That guy has a particular intonation and demeanor about him that induces boredom, even when he's talking about something I normally think is interesting.

..

lol

I have an observation about an observation.

I was watching "Biggest Loser" the other day (a crazy show where people shed tears of shame over losing "only" eight pounds in a week...I understand that it's a contest and that there is disappointment about not winning, but shame over eight pounds lost?). A contestant said she tried a commercial gym and felt that everyone was staring at her as if she was unwelcome at the place. She said she knew this because, as the regulars were fit, that was obviously the standard by which everyone is judged.

I've been training in commercial gym for a long time and have not once heard one person say anyone did not belong in the gym because of fitness level, yet I keep hearing about this phenomenon. They never report that gym members said a single impolite word to them, either. Rather, they say they feel they got funny looks, which caused them to feel embarrassment and hurt their feelings.

I tend to think this is caused by preconceptions many may have toward the attitudes of gym regulars.

Regardless, it is odd that this comes up so often, yet there is seemingly no evidence behind it. I personally think it's a misconception, but what do you all think?

Pretty common feeling among gym noobs. Myself included. I was just scared of looking like an idiot at first, not any body image issues.

I don't think most people notice or care what others are doing or how they look. I'm sure there are people who make fun of fatties though. And I can only imagine what people with low gym self esteem would think if they read this thread.

+1 for being scared of looking like an idiot in the beginning

IMO a lot of the time the hyper self conciousness and lack of self esteem that goes along with being out of shape or even just a female in a male dominated environment, makes people see and experience things that aren't there. My GF was like this for example, she didn't want to go to the free weights area because she was sure men were looking at her and laughing. After going a few times and forcing her she realised she was being silly and that people don't care.

I feel like ****ing idiot for wearing my new shiny weightlifting shoes and squatting 135 lbs (just started SS). I want to fast-forward a couple months.

This is so true it hurts. Most people don't actually give a **** about other people at the gym. They're just there to do their thing and leave. The fact that they look at you, size you up, whatever means nothing except assuaging their own egos.

if that makes you feel like an idiot you don't read this thread enough.

Why would you feel foolish coming prepared to do one of the most important lifts? Makes no sense.

Saw somebody do deadlifts in smith machine today. I think anyway, not entirely sure what the **** he was trying to accomplish. I was reaching for my phone to record this amusing process but I guess he realized how stupid it was en he moved on...

/Not very cool ggo

meh, I get it.

FYP

TE - this is what happens when people try to backwards-engineer the feelings they feel using rational thought. They say things that make them look dumb or are obviously not the true reality of what's actually happening. It may come as a shock, but there are almost certainly cases in your own life and all of ours (even though were in the hyper-analytic section of people given we're on 2p2) where we're doing the exact same thing.

Btw (unrelated but not completely), I constantly wonder what people are thinking when they see me do SMR. I keep imagining how weird it must look to them. My g/f always notes (astutely I'm sure) that no gives a sh*t and only the ppl who talk to me at the gym anyway probably notice me at all.

Of course, she is the one who is more self-conscious about what she's doing overall (won't do SMR with a roller at the gym for example). It's not that her reasoning is off, it's just that it has no real bearing on how she feels about the situation. I feel comfortable "humping a PVC pipe" in front of a church group for up to an hour, but apparently, she doesn't, .

A woman feeling more self-conscious than a man?

Dear Chinese people:

1. Re-rack your goddamn weights
2. Smoking in the gym is counterproductive (maybe not, but please dont do it). Im sick of wiping ash off the machines before i use them
3. If you keep on staring at my junk in the changing room, i will charge you a fee

Signed,

White people in china

I would totally smoke in the gym. That is awesome.

Also, re noobs being self conscious...

I have finally convinced a mate to start lifting... Actually, he tried one other time and quit after one session... This time he has made two sessions...

Aaaanyway. He is so self conscious that he won't lift in a public gym and will only lift in my home gym... And this is coming from a 29 year old male... A very small 29 year old male... but still.

Ten years ago when i first wanted to get in shape i was too embarassed at how weak i was to even go to the gym. Hell a set of curls with a 10lb dumbbell was all i could do. I was just skin and bones back then, 5'11 and 125lbs. It wasnt until after 3-4 months of stuffing my face to get to 145lbs did i feel i wouldnt be too weak to go to the gym.

Yeah, it's kinda weird... I think I can understand it, but I don't remember ever feeling like that...

I mean... big guys don't go to the gym because they're big... They're big because they go to the gym.

Any noob under Snitch's guidance is still going to be doing more useful, productive, and non-stupid things than 99%+ of the gym population, that's the ironic part.

The odd thing is that everyone there would say you were exactly where you belonged to bulk up a bit, just as most would probably say someone wishing to lose weight belongs in the gym to do so.

You bring up another misconception. Many seem to think they are judged by the amount of weight they can lift. These guys get negative attention not because of what they can lift, but because of their attempts to lift what they cannot (forced reps, terrible form, etc.) out of this concern.

Honestly I'm weak and out of shape and I felt pretty out of place at first, but I've developed some confidence since at least I'm somewhat educated on what I'm doing now and attempting to lift heavy weight with decent form... I swear I do get weird looks a lot, today the dude doing 135lb 1/4 squats in the smith machine next to me was definitely giving me weird looks while I was doing 185lb real squats, but I've learned to ignore that since I'm pretty sure about my general knowledge at this point. If I had no idea about how to work out I think I'd feel differently.

I got a good one. I'm doing OTS Big Beyond Belief, and was doing high incline DB bench press. Do 1x14x100lb DBs, rest 90 seconds then go on to my second set with 90lb DBs. Get like 13 reps, arms and chest are on fire, go to rack the weight, then douchenozzle on the bench next to me runs, cuts me off and racks his 30lb DBs next to the 95lb DBs on the bottom rack. Of course there is no more free rack space, so I carry my weights to the other end of the rack to put them up.

Douchenozzle got a very stern look from me, then I was on to my next set.