Up until I graduated college, I was one of the very few lucky people who didn’t have to workout to stay stick thin. I think I weighed 110 pounds at the time, and could eat absolutely anything I wanted without gaining a pound. I’m talking late-night Steak-N-Shake runs, buckets of chips, McDonalds, ice cream, cookies–literally anything. My metabolism was my best friend.
Fast forward a few more years, and my body started to change. I started to get “soft” and noticed my pants’ zippers were STRUGGLING to keep my pants up. This was my wakeup call. I had to either start start working out, or buy an entirely new wardrobe one size-up. I made the fiscally responsible decision to join a gym.
Filling out the gym membership survey, I started to panic. Not because I didn’t want to work out (although, who are we kidding–I didn’t want to workout either), but because I didn’t want to physically go to the gym.
Like I said above, I never needed to work out before, and being in my early 20’s I assumed I was “healthy enough” without having to break a sweat. This huge fear came over me when I thought about having to go to the gym and work out. I didn’t know what to do there: “where am I supposed to change?” “Should I come already in workout clothes?” “But then what do I do with my keys and wallet?” “Everyone is going to be looking at me and judging me because I don’t know what I’m doing!”
All of those thoughts ran through my head. I literally googled, “how to go to the gym.” I read a bunch of articles, and finally got up the nerve to walk in the door. This is what I did:
Have a plan
I cannot stress this enough. If you get to the gym to “work out,” but don’t know what that means yet, you’re going to be walking around aimlessly trying to figure out what to do first. Not only will you waste a ton of time (and who really wants to spend more time than they need to at the gym), but you will also overwhelm yourself. If you decide what muscle group or activity you are going to work on before you get to the gym, you’ve taken the guesswork out of your workout.
Bring a friend
For the first month of me going to the gym, I made Pamela go too. Thank God we both went to the same gym, and it was in between our condos. I needed that extra push to get myself motivated, and to take away some of my fear of the unknown. So grab a friend and hit the gym! (Proper etiquette dictates an invitation to brunch afterwards is appropriate payback for waking up your friend up early on a Saturday to try Soul Cycle.)
Try the treadmills/cardio room first
In my first few trips to the gym, I always knew where I was headed–the cardio room. From a treadmill I was able to check out the lay of the land. I figured out what a lot of the other equipment was used for by just watching people use it. The treadmill was my safe place until I worked up the courage to try anything else out.
Try a class
When you still aren’t quite ready to try the equipment, but cardio is getting boring, try checking out a group class! They are a great way to meet new people and learn how to do new exercises. There’s also an instructor there to help correct your form so you don’t accidentally get hurt. Pamela and I used to do “Zumba Fridays” which consisted of us going to a Zumba class taught by a fabulous instructor, Rogelio, and then running down the street to Blue Agave for some margaritas and queso dip. So much for all the calories we burned in class…#yolo.
Have you ever struggled with working up the nerve to go to the gym? What did you do to overcome your fear? Leave us a note below, we can’t wait to hear from you =)