Mirror mirror

Welcome to afitnewyou!  Today I would like to remove some of the intimidation some people sense when getting into the gym when you feel you aren’t in your best shape.  We all know that getting into the gym is a great way to get ourselves into the best shape, but unfortunately, sometimes people become intimidated of getting into the gym because they are out of shape.  In fact, some big chain gyms market that they are accommodating to the non-gym rat types to make it less intimidating.  Sometimes, instead of going to the gym and working out, people become demoralized about what other people in the gym will think and then decide to not start working out at all.  It can become a very bad negative cycle.  But what everyone should realize is that 99.99% of the people who are working out in the gym are much more concerned about how they themselves look, as opposed to how anyone else looks.  Heck, its one of the reasons why gyms have so many mirrors.

Sharon is a client of mine who started training with me when she needed to lose a significant amount of body fat.  She had gained the majority of weight after having been in abusive relationships, and suffered from a few debilitating injuries as well.  These factors combined, contributed to Sharon having a fragile psyche and held her back from joining a gym.  She had become so afraid of what other people would think of her appearance in the gym that it intimidated her from ever getting started.  Sadly, this contributed to her gaining more weight, and held her back from gaining the strength to overcome her injuries.  However, Sharon and I were able to find times to train when the gym was “slower”, which helped her feel more comfortable and allowed her to get started on the path to reclaiming her health.  While this is a more dramatic example of how one’s self-image can hold someone back from improving their own health due to what they think others will think, it does illustrate the point that your own self-image, the one you are trying to improve upon can hold you back from doing just that.

The primary reason mirrors are use in gyms is so that an individual can watch their own form as they exercise.  Yes, those mirrors are also there for people to check out their own results.  The key here is that they are mirrors, not windows, used for people to look at themselves, not others.  And this is my point.  People exercise for many reasons as the benefits to exercise are numerous.  But the people who are exercising for vanity are doing it for their own vanity.  They are sweating and working hard because they are so concerned with their own appearance…not yours.

Starting an exercise routine is one of the most beneficial ways to improve your own health.  Exercise has so many health benefits that it becomes a no-brainer to start a training routine.  Looking better is just one of the beneficial side effects of improving your health with exercise.  It is a shame that in today’s society appearance has become at times more important that one’s health.  No one else is able to affect your health and appearance better than you can.  So get in the gym and start exercising for you.  After all, everyone else there is more concerned with who they see in the mirror, not you.  Recognizing that the person you see in the mirror is the one most responsible for your health is the first step to achieving a fit new you!