WHY ARE WE SCARED OF THE GYM, AND HOW DO WE OVERCOME GYM FEAR?
There’s no getting around the fact that for some of us the gym can feel like an intimidating place when you’re first starting out. Our latest research shows that 50% of non-gym members say they find the idea of going to the gym scary, with one in five saying they would find it very scary. But don't worry, because we have found the best ways of overcoming this.
To learn more about the concept of ‘gym fear’ we asked people about other fears they have, to see how they compare. So, how scary is the gym? Well some are so spooked by gym that one in four people said they would rather choose to have an injection with a needle, or be alone in a room with a spider than go to the gym!
But the gym doesn’t need to be as anxiety inducing as spiders and needles and heights! We delved a little deeper to uncover exactly what thoughts people have about the gym which make it feel scary before a first visit:
FIVE THINGS THAT SCARE US THE MOST ABOUT THE GYM
- Looking stupid in front of other people: Many of us (nearly 40%) are nervous about the gym because we’re afraid of showing people that we don’t know what we’re doing
- Feeling self-conscious about your fitness: Nearly half of the females we spoke to (45%) said they would be nervous in the gym if the other gym-goers were fitter than they were (29% of men felt the same way)
- Lifting weights: A third of us (32%) said the most intimidating area of the gym was the squat rack, followed by the pull-up/chin-up machine and then the bench press. 64% said they didn’t know how heavy the weights they use should be
- The treadmill: A whopping 44% of the participants didn’t know how to turn on and set up a treadmill for a workout
- Asking for help: Almost half (48%) said they’d be too embarrassed to ask another gym goer for help, and 44% said the same thing about asking a staff member for help
