The amazing thing about fitness is that everyone starts from the same place - the beginning. Nobody is born and develops into the size of Dwayne Johnson, you have to train hard to get in great shape. Going into a gym as a 'newbie' is intimidating, I get that, and I was once a 'newbie' and felt the same. But I had to make a choice - do I quit and not bother? or just power through, knowing that at some point I wouldn't be a 'newbie' and would be progressing.
There is an alternative though. If you are still too self conscious to go into a busy gym, you can always buy some equipment and workout in the comfort of your own home. It's more expensive to start with, as you might have to spend a couple of hundred pounds to purchase a variety of exercise equipment, but you won't have to pay any monthly costs, as you do with a gym membership. I know a fair few people who do this, and it is extremely convenient. I myself have weights, a bench, dumbbells, barbell, chin up bar, kettlebells and a punch bag. I do work out at home a lot, and in the near-ish future, i'll be moving out where I will be fortunate enough to have a private gym in my apartment block. Working out at home is great though - you can choose when to workout, you don't have to wait for equipment during peak times, you can have whatever music on in the background, there isn't anybody around to 'judge you' or intimidate you and so on.
So for those people are do get intimidated, you do have options. You can either 'suck it up' and power through, or you can workout from home. You just want to keep in mind that the majority of the people who go to a gym, are there to train, to improve their fitness, to improve their looks, not to look around at others. You do get some people who are so in love with their body that all they do is look in the mirror - those are the ones who should feel embarrassed.
Lee Gregory Fitness
