How to build gym confidence when you’ve only ever done classes

‘I don’t know what I’m doing’

‘The gym's boring’

‘It’s full of fit people with perfect bodies’

‘Everyone's looking at me’

These may be a few things that are going through your head when you consider going to the gym, and I completely get it, I remember trying indoor climbing for the first time and it took me a year of thinking about it and then asking a friend to join me, as I felt the same about that, however once I got there I realised them fears were completely made up in my head, overthinking is a bitch! You’ll probably notice the same, but first, let me attempt to reassure you about some of these fears.

I don’t know what I’m doing

This is one of the most common things I hear, understandable if you haven’t been given any guidance, I don’t know what I’m doing in front of a set of drums, I mean, I could pick up the sticks (I’m sure they have a proper name) and hit the drums. Still, you won’t enjoy the sound they make, like you could sit on a shoulder press machine and push the handles up and down a few times, you’ve had a go, but with correct coaching around setting the machine up and understanding the movement and the area it’s targeting you’ll get more from it. I’d need drumming lessons, you need someone to show you how to train. Reaching out for help is the first step, all gyms will offer a free induction. Please take them up on it.

The gym is boring

Listen I agree, I’ve worked in and around them for 20 years and I’ve never been training and thought I’m having such a fucking great time here. I’d much rather be in the pub. However, the benefits of training, particularly weight training, which I’ll focus on, outweigh the dullness. You see, I’m not one of these PTs who want you to be in the gym 6 days a week doing 2-hour-long sessions, my training is no more than one hour, mostly 45-minute sessions. Understanding this can help on its own, but I want to add a little more, weight training helps reduce body fat while maintaining (and even building) muscle, giving you that ‘toned’ look, from carrying shopping to running after your kids or grandkids - being stronger makes everyday life easier and more enjoyable, muscle is also more metabollically active, simply meaning you’ll burn more calories at rest if you have more of it, I could go on here, but the simple take away is, keep your workouts shorter to stay interested and lift weights.

It’s full of fit people with perfect bodies and everyone's looking at me

Let me discuss these together, as they simply aren’t true, and feed into one another. See, this is probably a story you are telling yourself, as you either feel insecure about your own body or, back to point one, don’t know what you’re doing. The gym is full of mixed abilities, bodies of all shapes and sizes, people of all ages, and they are all focused on one thing…. Themselves.

There’s a psychological phenomenon called the spotlight effect, we build up the thought that everyone else is looking at us and judging us, as if we are under a spotlight, when in reality everyone is far too focused on what exercise they are doing, what song is currently playing or when the fuck can I get out of there and go to the pub. Next time you’re in the gym, just take a step back and think, have I been watching everyone else and judging them, or am I too focused on my workout? So is everyone else.