As we welcome in a new year many people have made the choice to start working out, while others want to make that move, but are nervous about being in the gym. I was one of those kids. I grew up thin my entire life. I was super skinny, like turn sideways and I would disappear skinny. Flat Stanley lookin' as skinny. See my spine from the front lookin' ass. Okay, enough of me roasting myself, but I kid you not I couldn't bench the bar. I would get made fun of all of the time about how weak I was. Girls were out-lifting me with ease. I was ashamed and embarrassed of myself. I never would work out because of how I thought people would look at me and laugh because of how weak I was.
This isn't meant to be a boo-hoo poor me story. This is meant for those people that may be nervous to step foot into a gym because they have never been in one and aren't really sure how things work, or they are nervous about their image.
First things first. You have to not care what other people think. When I first started working out I was making up all these stories in my head about people laughing at me because I was curling 10 lb dumbells. When I actually got myself to go to the gym, none of those stories actually happened. People are lost in their own workouts and aren't interested in what you're doing. When I started lifting I had a lot of friends support me and some even told me they were nervous to go but when they saw I did they felt comfortable. When talking to one of my friends about how I wasn't happy with how thin I was I was given the best advice ever, and that was simply "everyone has to start somewhere".
The second thing is you can't compare yourself to other people. The media these days is filled with what a perfect body should look like. Ripped with perfect abs and huge arms. I wanted to look like that because it's what I thought girls wanted. I have now learned to workout not to gain muscle so girls like me, but I do it for me. I'm still skinny, so when people say that I'm thin it doesn't bother me anymore because I have made progress. Yes I'm thin but I used to be way thinner. They don't know that, but I do. It is such an amazing feeling when you hit a goal weight that you have been working towards. You can't let other people tell you what your goals are, you decide them and strive towards them.
Third thing, is if you're in the gym, you have already made a huge step in going. A lot of people think if they go to the gym, they have to have a crazy intense workout. If it's just your first couple times going, you have to get familiar with your body and the machines. You soon will know what weight to lift and what machines you like. You don't even have to lift, you can just bike or walk on the treadmill for 30 mins. The fact of the matter is that you got yourself into the gym and once you get into a rhythm of going, it will become a part of your daily routine.
The main point of this post is to love yourself. I got so hurt when people called me skinny and chicken legs (which I still have) and I would just mope about it and say oh poor me I'm so weak. It was one day where I just said f**k it, why do I care what other people think of me, I'm gonna do this because I want to and I need to stop feeling bad for myself. I started going to the gym and that was the best decision of my life. It lowered my anxiety, my body feels the best it has ever felt, I have started eating more clean, I have met people that I would never have met if I didn't take that leap.
So ending this blog, if you're contemplating about joining a gym because you're nervous about what you look like, you have to start somewhere. Don't expect to lose 15 pounds in a week, or to bench 225 your first day, its a process and you will learn to love that feeling of wanted to go back the next day and make yourself better. Not for others, but because you want to do it for yourself.
