[ssl-3]

There's all kinds of potential negative effects.

1. It generally comes at non-zero financial expense.

2. I might not know what I'm doing.

3. I might get hurt.

4. I might cause someone else to get hurt.

Or, perhaps most-tortuously:

5. They're all going to laugh at me.

[phil21]

> 5. They're all going to laugh at me.

I thought this, and nothing could be further from the truth. The gym (and gymbros) have been one of the most positive uplifting experiences of my life so far. I had a BMI of over 35 when I stepped into a gym for the first time ever at 41 years old.

The non-zero financial expense is really the only issue I can see as "real" on your list. You can avoid #3 by spending money on a personal trainer to learn. Gym memberships are also not cheap. The long-term costs of not doing so I would argue are far greater.

[ssl-3]

I didn't say "they're all going to laugh at me because I'm fat". I intentionally left the reason unspecified, but fat-shaming wasn't even on my list of considerations.

To be more specific: They're going to laugh at me because I have no idea WTF I'm doing. I have no idea what my own (or anyone else's) expectations are in a gym. I don't know what anything does, how to use it, or even what it may be called. I don't what cultural norms, unwritten rules, or written rules may exist in that environment.

I don't even know when to go, when not to go, what to wear, what not to wear, or et cetera. All I really know is that gyms are things that exist -- and that those who do go to gyms all seem to have the broad assumption that everyone was born with the specific knowledge needed to go to the gym, and that it is all implicitly obvious to anyone who is breathing.

But it is not implicitly obvious at all, to me, except for step 1: I am going to fuck this up.

And then: Yes, they're all going to laugh at me. (That's step 2.)

Step 3 is: Fuck it, I'm done. (I can get right to step 3 without even bothering with steps 1 or 2.)

AFAIK, absolutely zero of my friends "hit the gym" (or ever have) so it's not like I can ask for local guidance from someone who I know and trust.

It's daunting just to think about, much less consider actually doing.

[phil21]

> To be more specific: They're going to laugh at me because I have no idea WTF I'm doing.

This was my exact fear as well. I included BMI in my reply to illustrate I had never stepped foot in a gym before but perhaps that was a mistake to focus on.

In fact I could have written your entire post nearly verbatim 2 years ago. Even down to the "what do I wear" question. I was terrified for all the reasons you list, and am in general quite socially anxious from the get-go. Especially in totally alien environments to me. I spent months selecting gym wear and a bag prior to first stepping foot in one.

> and that those who do go to gyms all seem to have the broad assumption that everyone was born with the specific knowledge needed to go to the gym, and that it is all implicitly obvious to anyone who is breathing.

This is an assumption I held as well, but is simply outright wrong. The folks who are hardcore gymgoers love nothing more than helping newbies out, and they don't make these assumptions in my experience. They have a hard time not coming over and helping you out with proper form if they see you doing something that might injure you. They don't do so because they are afraid of making you uncomfortable. If anything, they get excited to see someone putting in the consistent work - they know how hard it is to do so, and love to see people attempting to improve their lives since they generally know how positive it is in theirs. There are assholes in all demographics, but they are rare in my experience.

My first trip to the gym with a personal trainer was highly specific: I want to be taught like a 5 year old on the easy machines so I can use them without feeling like an idiot on my own. This lasted a few sessions and definitely was a totally new experience for my trainer. She obviously felt a bit uncomfortable doing it since it was so far off-script for her.

Over time I graduated to feeling a lot more comfortable, but those first few months were really difficult for the reasons you describe. I felt like an outsider and a complete idiot since I barely had a clue. At some point I just surrendered to looking like a moron.

I am very lucky I have a wife who is very socially capable and was in the gym a lot beforehand. I was able to use her to setup that first training appointment and explain how out of the ordinary I wanted it to go. Otherwise though, I did it on my own with said professional help once a week.

I honestly wish you were close to me (maybe you are?) because I'd love to bring you to my gym and take you around - tell my trainer there is another one of me who needs the same treatment! It was life changing to me and I wish I had figured out a way to do it sooner in my life.

I still feel awkward as hell in the gym. I do half my routine "wrong" and still feel self conscious about it. But I'm slowly getting better, and I slowly realize literally no one cares.

If I can work up the courage, anyone I ask is quite happy to show me proper form/give advice vs. judgement. I'm sure a few do judge, but they thankfully keep it to themselves. I also continued to work with a trainer and developed a nice rapport where she can laugh at me in a good way while we correct my fuckups with a sense of humor about it all. She's basically become a family friend at this point.

Even with all that said, I now look forward to my training sessions. Less so my solo trips, but I feel amazing afterwards. Both physically, and the sense of accomplishment. So many of my "feeling like shit" days have been cleared up, and I now have a little bit of self confidence in my strength as well.

[ssl-3]

Thanks. That's at least somewhat validating.

What I'm taking away from the discourse here are these things:

1. Yep. I'll fuck it up.

2. But that is usually fine, because people tend to be kind and helpful in a gym.

4. I can also hire someone to help, and perhaps I should.

5. Although none of this come without cost, the rewards of doing these things tend to be greater than the cost.

And that brings me a hell of a lot closer to being able to make informed decisions and set reasonable expectations (for all things gym) than I have been previously.

Thanks again.

[zackmorris]

I know that feeling, I was nervous about the risks you listed when I was broke and started lifting around 2000/2001 anyway. Trust me, the expense of losing one's health due to inactivity is higher than any financial cost. I trained intuitively, which mostly means going it alone at the school of hard knocks by trying everything and keeping what sticks. I got hurt countless times from ego lifting too much weight in my 20s, not going through the full range of motion, etc, but nobody else got hurt on my watch. But athletes pretty much always recover anyway. That's the important part - learning that proper exercise, nutrition and supplementation makes the body fungible, so there's really no limit to what it's capable of. Now I'm one of the biggest guys at the gym as a lifelong natty and nobody's laughed at me since I got the eye of the tiger about 3 months in.

[kayge]

You can avoid all 5 almost* entirely and make amazing progress by doing bodyweight exercises at home, 2-3 times a week :) There are plenty of free guides out there where you can start at almost any level. E.g. can't do a pushup? put your knees down. Still can't? Do it at a head-up incline. Still can't? Push against a wall. Keep track and make progress until you can move to the next harder exercise. And always remember it's a marathon, not a sprint, so be patient with yourself.

* Can't make any promises. You might get hurt. You might need to pay for some kind of pull up system. But generally speaking: the sooner you stop looking for the perfect time/situation and just start, the easier it all becomes.

[SirMaster]

Yeah, I wish more emphasis was put on #3.

I keep getting hurt via various forms of exercise. My last injury was a herniated disc which has cost me so much time and money for surgery and PT and missed work time and such.

So a big #1 and #3 for me...

Maybe they were because of #2, but I tried to learn as best as I could.

I couldn't care less about #5.

A lot of time, money, and effort and I still have pretty much nothing to show for it. I am still quite thin and weak. I wont give up, but it's definitely not as simple as some people make it seem.