How to overcome gym intimidation I How to be more confident in the gym

Where am I? You can't see me. Yo, YouTube, what's going on? Welcome back to the channel, or welcome to the channel. Welcome to the video for sure, because you're probably the first time watching this video. Hope you're doing well. In this video, we're going to be talking about how to overcome gym anxiety, you know, like wanting to go into the gym and feeling like people are judging you, feeling like people are looking at you, feeling like you look stupid in there and people are going to think that you're dumb and you, you know, you don't know what you're doing and all those things. So We're gonna talk about that primarily focusing on like being in a gym environment, but also I think you can take this for anything really. Like for example, if you wanna post on social media about your deadlifts or about your pushups or about your weight loss journey, like I think this can kind of apply to that as well. But we're gonna cover a few main things. 2 kind of umbrellas here I wanna touch on is the first umbrella of, I'm gonna cuss here, so no one gives a fuck. I wanna talk about who's really judging who. I'm going to talk about squirrels and what squirrels have to do with this. Then I'm going to give you 4 practical things you can do today when you go into the gym that is going to help you feel a bit less anxious when you're going to the gym, feel a bit less like people are judging you, feel more confident, feel more powerful with yourself. First and foremost, I want to just touch on this very quickly. Nobody gives a fuck what you're doing in the gym. I promise they don't. And it's just for so many reasons. So I wanna touch on this first and foremost, like who's really judging who? I've been in a gym environment for the past going on 9 years of my life. I've been in the gym at least 5 days a week minus COVID. I've been in the gym at least 5 days a week every week for the last 9 years of my life. I wanna make this very clear. Nobody cares. What you're doing in the gym. Those same people, like those same people you think that are judging you, that are on the treadmill or in the weights area or wherever, they don't want you to judge them. So you think they're judging you when in reality they just don't want to be judged by you. So it's this one big, it's that one circle of like, whoa, you're judging me. No, wait, you're judging me. I'm not judging you. I'm not judging you. It's like back and forth. It's like nobody's Nobody's judging each other because nobody gives a shit because you just want to go in there and get better. The next one is people think that the most fit people or the most shredded people or in shape people in the gym are going to judge other people if they're not the most fit and not the most in shape. And you know, the people, the guys in the weight area are going to think you're stupid and don't know what you're doing, and they're going to think that, oh my God, she's a beginner, she's stupid. Here's the God's honest truth. Number 1, those fit people, those in-shape people who are in the gym, they all started in the same place you did. They all started being a beginner, being a newbie, not knowing what to do. So now they've gotten to a point where if they are in shape and they've gotten good control of their health and so on and so forth, they know what it's like to be in your shoes. So why the fuck are they gonna judge you? Why are they gonna think less of you? Why are they gonna talk down on you? In all reality, they probably want to help you more than anybody else in the gym. The most fit people, they probably want to help you more than anybody else in the gym because they know what it's like and they see you in there. And if those people are in there 4 or 5, 6 days a week and they're crushing it and they're consistent, they want you to be in there 4 or 5, 6 days a week crushing it, being consistent, seeing results and loving it. So those people who you think that are like, oh, they're so in shape and they're going to think I'm stupid and judge me. Those are probably the most opposite people who are actually going to judge you. Like there's no designated gym judgers that like only go into the gym and the gym hires them to just judge people. You're making up this like false reality in your head, man. Nobody, nobody cares what you're doing in the gym. They, they don't have time to care. And all those people I just mentioned, yourself, the most in-shape person, the most out of shape person, the person on the treadmill, the person on machines, Every single one of those people, including yourself, they're all there for one reason. One reason. To better themselves. You're there to better yourself. You wanna lose weight, you wanna build muscle, you wanna get stronger, you wanna get into an exercise routine. The same person you think is judging you, they are there for the same reason. They wanna get more in shape, they wanna get stronger, they wanna build their confidence, they wanna do all these great things. They wanna build themselves up. That's the whole reason anybody walks into a gym is they want to better themselves. They just want to go in there and they want to put the work in, they want to work hard and they want to feel proud of themselves and they want to sweat and they want to lift weights and they want to do this. They just want to get better. And that's why everybody who goes into the gym has the same mutual respect for everybody because you're all there for the same reason. You're all there just to fucking be better. Nobody's better or worse than anybody else. The most in-shape person isn't better than the most out-of-shape person or vice versa. Everybody's on the same playing field. You're all just there to better yourself. So, it's this one big circle of, like, people think they're judging you and you think you're judging other people and so on and so forth. And I'll be very frank with you, like, I've had people in the gym where I've had interactions with where when I work out, I'm a bit intense, so sometimes I make faces and I might grunt and do these things. But when I say talk to an individual, for example, I'm the way I am now. I think I'm very kind, very cordial, very friendly, very upbeat, very outgoing, and people are very taken aback by that sometimes. They're like, wow, uh, didn't expect you to be like that. And so it's like, who's really judging who? Because in that scenario, I was getting judged because I was this meathead who just lifts weights and lifts heavy weights and grunts and da da. But when they actually talk to me, they realize I'm maybe I'm a meathead, but I think I'm a nice person. So Who's really judging who here? I would challenge you to not put words in somebody else's mouth. Like those people who you think they're judging you, I swear to God, they don't care. They're not judging you. They want to help you. They want you to win. And you know what? Let's be very frank. If someone is judging you, who fucking cares? Who cares if someone's seriously taking the time out of their day to negatively judge you for stepping into the gym? They have something seriously wrong with them. They are the ones who are doing something wrong, not you. And that person is an asshole. So do you really want to live your life dictated by what assholes think? I don't think so. So that's number 1. Number 2, talking about squirrels. Listen, I don't know how far we're probably 6, 7, 8 minutes into this video by now. I guarantee 93% of people have already clicked out of this video and/or sped forward and/or they're not watching anymore. Because people's attention spans are not that great. Like the, in actuality, YouTube rewards videos that get watched more because they know that people's attention spans are not well. So YouTube will rank them higher. So people's attention spans are so short. You know, I make 15-second TikTok videos and sometimes people don't even watch those, but you think for whatever reason you think people are watching your every move when you go into the gym, they're looking at a fly on the wall. They're looking at the phone on Instagram. They're doing their set. They're looking at the, Look at this, look at that. Nobody's staring at you for more than 6 seconds at a time, if that. I promise you, people's attention spans are so short. Nobody has time to sit there and look at what you're doing to judge you. They, they, we just don't like people's attention spans suck. So to think that people are sitting there basing their entire workout off of judging you, I mean, it's bizarre. Like I wish people's attention spans were better because I'd probably be able to teach better and I would be able to educate people better because they would actually listen to the content more. But it's just not the case. So people are not judging you. I promise they're not judging you. And again, if they are, they are the asshole, not you. And you don't want to let assholes dictate your life. So that's number one. Now, heading over to more for like kind of practical, actionable tips we can get into right now. Number one is going to be a little ad-libbing here. Have a plan. Think about this. If you were in Destin, Florida, and you wanted to go to Ontario, Canada, and you're going to drive there, If you were gonna drive there with no roadmap, no GPS, no Waze, no nothing, you'd probably feel a bit anxious, right? You'd probably be like, oh shit, like, all right, well, I'll make this turn, I guess, and I guess I'll make that turn. I'll get on this highway and I'll do that. It's like, but I really got no fucking clue where I'm going, man. You'd probably be a bit anxious because you have no clue what you're doing. It's the same thing going into the gym, same thing with your workouts. If you have not a clue What you're doing. If you, if you don't know if what you're doing is going to work or not work, if you don't know how to do exercises, if you don't know how to use machines, if you don't know these things, yeah, your anxiety in the gym is going to skyrocket because anxiety comes from ambiguity. Say one more time. Anxiety comes from ambiguity. Ambiguity, not knowing what's going to happen. So if you're going to the gym, like not knowing what's going to happen, of course you're going to have anxiety because you don't have a fucking plan. You got no roadmap. You don't know what sets you're doing. You don't know what exercises you're doing. You don't know what reps you're doing, what set, how many, how many resting seconds. Like you don't know. So you need to have a plan. And listen, I understand that you are a lawyer, you are a stay-at-home mom, which is by far the hardest job in the world. You are a teacher, you're a nurse. Like you are maybe not a fitness professional like myself and other people. I get it. That's okay. But that's why either number one, you can hire a fitness professional. Or number two, like for example, I have here on my YouTube channel. I have free videos on how to create a workout. Free, free videos. It teaches you, hey, do this, this, this, and this. Do these exercises, these reps. Also, for example, I have 52 totally free workouts in the link in the in the description here below this below this video. So I literally give you 52 free exercises you can take with you into the gym and do those. It has tutorial videos how to how to do the exercise. Like There are things out there where you can get a plan, whether it's hiring a coach, whether it's joining. For example, I have this thing called the Clubhouse where you know you can get all my training programs, all my diet programs, everything cool. You can join something like that. You can join a group outside in your church. You can join a class in the gym. You can join a trainer in the gym. Like there's a bunch of options, man, and I understand that you don't know how to create a fitness plan, but people do. So you know in the same way I go get my car taken to the shop to change the oil because I don't know how to change my oil. And I could probably learn, but I don't want to. So I'm just going to have somebody else do it or change my tire or whatever. I have no clue, like work on the car, man. I don't fucking know how to do it. Same thing here. Like try to get something where you can get a good solid plan. I don't care where it's from, find it, have it. And when you go into the gym, you'll know exactly what to do. And that will take away a lot of the anxiety. Number 2, and you're probably going to freak out about this, but take videos. Take videos of yourself working out. And you probably, like, your anxiety probably shot through the roof when you heard that. You're like, what the hell are you talking about? Take videos of myself? I'm not even walking to the gym, let alone setting up my phone and taking a video of myself. Are you insane? Here's why I say take videos of yourself. Because again, you're probably coming from a place where you have anxiety around if you're doing things right or wrong, if your squats are correct, if you're doing the machine correctly. Like, you probably have anxiety around these things. So if you take a video of your squats and you can look at it and say, oh, okay, I see myself here, my knees are going over my toes too much and my heels are coming off the ground. Cool. Next time I go into the gym, I'm going to make sure I keep my heels flat on the ground. I'm doing a shoulder press and I'm arching my back too much. Okay, got it. Next time I'm going to make sure I try to keep a nice rigid core, brace my core, and try to keep my spine neutral when I'm doing my shoulder presses, or whatever it is. So again, the anxiety becomes away, it becomes relieved a bit because you're now looking at what you're doing and you can analyze it. And then next time you go in, you'll know what to do. Hey, make sure I have my heels flat, make sure I don't arch my back or whatever the case may be. It's very similar to, you know, professional athletes. They watch game film of themselves all the time. A football player, a basketball player, they watch game film. They look and see, oh, okay, I did these things really well. I can improve upon these things, so next time when I go into the next game, I'm going to focus on my jump shot more. I'm going to focus on throwing the ball this way more. They watch the game film, they get better from it, and they learn, and they put it in the next time. It's the same thing here. If you take videos of yourself, and again, if you don't know what to look for, ask a friend or hire a coach or do something where you can have some feedback to obviously make this help you, but it's the same concept of an athlete You know, having game film. This is your game film. So you can learn from this. And when you go into the gym next time, you'll feel more confident. You'll feel more confident in your workouts. You'll feel more confident you're doing things right. So if you know you're doing things right, well, guess what? You alleviate a lot of that anxiety around the fact of like, I don't know what I'm doing. Is it right? Is it wrong? Do I look stupid? You'll know you won't look stupid because you'll know you're doing everything right. So that's number 2. Number 3, broadcast. And what I mean by that is like, Tell people you're a beginner. Once again, you're probably like, what the hell? Why would I tell people that? It's gonna make it worse. They're gonna laugh at me. Once again, going back to this, if you were to walk up to the most fit person in the gym and just say, hey, my name is Aaron. I'm new here, total beginner, have no fucking clue what I'm doing. That person, first and foremost, you're probably gonna feed their ego, which is good for you because like they'll probably like you more and help you, but That person is gonna say, wow, like, so glad you're in here, great to have you. Like, you know, um, what do you wanna work? Like, do you wanna do a squat or do you, you know, do you wanna work your legs? Do you wanna lose body fat? Like, hey, maybe you could try this, this, and this. Like, they're gonna be there to help you. So now when you go into the gym, they're gonna say, oh yeah, that's that person. So they're gonna help you along the way. And if you don't want their help, maybe don't tell them. But if you, if you do, you know, wanna alleviate some of that anxiety around this, just tell people you're a fucking beginner. It'll, it'll do 2 things. Number one, it'll get it out of your head. 'Cause you're like, okay, people know I'm a beginner, so if I fuck up, cool, they know I'm a beginner and they're not gonna laugh at me, they're not gonna make fun of me 'cause they know I have no clue what the hell I'm doing. It's almost like you're putting— you're already taking the onus on yourself as a beginner. But more importantly, number 2, if you tell people you're a beginner, they're going to wanna help you. I guarantee you, like, if you were to walk up to any person in the gym and tell them you're a beginner, they're gonna ask you, what can I help with? And then from there, bam, you're good to go. Take that into consideration. I know that one's a bit scary, but take it into consideration. And the last one, strength in numbers. And basically what this means, just get some, get some outside support, get some outside accountability. You know, again, whether it's a, you know, a group, a group of people you go to with the gym, whether it's your best friend going to the gym, whether it's a coach you hire, whether it's a class in the gym or a class online or a group in the gym or a group online. Like for example, I have— I run a group called the Clubhouse, and I talked about this earlier, but I run a group called the Clubhouse, and like, people in there, they're posting videos, they're encouraging each other, they're talking about the workouts, they're talking about their diet. Like, there's something to be said for accountability and not— and knowing you're not alone. Those 2 things combined, if you know you have somebody or a group to hold you accountable, that makes things more, uh, you know, you kind of have more skin in the game. And if you know you're not alone, you can ask questions, you can talk about concerns, you can ask for workout video checks, you can ask for help with the workouts or the diet or whatever it is. You just know you're not alone in this journey. So it makes it that much, again, anxiety relieving because you know that it's not just all on your shoulders and you have like no clue what to do and you have no guidance and you have nobody to help you, you're just figuring shit out on your own, just trying random things. It's like, get a plan, get some guidance, get some accountability. Get a group, get a coach, get some people outside at your local church or your local gym or your neighborhood or your friends or school partners, coworkers, I don't care. But get something to give you some outside external accountability and external— again, there's strength in numbers. Whether it's 1 person, whether it's 10 people, whether it's 100 people, like, I don't care. But having something like that can help alleviate some of that anxiety for you, which is going to help you again get in the gym, be more consistent, kick ass. And see all the progress you wanna see. So guys, that was the video today. Again, just recapping very quickly, nobody cares what you're doing in the gym. Nobody cares. And then 4 tips one more time. Have a plan, take videos of yourself, tell people you're a beginner to get help, and then strength in numbers. I wanna one more time touch on that last point. Just accountability, man. Accountability is so important. Recently I had one of my clients reach out to me and he was kinda saying like, you know, if you weren't here, I probably would've quit by now. So you can never just underestimate getting some sort of external help. And you know, I almost say help because I think people think like, oh, I don't need help and I got this on my own and I'm self-made and da da. And like, there's nothing wrong with getting some extra guidance or extra support or extra accountability. It can actually help you out a shit ton. So that's what I would say. Hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, please feel free to give it a thumbs up, like the channel, like the video, subscribe to the channel. If you have any questions or comments or whatever, leave them below in the comments. I'd be happy to hear you and help you out as much as I possibly can. Other than that, thank you for watching and we'll talk soon.