intimidating

[dargos9]

I was wondering if when you first started working out with free weights if you were intimadated by it. At my gym, the free weight area is almost all guys. I think I've seen a few women in there once in a while. To me that area is intimidating and I've been afraid to go in there mostly because I don't know what I'd be doing. I've been using the machines but I have an appt with a personal trainer next week and I've asked him to show me how to use the free weights.

[Love4Life]

I was wondering if when you first started working out with free weights if you were intimadated by it. At my gym, the free weight area is almost all guys. I think I've seen a few women in there once in a while. To me that area is intimidating and I've been afraid to go in there mostly because I don't know what I'd be doing. I've been using the machines but I have an appt with a personal trainer next week and I've asked him to show me how to use the free weights.

I was definitely intimidated at first. You get used to it as you get more comfortable with what you're doing. Now I just march on over to the squat rack...or whatever it is Im doing without bating an eyelash

Your trainer should be able to help you gain some confidence with the free weights, and you could always follow up by looking online for videos on certain exercises you aren't as comfortable with.

Good luck. Free weights are awesome =)

[Outdoor Girl]

yes, I remember being a bit intimidated at first. My BF has just excellent form when lifting and I have learned a lot from him, now I am very happy with my form and feel very much at home with the free weights.

Good luck with your training appointment, hope it goes well! Enjoy those free weights, like L4L said they are awesome!

[Angelfish]

I too remember being intimidated - it was just practice though that built my confidence. I got comfortable with a couple of exercises then next thing I was moving up weights! That was it, I was addicted!

Practice smooth movements, try to concentrate on the muscle you are working, start with a couple of exercises that the trainer shows you and build your confidence...guys are going to look - they're guys! (but they will carry on with what they are doing) Remind yourself that your insanely cool cos your lifting in the first place.

good luck!

[TurbulentFluid]

Nope.

Big guys, serious lifters, "meatheads" and such don't scare me. I often come close or stic around during my workouts, many of these guys know what they're doing and watching them is quite helpful.
What DOES scare me, is 15-20 year old guys horsing around, wielding the equipment... One of them lost balance with dumbbells and actually hit me in the stomach with his foot as he was falling - whole I was doing my incline curls!

[canuck_chick]

If you are feeling intimidated by the guys at the free weights, take your own weights and go to an area of the gym that isn't busy and do your workouts there. Most of the gyms I have ever been a member at have had separate rooms for exercise classes or whatever that you can use when classes aren't being held. After you become familiar doing your exercises you won't have to leave the area.

[eagerbean2]

If you are feeling intimidated by the guys at the free weights, take your own weights and go to an area of the gym that isn't busy and do your workouts there. Most of the gyms I have ever been a member at have had separate rooms for exercise classes or whatever that you can use when classes aren't being held. After you become familiar doing your exercises you won't have to leave the area.

Dont you think this would be running away from the intimidation?

Stick it out.

You are nervous now because you are unfamiliar with weight training and by the sounds of it you not sure on correct and form and such. Once you get your bearings and you know where you going... the guys will SOOOO be checking you out. In admiration.

I was the same when I first started. Now, I love the fact that my strength and form is sometimes even better with certain excersizes compared to some of the men in the w. room

Hang in there. Dont give up.

[TurbulentFluid]

Bump. Don't be worried about "what might people think". Who cares what they think?

[Mata Leao]

I was wondering if when you first started working out with free weights if you were intimadated by it. At my gym, the free weight area is almost all guys. I think I've seen a few women in there once in a while. To me that area is intimidating and I've been afraid to go in there mostly because I don't know what I'd be doing. I've been using the machines but I have an appt with a personal trainer next week and I've asked him to show me how to use the free weights.

nope went with my friends all the time at the beggining.... the day that im scared of another man will be the end of my manhood.... its all in your head.... i actually also dont like personal trainers i rather have a friend... its kinna wierd you pay them and THEN they will help you out... haha **** that i noe how to workout i got bb.com here if i got any questions theres tons of videos here.....

man if you search around you will find all kinds of freeweight workouts.... then just go do them or you can just even watch what they are doing from far away and then go do the samething......

dont be scared of nothing man..

hope everything goes well

[Mata Leao]

I was wondering if when you first started working out with free weights if you were intimadated by it. At my gym, the free weight area is almost all guys. I think I've seen a few women in there once in a while. To me that area is intimidating and I've been afraid to go in there mostly because I don't know what I'd be doing. I've been using the machines but I have an appt with a personal trainer next week and I've asked him to show me how to use the free weights.

ohh SOOOORRYYYY.. YOUR A GIRL...... LOL

umm lets see advice for a girl at the gym????..... dont worry to tell you the truth i watch more what excersise guys are doing more than girls... i only see girls when they look good but not that many times when they are actually lifting.. ill say dont worry i guess you can lift very light and noone would even notice... girls like to get toned with lightweights.. just go there pushyourself i there and once your there your gonna have to do something haha..

remember your there for you ...not for anyone else.... its all in your head girl really.... remember everyone is there for the samething improve their fitness....that gym is your house also.

[canuck_chick]

Dont you think this would be running away from the intimidation?

I don't think it is running away, it is becoming comfortable with the weights so that she eventually will not be intimidated. I don't think intimidation is the problem. The problem is that she is excluding a whole new world of exercises from her routine because of the intimidation. But to each their own!

[Richy P]

Lol I used to feel a bit intimidated when I first started going. I was reall skinny (still am) and tall. I could hardly lift anything and the women that were there would nearly always use more weight than me in the free weights section.

I just figured that I had to start somwhere and so did everyone else and got on with it in the end. Im sure I still get a few glances from people wondering why im not using more weight or maybe im paranoid.

I realised that when I went to the gym I never really took any notice of what other people were doing, so I figured everyone else is probably the same.

[yeara]

once you become a regular at the gym, and it feels like your natural environment, you will no longer be intimidated by the free weights section. [for the record, i went through five gyms in the past couple of years]

[Eileen]

Just remember that everyone is there for the same reason. If you are working hard, no-one will care that you are using much less weight than the guys there.

Actually, one of the reasons I loke going to the gym, rather than working out with my weights at home is the inspiration I get some seeing some of the guys working, and knowing that if I need a spotter, someone will help me.

[dargos9]

Thanks everyone for your encouraging words. I won a free hour of training so I will have him show me the basics and go from there and hopefully I will gain enough confidence to go in there by myself and not feel like they are all staring at me, wondering what in the world I'm doing in there.

Yes thailegacy, I am a girl, thanks for noticing. LOL

[darkangel]

I'm the only woman that works out regularly with heavy free weights at my gym. Some guys are jerks; some admire you for lifting serious weight. You can't let the naysayers getcha down. You have as much right to be there as they do.

I learned good form by using Cathe's gym style weight training DVDs at home with lighter dumbbells and a barbell before I graduated to the gym. A few sessions with a personal trainer will do the same thing for you.

ohh SOOOORRYYYY.. YOUR A GIRL...... LOL

Yes, you ARE in the "female bodybuilding" section.

[Richy P]

I just picked it up correct form as I went along. Used to go to the gym with someone else too, so it always helps when they can tell you where you are going wrong.

Sometimes random people will come up to you and give you a bit of advice. If they are muscular I take it, and if they are skinny I smile and carry on with what im doing.

[nicoledominique]

Research different exercises if you are unsure about proper form - when trying out a new exercise make sure you're in front of a mirror so you can watch yourself and your form to ensure you're doing it correctly.

From my experience, most gym "regulars" do not even practice proper form, which is pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

[thenewchamp]

Definitely take advantage of the trainer's knowledge. Let him show you around the floor because it can be intimidating at first...but, the real gym-artist is focused on his workout and not you. Once you get in, you'll start to feel comfortable.

I've been lifting for a long time and anytime I go to a new gym, I feel intimidated even though I know what I'm doing. But as soon as I put my gloves and headphoens on, I'm in the zone and no one else matters.

[tabbi]

I was a bit intimidated at first, as until then I?d only ever used machines, but I don?t even think about it now. Everybody is there to work out and no one pays much attention.

[darkangel]

I've been lifting for a long time and anytime I go to a new gym, I feel intimidated even though I know what I'm doing.

I'd never be intimidated if I looked like you... kudos!

[thenewchamp]

I'd never be intimidated if I looked like you... kudos!

Awe! Thank you, made my day!

[bbbom]

I'm with TurbulentFluid, what's to be intimidated about, but I have found very few things in life that intimidate me.

I think it's a personality thing, especially for a lot of women because they "feel" like they are doing something that is a male activity. There's also the factor that trying something new can be intimidating. I've always been more of the type to look forward to trying something new, except flying, I HATE the air.

Working with a trainer should help alleviate your fears, from their just keep telling yourself that you DO belong in the free weights. There's lots of us doing it, just not at the same gyms!

[KimberleyRN]

I was more nervous about the young guys in there that seemed to preen/prance and oggle whenever a girl entered the FW area.

I got over it though by putting in my MP3 headphones, and just ignoring all that was going on around me and focusing on my own workout.

Once they see that you are in the zone and not there to pick up guys, it will be all good.

[AmyLK]

I agree with TurbulentFluid and bbbom....don't be intimidated.

I am usually the only girl in the free weights when I go to the gym in the early morning, and I've never felt intimidated. Generally I think guys in the gym are either impressed that you're lifting or too busy with their own workout to even notice what you're doing.

Hope the trainer gives you some pointers on fw and makes you feel more comfortable.

Lifting heavy stuff rules!!!!

[c0ldhart]

I'm in a pretty male dominated environment right now (deployed to iraq) and while there aren't many women in the gym, there are even less in the free weights section... I find that if you look serious (focused on your workout and learning about lifting) then they will take you seriously. I always have my log book and I'll ask questions occassionally if I see something really different, but most of the time they don't really bother me and I just do put my headphones on and do 'my thing'. I find that when I run across them in other locals, they are pretty nice to me....respectful nice, not dry hump my leg nice or oh, you're that dumb chick in the gym nice and it makes me feel good. It grows on you. It's all new and your rhythm is off, once you go through the motions a few times, you'll feel like it's 'your house', too.

[dargos9]

Well I had my training and I noticed at first I was the only female in there. After that, I was to busy listening to my trainer and doing the exercises to even notice anyone else. He showed me a lot of stuff that I hadn't done before. I really enjoyed it. Now going back again by myself might be a little intimidating but I feel a lot better about it now. I did squats for the first time and I am sore. I was dead tired after the workout. Free weights is a much better workout than the machines. However I would have never made it if I had to start with them so the machines do have their purpose. My trainer was very nice and made me feel comfortable. I was a little embarrassed at how weak I am. Thanks everyone for your encouragement. I feel a lot more confident now than I did before.

[thenewchamp]

Well I had my training and I noticed at first I was the only female in there. After that, I was to busy listening to my trainer and doing the exercises to even notice anyone else. He showed me a lot of stuff that I hadn't done before. I really enjoyed it. Now going back again by myself might be a little intimidating but I feel a lot better about it now. I did squats for the first time and I am sore. I was dead tired after the workout. Free weights is a much better workout than the machines. However I would have never made it if I had to start with them so the machines do have their purpose. My trainer was very nice and made me feel comfortable. I was a little embarrassed at how weak I am. Thanks everyone for your encouragement. I feel a lot more confident now than I did before.

Glad that you had a good experience. Don't worry about feeling weak. That's a mental game that you can easily overcome. And hey...being the only girl in the weight room is fun.

[bbbom]

Yep x2 what the newchamp said.

I'd like to add that the weak feeling goes away as long as you keep lifting.

[jp8207]

Nope, If you watch the guys lift they are sooooo busy looking at themselves in the mirror they wont be looking at you. But once I got into the free weights I didnt care who was there. I know have a few guys that will come up to me and say "you can curle a lot" But I also work at my gym so I know most of the people that come in and we have a great group of people that are always willing to help others if they have a question. Even the biggest guy in the gym is always willing to help ya out. I did learn a lot from bb.com on differeent things I could do with free weights at first.
Dont be intimidated go in there like you know what your doing, we need more women lifting weights