Have you ever walked into the gym and gone over to the weights section and just felt…like you didn’t belong? I know I have!
I’m super excited to dig into today’s topic because I think it’s a really big one that we as women struggle with when it comes to weightlifting, and it can hold us back a lot….and that topic is fear of the weight room!
Today we are talking about how to overcome that fear.
Are you ready? Let’s get to it!
When I first started my fitness journey I knew I needed to lift weights. Really heavy weights, heavy for me anyway. So I go to the gym, walk into the weight section, and then proceed to completely freak out because there’s all these huge guys around grunting and lifting these enormous weights!
And I start thinking: I don’t know what I’m doing, I know I want to do squats and I was supposed to use a squat rack for it (I mean what even IS a squat rack??) and so I wandered into the weight section then proceeded to find the least in the way area off to the side to try and regather my nerves! It was terrifying.
It literally felt like I had a big sign on my shirt that said “I DON’T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING” and I felt like everyone was staring at me. Awful, just awful.
Has anyone else felt like that?
Just me??
So it’s not just me! I’ve talked to SO MANY WOMEN about this topic and in general, we all feel the same way, which is we don’t belong here.
We don’t belong in the weight section, we should get back over to the ellipticals and maybe if we are feeling extra brave we can use the machines, but don’t get crazy or anything.
And if you are a mom, EXTRA get out of here! Don’t even walk in the gym, just go do Zumba or something.
Well friend, today we are busting down the doors to the weight room! I’m going to show you a few simple ways to overcome this fear so you can do what is best for your body and exercise it how you want to!
The first step is ask yourself a question. That question is “Why do I feel uncomfortable here?”
I want you to really sit with that question for a few minutes. Just sit there and think: “why am I struggling with walking into a place that I know I have every right to be in?”
I know that if we think about it logically we know that our feelings don’t make sense, but I want you to do the work to figure out WHY you feel that way.
Is that feeling that you don’t belong because you think your efforts in the gym are of less worth than, say, a 20 year old man who can deadlift 400 lbs?
Why is that?
Why would you be less worthy putting in the effort to get strong than him?
I really had to struggle with this question, and ultimately I had to recognize that I had a self-worth issue going on with me. I’m not saying you do, but I did, I had to recognize it and overcome it. I had to repeatedly tell myself: I have just as much right to be here as anyone else because I am worth just as much as everyone else.
I’m a Christian, and I follow Jesus, and I have a strong believe that because God made each and every one of us we are all worth the same.
So when I tell myself in my head that “I don’t know what I’m doing so I shouldn’t be here” or “I’m just a mom and a beginner so I should feel insecure and timid about walking into this weight room” that is a HUGE LIE that I’m believing and it reflects that I think some people are worthy of exercise more than others! That is RIDICULOUS!
Sometimes when we just verbalize that feeling that we are having, it puts it out into the open and we can just see it for the lie that it is.
So that’s step two: Verbalize the lie
Call that lie out! Verbalize it, say it out loud so you can hear how ridiculous it is.
Now you can move on to step 3: Replace that lie with the truth.
You are just as worth training your body as the 20 year old man who can deadlift 400 lbs, because you are just as valuable as him. I know it may seem silly to even be discussing this issue, but it is a very real impediment to many women doing what they know their body needs.
So say the truth with me: My body is worth training.
You may be a mom, you may be heavy, you may be skinny, you may be a complete beginner, but your body is worthy of being trained-because God made you same as everyone else.
I think that overcoming fear of the weight room is actually a big reason why women who lift weights tend to be more confident. I mean, it totally could be a physical effect of weightlifting, but I think its more a factor of having to repeatedly go into a space that maybe you’re the only women in there, or maybe you’re the only heavy person, or the only skinny person, and taking your place at the table, same as everyone else. Because you know your worth!
Whew! I feel like I was just preaching!
To recap: You're going to ask yourself that hard question of why are you feeling out of place in the weight room. Next, you are going to verbalize that lie that you are believing. And last you are going to speak the truth: your body is worth training.
There you have it! 3 steps to overcoming fear of the weight room.
I want to give you something to work on this week to challenge yourself. If you already go to the gym or have a membership somewhere, I want you to go over to a squat rack, set it up, and do a back squat for 3 sets of 5 reps with just the bar which is 45 lbs.
So what that means is you do 5 consecutive squats, then rest, then do 5 more, then rest, then last 5 squats and that’s 3 sets of 5 reps. I’m going to post a video below on proper squat form, and if the bar alone is too heavy for you then you can use what’s called a training bar, its usually 15 lbs-just ask a trainer on the gym floor area to show you where it is.
If you DON’T go to the gym and don’t have a home gym, I highly recommend getting a membership somewhere. If you want to weightlift you need equipment. Your body is worth investing in! So your homework is to set up that gym membership and be sure they have weightlifting equipment.
I hope that today’s podcast encouraged you and stretched you to get out of your comfort zone a bit. You are worth it! Be sure to hit subscribe on my site, and you can listen to this podcast episode here. If this helped you in any way, please leave a comment for me. I would love to hear from you!
-Rachel
Notes:
Setting up the rack and squat form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZhGaQzbSM0
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