Hello 2018, new gym and a new me.

Well, new gym and terrified me.

Going to a gym you have consistently been going to can be overwhelming at times, but being a brand new member in a gym with slim to no workout experience is almost a guaranteed panic attack on the treadmill.

Here are a few of my biggest challenges I faced being new to the gym and how I coped with them.

The squat rack is full and the few machines I do know how to use are occupied, I can just squeeze in on the free weights but what can I do with those? I’ll just go walk on the treadmill and do an ab workout again.

What exactly am I supposed to be doing here? Well, it’s different for everyone.

At first for me I was just aimlessly going to the gym and doing body weight workouts all the time. Set a goal for yourself and ASK FOR HELP! My biggest mistake was trying to figure it out by myself.

Starving myself, doing way too much cardio and doing the wrong sort of exercises.

Someone will be willing to help you, you just have to ask.

New to the Gym? Overcome Your Fear and Get to Work on the New You!

Perfection Happiness Anxiety Reflection Thoughts Unhappy Emotions Gratitude Positive Thought Thinking Gym Woman Working Out

Walking into a new gym is like walking into the first day of school freshman year. Why is everyone staring at me? Man oh man, for months and months I felt like people were watching me and not just men, but women too. It was like I was constantly being judged on any and everything I was doing.

What could I possibly be doing wrong? Nothing, I was doing nothing wrong and no one was staring at me. I had convinced myself that people were continuously criticizing each and every thing I did, when in fact they weren’t.

I was just so uncomfortable with myself I made myself believe that. If I can tell you one thing, it’s that no one cares what you’re doing… at all.

You Do You

I hate my body and for every good thing I can say about myself I can find at least three things I dislike. How can I possibly go to the gym today when I look this ugly and fat? Well, you just go no matter how you feel.

A workout is a workout no matter how small. Yes you may FEEL ugly and FEEL fat but the entire purpose of joining the gym was to feel better about yourself and your body, so that’s what you do.

You push through the negative and search for the positive. You’ll grow to love your body and although I’m not there yet, I’m on the way to being the fittest I ever have been and so can you!

Be Disciplined

Finally, you’ve joined a gym for the first time and cannot wait to start going. Well for me another problem I dealt with was actually getting myself to go to the gym. I would plan to go at let’s say noon every day and noon would come around and I would find any and every excuse to not go. Why?

Honestly, I can’t answer that. Getting there can sometimes be the hard part, but once I’d get to the gym I was perfectly fine. Looking back on all those days I would say “I’ll go tomorrow”, I didn’t go tomorrow and then I didn’t go for a week.

As much as you don’t want to go at first, just know the reward will be the greatest when you finally start to succeed.

Perfection Happiness Anxiety Reflection Thoughts Unhappy Emotions Gratitude Positive Thought Thinking Gym Woman Working Out

And here we are, last but not least, I walk to the front desk to join a gym and become a new member and the man at the front desk is 6’4, shredded, muscle on top of muscle, tank top wearing, most handsome man I’ve ever seen. He’s probably the reason I actually went to the gym every day… only slightly kidding.

He gives me a tour of the gym and it feels like I am the most unfit person there. Girls with abs and actual muscle and guys who look like underwear models. It is intimidating to think that you look nothing like that and you’re going to attempt to lift weights and act like you aren’t uncomfortable and act like you know what you’re doing, but you do it anyway.

It’s Not Just You

It’s okay because being a new member at a gym is scary for EVERYONE, not just me or you.

Starting the process of loving your body isn’t anything to be ashamed of because just like you, everyone else had to start somewhere. I’m sharing some of my biggest challenges I had to overcome at the gym in the hopes that it will help someone else see that it’s okay. Bettering your body and your health is nothing to be embarrassed of.

Challenge yourself to overcome the fear of being new to a gym because it could be the first step you’ll take to becoming the person you admired six months ago. 

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