dance on the front lawn to Musique's "In the Bush". My mother tried really hard to get me to feel too self-conscious to do that! She failed. So doing calisthenics exercises in a gymnasium next to people who are lifting free weights and huffing and puffing on treadmills? Not a thing it would ever occur to me to feel self-conscious about!) But my understanding is that feeling self-conscious in a public gym is a demon many people do battle against.

It's not just you trying to do a DAREBEE workout either. The people lifting free weights are worried others in the gym won't think their form is good enough, or their weights heavy enough. The people on the treadmills are worried other people in the gym won't think they're skinny enough to be there. But the truth is: most everyone there is too self-absorbed to be thinking any of those things. If someone does show interest in what you're doing, it will likely be because they find it interesting and want to know how they can get involved.

So yeah: push through the awkwardness. It's not a positive adaptation in this case. (And dancing on the front lawn in a polka dot bathing suit and a giant red cape is fun! Bonus points if your mother is scandalized by the song you've chosen but cannot bring herself to explain to you why. )

 

[Saffity]

So yeah: push through the awkwardness. It's not a positive adaptation in this case. (And dancing on the front lawn in a polka dot bathing suit and a giant red cape is fun! Bonus points if your mother is scandalized by the song you've chosen but cannot bring herself to explain to you why. )

I mean, there was one infamous halloween that I dressed as a cat from Cats the musical (albeit with a fur coat, leggings and hair in ponytails rather than full bodysuit) and played around on the front yard with the trick or treaters as my mom called my gramma to try and get HER to convince me to come in and stop embarrassing myself.... but that was halloween and not a gym.

 

[Tranquil_warrior]

My daughter is 5 and my son is 2. You can see a (identity blocked) picture on the last page of my check in thread.

Daughter is called Munchie here because she was a biter when she was little. Son is called Biggie because he's a flipping giant.

I just checked! They look adorable!

I am now invested in your story haha. Everything about your family seems very wholesome. Even your status or whatever you call it "Getting strong enough to keep two tiny humans from unaliving themselves." is also so wholesome to read.

I am cheering you on for your journey.

 

[Syrius]

Has anyone else found this or dealt with this? Is it just something I need to push past?

I would sometimes do my Darebee at the gym back in university. I was lucky to find an awkward corner where most people didn't look, but it still felt awkward because I was the only one doing my thing. But you have to remember, they are all doing their own thing too. And probably feeling awkward in their own ways. Yeah, it's going to be weird, but the more you do it and the more used to it they and you become, the less weird it will be. And in the last gym I was in, there was no designated stretching space, so I am glad to hear that your gym has one.