S2, Ep21: Gym Intimidation

Weight There’s More – Get the Skinny with Sue & Kim
Season 2, Episode 21: Gym Intimidation

Walking into the gym for the first time — or going back after a long break — can feel overwhelming, awkward, and intimidating. In this episode, Sue and Kim talk honestly about the fear so many women feel when stepping into a gym environment and what to do to push past it.

They share practical advice on how to get started, ways to build confidence, and simple mindset shifts that can help you stop worrying about who is watching and start focusing on why you are there. Whether you are brand new, starting over, or trying to rebuild your routine, this episode is a reminder that everyone starts somewhere — and you belong there too.

Tune in for real talk, encouragement, and helpful tips to help you walk into the gym with more confidence and less fear.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Welcome to another episode of Wait There's More Gets a Skinny with Sue and Kim. This podcast is all about real talk, real experiences, and the real journey behind weight loss, health, and learning how to actually keep it off. I'm Sue and my co-host is Kim. And together we spent years navigating the ups and downs, victories and challenges of weight loss, mindset, and lifestyle change. Around here, we believe weight loss is the only part of the journey. Each week, we're diving into topics like long-term weight loss success, mindset shifts, gastric surgery journeys, fitness, nutrition, motivation, and everyday struggles that women face when trying to live healthier lives. We are not medical professionals. Everything we share on this podcast comes from our personal experiences, opinions, and the lessons we've learned along the way. Think of this podcast like sitting down with two friends who have been through it, figured some things out, and now we're here to share the truth about what it really takes to transform your life and keep the weight off. So go grab your cup of coffee or even your protein shake and let's get real about health, weight loss, and everything in between. Because remember, weight there's more. Alright, we're back. Hey, we're here for another episode. I think we are uh continuing on our um gym topic. Yes, gym and take intimidation. I can't even say that. The first time we you know we're all afraid to go into that gym. It's so intimidating and you don't know what to expect the first time you you enter the door. So we're gonna chat about our experiences and maybe give you guys a few tips. So you're not so afraid and you go in there with confidence and you already know where to go once you get there.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Yeah, so we were mapping this out as you know, from the last episode, Jim Intimidation. The next step, like Sue said, is walking through the door. What happens?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Yeah, I believe, like for me, I always try to go in with somewhat of a plan. And the first time you go in there, you don't want to kill yourself. Absolutely. And and I feel like one of the very first things you want to do is at least get through those doors, walk around, ask a trainer or somebody at the desk if they can show you around that you're here for the first time, you're interested in maybe just a day pass to see if you like it, and then go from there, like have a personal trainer. Usually the front desk will either help you or they'll have a personal trainer walk you through. Um, don't feel obligated to, you know, the personal trainer may talk try to talk you into, you know, a questionnaire or you know, an assessment. Like if you're not ready for that and you you just feel like you just want to try the gym out for the first time, like don't feel obligated, just you know, feel comfortable enough to tell them, you know, maybe at some other point when you're ready for that. Um, you're just there to initially see what the gym is like. Uh, that's okay to do.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Yeah. Yeah, I think we skipped an important step, uh, truthfully. Um, we were talking about, you know, just getting there and getting through the door, but we're assuming you've made that decision to go to the gym. But I was thinking of throwing a different scenario out there. We've all been to the gym a million times. I think that's kind of what we talked about uh in the last episode. So we're coming back after a long hiatus. Um, we know the drill of uh don't jump in feet first yet. Um, you know, we all know what that initial visit is. The this is what we have to offer. Here's your day pass, um, here's all all the circuit training, which typically I think in my past experiences, it's always about the um, I think the stereotype is that women are not going to go in the weight room. So they automatically show us the circuit machines, if that's even what they're called. But that's kind of what I've done all my life is and and there's nothing wrong with that. And I think that's a great place to start, but I found a a really good um suggestion of mindset. Here we are again. Keyword, keyword from wait there's more is mindset. So your goal is to rebuild that habit, not rebuild your body, right? Not yet.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

So if you're going in there to go hard and just like bang it all out in one visit, you haven't recreated that habit to stick with it. You know, we we've already gone through this um surgery, most of us, any type of great weight loss, and we've created these habits. You can do it, you've proved that to yourself. Um, but you've made that decision to go back to the gym, which I think is great. I commend you for that. I'm doing it myself. We all know Sue is because she has all these great photos of all her working out. And I want to see the pull-up, by the way, Sue. All you did was show us the right before the pull up. I know. I know.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

I'm gonna demonstrate how to train yourself to do uh to to do a pull-up. I have a pull-up bar. You actually start at the top of the cross down. That's how you build up your shoulders.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Oh, okay. Well, I can't even, I have it in my doorway right here. And Logan will come in, Mr. 19-year-old with 0% body fat, and he flips his legs up over and hits the ceiling. And I'm like, seriously, I would just like to be able to pull myself up. I'm hanging there, can't do it.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

But again, you start off topic and then come down. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

But yeah, it's a great teaser. I want to see the rest. But yeah, here we are. Um jumping back in. Uh I came up with the same thing. Go in with a plan, just what you said a minute ago. If you just plan, you know, 15 minutes on the treadmill, and I think the treadmill is a great place to start because you are intimidated, you're overwhelmed, you're already stressed, have that like selective anxiety. I think there's people that don't have anxiety, but you can have anxiety in a moment. So I think they walk in with a little bit of, you know, um anxiety about the situation. Of course, totally understandable. But I'm thinking you hop on that treadmill and just chill and just observe. And again, if that's all you do, we're slowly creating that habit to go back. Then you're you've made that habit, you're going two or three times a week, you're two months in, and guess what's going to happen? You're gonna go lift the weights, you're gonna feel more confident, you have no more intimidation about getting there. Yeah, it's just what goals you've set for yourself and where you take it from here. Um, Sue just mentioned that our next part of the mini-series might be personal trainers. And I think, like you said, the the the initial visit, they're telling you everything they can do for you. Obviously, there's going to be personal trainers there, and we'll we'll touch on that next week. But um I think the you know, creating the habit first, not the you know, recreating your body all in that first week because you won't go back if you set your expectations that high. We all know better. We're there.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

I mean, it's hard, but and most people in the gym are more focused. Like if you're worried about people watching you, most people at the gym are more focused on themselves. Oh yeah, they don't even give you the time of day. So once you get over that as well, um, you know, basically if you're on the treadmill and you're observing, you know, watching people around you and what they're doing, um, I used to kind of make it fun and and look for the you know, the douchebag of the day, the one that's like grunting the loudest or you know, lifting like 10 pounds, but grunting like he's lifting a hundred. Like those are the kind of things that I do and kind of make myself more at ease. Like I'm not the only, you know, uh one in here thinking I'm you know terrible or you know, don't know what I'm doing because there are a lot of people that are feeling the same way. And yeah, at the end of the day, no one's paying attention to you.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

I 100% agree.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Yeah, no matter how hard you you you have that thought, nobody pays attention to you. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

And I think it it's a growth too. You know, in my 20s, I wouldn't I would look at you and be like, what are you even talking about, Sue? Like everybody cares. That's all, you know, it it's just the the growth and just growing up, maturing in in life. You can apply that to everything. You're gonna walk around thinking, even in the grocery store, is you know, like, is someone judging me? And now who cares? I mean, people go in their pajamas to the grocery store. Like, just kind of, you know, generically speaking, we can we can assume that things have changed. I think society has changed. I think the the viewpoint on going to a gym, all of that around, because I think everybody's kind of um changing as a society from the standpoint of it's it's a lot more accepted to be at the gym, go to the gym, kind of everybody does, where maybe before it wasn't the standard. But now I think it is becoming the norm, I guess is what I was looking for. Um so yeah, and another thing we talked about maybe for the next episode was group classes too. Um I was just saying, I took one last Friday and I was saying to Megan, like I was watching her because the instructor just has a great body, she's ripped. Um, I believe she's right around right between my age and your age, somewhere between 53 and 61, right? I don't know. But she looks great. And before I would have taken her class and either not taken it again because she looked too good. That's how shallow my mindset was. Um, and I remember thinking last week, like, wow, she looks great. I think it'd be really cool if I could just get my arms like that. Like I want to work on my arms. So I was looking at her as an example, but I was also like inside rooting for her, like, you go, girl, like that's awesome that you look that great. I can tell you've worked for it. I can tell you've earned it. And so, like, my mindset was totally different. It was more like girl power than criticism, or I'll never look that way. So I'm never gonna take this class again, or oh my gosh, like she can, you know, bake a cake and look that good. Like I hate her. Like, you know what I mean? Like, we're taught to think that way, and it's easy to think that way. But I was really proud of myself for being like, wow, I wonder if I can get my arms like that. Like, those are great arms, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

So I think challenge yourself.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

You can do it.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah, I think I can. And even if I can't, I do it, it's a goal that I'm gonna set and and strive for. But um I think it's just confirmation that um if you know if you have any backstory to me, whoever's listening, I've come a long way, trust me. That is not normal for me to be that positive during a group class, which was also intimidating to go to with six other women or whatever, you know. Um, so my baby steps have become big, big wins um recently in that area.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

So I think for for me, like getting to the gym, getting a routine, and consistency was first for me. And you know, I was always a big Debbie Downer on group classes, like, no, you know, everybody you have to do the same things and um they're too big. Like I was always the type of person that goes into the gym and I'm focused on what I'm doing. And yeah, you get you once you have consistency in going to the gym, you start to recognize the same people that come at the same time. You start getting to know people. Um, and so you got that support, you kind of build that support as you keep going and going. But you know, just you know, the first few times you go in there and if you're that intimidated, figure out a good time where it's not busy in there, like you know, first thing in the morning tends to be busy, lunchtime tends to be busy, like right after school or work tends to be busy. So you kind of maybe your first couple times you go to the gym, you go after the busy hours, and you feel less intimidated. And once you start getting more familiar and you have that consistency and you get confidence built up, um, you know, go when it's busy, but then you you kind of know the gym routine or the gym etiquette. You know what people who people are, what they work on, um, where not to go somebody you know, you kind of know you kind of get used to that routine. Um, and then it took me gosh, it took me like probably ten years. No, no, no, no. I'm gonna say thirteen years after my surgery to do a group class. Okay. Because I was so you know, I liked working out my with my spouse. Um, I had one really good friend along the way that we worked out outdoor, you know, we did everything together, we worked out together, we worked out, you know, I loved working outdoors. So if I could work outdoors, even if it was in my garage driveway or out in the road doing workouts, um I would do that. So it took me 13 years to for Al and a couple of my friends to convince me to do this HIIT class. You know, yeah, and and yeah, well that'll be good to talk about it. Yeah, yeah, it'll be it'll be great to talk about those group classes because yeah, it can benefit you, and and I had that attitude like, oh, I'm never doing a group class, but you know, now I'm doing CrossFit, and who thought I'd be doing that? Not me.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Right, right. And I mean that's kind of what we're hoping for the listeners too, is just you'll have that that five years later moment where you're like, wow, I used to say I would never do this. Yes, and I think that's kind of what we're encouraging in general, is just keep going with these changes, you know, that you've already proven to yourself change is good, it's slow, uh, especially if it takes 13 years or five years or whatever. You know, it's slow and steady, wins the race, as cliche as that is, it's so true. Like, um, you know, we obviously can tell that it's working, and we're trying to help y'all with that concept of you know, taking care of yourself, being proud of yourself, loving yourself enough to do this and stay healthy, and um all of that intimidation and anxiety, I think it will just wash away. And I think you'll have that moment of like, wow, look where I am. I'm so glad I got over that. But also getting over that um will help you get over that same fear in other areas, I think. I think if you take care of yourself health-wise, you know, it's in conjunction, but I also think it will help the mental too, because you've created these great habits and you can apply them in other areas and you can be like, wow, I really this really benefited me in this many ways. Um I think I think that's the end goal for all of us. And you know, we're just trying to let you guys know that we've done it and um we're still doing it and changing it. You know, I mean, you worked out for those 13 years, you just didn't do a group class, you know, it just took you that long to say, you know, I'm gonna try what I said I wouldn't do. Yeah. And you know, same thing for me. I'm still getting there. But I think that's what we're hoping for is that you guys walk through this journey with us because we're all in different places, we've all been there. And if if Sue and I happen to be already past where you want to be, we just want to help you through that and tell you it's normal and we're here for you. Um, whether it's to be your bariatric buddy or your weight loss buddy or your workout buddy.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Yeah. Yeah. And it and the whole the the thing is you're gonna find somebody in the gym that you connect with, and all of a sudden, like you're meeting up at the gym, or you're hey, let's go for a run, or let's do something else, or let's get out of the gym and run the trails. Like this is this happened to me. And you know, eventually I didn't have and then you're gonna have friends that are your friends, and the they see you're going to the gym all the time, and then they're gonna want to come to the gym with you. Um I my big suggestion with that is you always I always tell um from lessons learned, um waiting on somebody to show up is very annoying. Yeah and I had to learn the hard way and finally just say, Hey, you know what time I go to the gym every day, just meet me there. Because if I'm sitting here in my driveway waiting for you to come out of your house to get in a car with me, and then you ghost me all day long because you didn't get up in time and you think I'm mad, like, no, I'm not mad at you. I've got my workout in, like, I feel great. Like, so you didn't get your workout in, that's on you. But what makes me angry is when you don't show up and I'm sitting here waiting an extra, you know, 20 minutes to 30 minutes and I don't hear anything. So just from now on, you know where I'm at, and you got to do those type of things to your friends. You know, I'm sorry that I had to be that way, but the truth is like nobody's gonna hold me back from working out.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Now, yeah, you've learned that lesson, yeah, for sure. And I think the other thing to be careful of is too, uh, I know Megan has done this, goes to work out with a friend and they talk the whole time. And then she comes home saying, Oh, well, I don't think we got anything done. So you have to kind of balance that as well as like it's nice that you get there for yourself the first time, like, but like Sue was saying, you you meet up, you know, it's kind of like a oh hey, an acknowledgement smile the first few times, and then it's a you know, just a chit chat that turns into like a a workout friend, acquaintance or whatever. I think um you can keep your distance or get as close as you want. I mean, this is all your journey. So good, good stuff.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

It's always yeah, it's always good to have that, like you know, one supportive person, like-minded, go into the gym to work out and get it done. Chit chat like in between or whatever, but yeah, yeah. I I feel like you'll get it, just you know, be comfortable. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Well, that was the other thing I was gonna say too, is with being comfortable, is um I got a really nice pair of Nike leggings yesterday at TJ Maxx or the other day. And I I mean, I don't typically just go shopping for those, but the reality is I'm kind of living in leggings lately with different spin class and this and that. And I was like, oh, these seem really nice. And they were, they were kind of like um moisture wicking and they don't have the front seam. That seems to be a hot thing right now. Nike, Nike, oh Nike, are you out there? Um Nike Universa. I don't know, they're nice and and you don't have to pay one tenant at. Dicks, let me tell you. Um it I think I got them for$25 at TJ Maxx. But that's also someone that um is you know having recent weight loss, that's another thing, is I think we've talked about before is don't invest in a lot of clothes right away. Um do a lot of thrifting. And for some, TJ Maxx is thrifting, right? I mean, you can you might be able to afford to go get the$110 full price at Nike online or whatever. And I think online the same ones are selling for like$80, which is a good discount for a brand. But just you know, every you know how TJ Maxx is, they just get a lot of things that um weren't selling wherever they bought it from. But um yeah, like be comfortable. Um, you're dressing for yourself, not everybody in that gym, because again, they don't care what you're wearing, what you look like, they're focused on themselves, but you do want to feel comfortable and look good for yourself. I mean, because that's what we're really doing is we're trying to learn to love ourselves. And I felt good in my leggings. I like them. I would tell other people to buy them because of the way they were like constructed, but I also felt good. And I I simply just wear a t-shirt and leggings. That's kind of my go-to outfit. That's different for everybody. I mean, sometimes a nice little matching bike short set that I can't, I would like to get there someday, but I can't do just the sports bra and the bike shorts because of my mid drift. Um, maybe someday. But um, you know, what I'm thinking, I'm I'm 61.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

I'm not sure if that's appropriate for my age. I I I see women doing it my age. I know.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

I'm saying with bikinis on the beach, right? Yes, yes. When do you stop? But um again, if those women feel good and they're doing that for themselves, yeah, go for it. I'm all for it.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

Exactly. Exactly. What a great yeah, what a great uh episode. Yeah, this is a good talk. Yeah, yeah, we're hoping you guys feel the same way.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Yeah, I mean, you're probably finding us on Facebook, so you're just listening to the audio, but right there on Facebook is a comment box. We would love to hear from you. I we just want to know that that we're and and we do have a couple ladies that have reached out um that did say that's you know, they found us um through the podcast search and we're so excited. Yeah, even TikTok, we're kind of getting on that trend of um just trying to reach a greater audience because it feels so good to have found these two women that have reached out to Sue. And that's exactly what we wanted. And if we only ever get you two wonderful ladies, that's okay. Um, you know, we know we're we're we have some bit of a listening audience, but um, it's just nice to know that we are helping. Yeah. Um, so even if it's just a thumbs up, you know.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

Yeah, the great, the great comments though, you know, like we're really hitting home with these topics. So keep them, you know. If you have a topic we haven't discussed yet, please let us know. We'll we'll we'll talk about it. And even give you the credit.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Oh, absolutely. We don't want it. Um, but yeah, so um, so this was part two of Gym Intimidation. I think we're gonna add in part three.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Um, and we'll still throw our cute little animated teaser out, but basically, uh I think we're gonna talk about personal training and group classes.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

Yeah, yeah. All right, Kim. All right, thanks, Sue. Thanks, guys. Nice chatting with you. Yeah, wait there's more. Always. Up another episode of Wait There's More. If you enjoyed today's conversation, make sure you subscribe, follow, and share this episode with someone who can use a little motivation on your health channel. And don't forget to connect with us on social media where we share tips and encouragement from our own journeys. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube by just searching Wait There's More Get The Skinny with Sewing Catch. Remember, your transformation is about more than just the number on the scale because weight there's more. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on Wait There's More, get the Skinny with Sewing Catch.