Going into a gym knowing you’ll share a space with all those fitness junkies can be a rather intimidating experience especially if you’re a beginner. Struggling through all those fast-paced exercise routines in a class, or trying to decide which ones from a multitude of seemingly torturous exercise machines to use can be factors that can contribute to your decision whether to go back or not for a next session and continue working out.
So before you even decide to forego all your succeeding gym sessions, stop, take deep breaths and try your best to divert these all too-common, self-defeating thoughts.
- “I can’t do this”.
Oh, sure you can! The thing is, if you keep on thinking that you can’t accomplish something, or you’re not fit for the part, then eventually you’ll prove yourself right. Your thoughts have power; it may be hard to believe at first, but it’s true.
If you’re wary that you might not be able to come up to speed with whatever exercise the entire group is doing, or if you’re scared that you’ll make a fool of yourself when using unfamiliar exercise equipment, just think that everyone on that gym has been where you’re currently at. Everybody is a beginner at first, so learn to drop that overly-perfectionist attitude and just embrace yourself. It will surely be awkward at first, but if you stick with it, you’ll progress soon enough and you’ll prove yourself wrong when you first said that you “can’t do this”.
- “Everyone here is more fit than me”.
Comparing yourself with others will just stress you out. People go to the gym for a lot of different reasons. Find your own reason and transform your own body right before your very eyes.
- “Look at that body. They make it look all so easy.”
All gyms in the planet have their own share of super fit people who have worked out for ages. So comparing yourself to someone who has spent a lot more time on the gym working and shredding their butts off when you’re just getting started is like giving a really unfair assessment of yourself. This kind of thought may lead you to give up when you still haven’t explored your own capacity to change.
- “I feel like they’re all staring at me”.
Now, this is just plain non-sense no unless you feel that the entire world revolves around you. Yoga, zumba and those other classes, everyone in there started from the bottom—all staying to learn the moves and getting familiar. There’s a learning curve in there and that takes time. So staying so self-conscious of yourself all the time can just keep you from learning those moves more effectively. It’s best to ignore the others and just focus on yourself until you’ve mastered everything.
- “I can never get the body that I want”.
Says who? You can make big changes in your body even by just doing minute, yet consistent adjustments in your daily lifestyle.
- “I’ll just keep to myself and watch TV when I work out”.
A lot of studies have shown that listening to music while running or doing any form cardio exercise can make it feel like it’s easier than it is. However, when strength training and lifting weights, it’s better to concentrate on what you’re working on and feel your muscles with each repetition.
- “Doing cardio can be such a bore”.
Sure, repetitive cardio like running or walking can sometimes become a big yawn fest, so strive to make it more upbeat by shaking things up. Do different things and think of ways to make it more fun.
