The gym is a place that can sometimes feel intimidating. If you are someone new to the gym or are not confident that you know what you are doing, you are not alone. It is inevitable that if you go to the gym on a regular basis you will do something to embarass yourself though and thats ok because it probably means you are trying something new and that is how you learn.
Case in point, last night at the gym a guy who was probably 18 or 19 was at the incline bench press and he picked up the bar that had 25's on each side. The bar did not have clips for the weights to not slip off so slip off they did. The first one crashed down and as soon as that one slid off the weight shift was too great and the other crashed to the ground too, coming very close to bringing him down with it. He stubmled, ran into some equipment and clumbsily recovered. I am sure he was really embarassed, but I never thought he was an idiot or a dumbass, these things happen. No one else laughed at him either and in fact one guy went up to him to ask if he was ok which I thought was nice.
And a more personal antecdote, I was doing dumbbell chest presses on a flat bench and I grabbed (2) 20 pound weights and laid down to do my workout. Well as soon as I brought them up, the left side seemed heavy and I lost my balance and started falling off the left side of the bench. I flailed and recovered and finished my set but thought it was weird that my left side seemed so much weaker. I looked down and realized that I had a 20 pound dumbbell and a 25 pound dumbbell and I felt like an even bigger dumbbell. They were clearly marked so I dont know what I was thinking so I sheepishly brought the 25 back and grabbed the 20.
Of course you all know about the hole I had in my crotch of my spandex and perhaps you remember the guy doing sit ups with a big ass boner...point of the story, don't let your fear of looking stupid prevent you from going to the gym or from trying a new workout or lift. No one is laughing at you and if they are, who cares, you are doing something to better yourself and they can suck it.
11 comments:
"No one is laughing at you and if they are, who cares, you are doing something to better yourself and they can suck it."
This is what I tell myself everytime I eat an entire box of macaroni and cheese with a beer.
I am not so sure that eating macaroni and cheese with beer is bettering yourself. Filling yourself with fat and sodium yes, so perhaps if attempting to pickle onself is bettering oneself you have a point but thats a hard argument to make.
If people are laughing at you for it though, they can definitely suck it.
That's why I mix brocolli in. ;-)
Oooh, see I didnt know about the broccoli. Totally different story now:)
I feel like a dumbass all the time at the gym. Yesterday I was cleaning off the machine next to the one I was using instead of mine. Also I bring my own towels to the gym because I use two. When I was leaving I tried to quietly motion to the guy at the front that these were mine. He gave me a puzzled look and then the parking lot guy stopped me and asked if they were gym towels. Embrassed. Don't really know why. I guess it has something to do with being sweaty and looking gross.
If you bring your own towel I would make sure that it is just not white so no one will think that.
Also pretty much everyone is sweaty at the gym. I can literally ring my shirt out when I am done with a cardio workout. If you arent sweaty you arent doing it right.
And i have said this before but no one thinks about or judges you as much as we think they do. No one cares as much as we believe they do in our minds. Thats one of the best things about getting older, at least for me, I care less and less about what other people think of me. Being comfortable in my own skin is not something I was even close to 5 years ago.
Yeah I'm gonna pick up some colored towels today.
"No one cares as much as we believe they do in our minds."
I don't knoooooow. You come back to use with a lot of gym stories.
I stand by that claim. I go to the gym everyday for at least an hour and a half which is a lot of time to see a lot of people doing a lot of things and I really dont crack on people very often.
There are certain stories that must be told like seeing someone with a boner, but I dont talk shit on people. Most of the stories I tell are about myself, with the occasional douche bag story and the one in this post was merely a catalyst for me posting that everyone does stupid things at the gym.
However doing things like Heather commented about with the towels, is not something that I feel people pay as much attention to but we have a tendancy to think they do when it happens to us. I don't want anyone to feel self conscience uneccesarily, especially Heather because she may feel like a dumbass when she goes to the gym but she looks like she knows what she is doing to me.
So, I disagree.
I was just teasing. ;-)
There is no teasing allowed on my blog. Unless I am the one doing it;)
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