Interesting question - I go to a gym that also has a pool. For the first few months I just went to the pool and never ventured upstairs to the gym. I remember well the first time I kitted out in my workout clothes....I sat in the gym bathrooms for 45 minutes before I got up the nerve to walk up those stairs! 45 minutes!
I've not looked back since. I figure that I'm there to work out, not for a date or for making friends. So I go, I sweat, I shower and I leave - and couldn't care less who sees me.
It took me months to feel like I belonged there--I totally had that "Poser" feeling--'gee look at that fat girl try to lift weights like a bodybuilder' or 'gee, could she GO any slower on that treadmill???'. It's horrible!
BUT, the day I realized that I 'fit in' was when I was leaving for the day all sweat-soaked and out of breath and one of the other regulars asked me if I was coming to a Y function (I also go to the Y). It was strange--I saw him come in always when it was time for me to go back to work, and when I started to think about it, I realized that I saw the same group of people (some on different days b/c of classes).
Now when I go in I give the nod to anyone I 'know' and hop on my elliptical. While I am up there, jammin to music, I look around and critique each person i see: Old guy going .8 mph--good for him; woman much younger and wider than me cranking it out on another elliptical--You Go Girl!, stuff like that. It makes me feel good and makes me hope that someone is thinking the same of me.
I exercise at home now but when I was young and pretty fit, I belonged to Bally's and the only time I was ever aghast was when this super skinny...just tiny woman was running like anything, I finished my cardio and weights and cool down, waited for my husband to get done...(about 60-70 minutes) and she was on that treadmill...running...even when we left.
And for the record, when I did belong to the the gym I never felt like a jock.
Oh, gee, I've been going to my current gym regularly for a year now (and very irregularly for three before that), and I still sometimes feel like an imposter. Mostly I just wear an MP3 player and sort of keep an internal focus, but when I try something new (a different machine, or a new class), I get at least minor newbie angst.
What kept me going in the beginning was sheer stubborn bloody-mindedness (I have as much right to be here as anyone, I'd tell myself), and getting a personal trainer for a few sessions. I wish I were better about talking to other people at the gym, but I can't seem to make myself. Still, I'm pretty sure no one else thinks I'm an imposter (or even thinks anything at all about me, unless I'm on the machine they want to use).
I exercise at home now but when I was young and pretty fit, I belonged to Bally's and the only time I was ever aghast was when this super skinny...just tiny woman was running like anything, I finished my cardio and weights and cool down, waited for my husband to get done...(about 60-70 minutes) and she was on that treadmill...running...even when we left.
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I hope this comment isn't inappropriate.
I have to say, I *abhor* seeing the eating-disorder types at the gym. I used to see them quite often when I worked out at a university gym. Horribly skinny girls just running and running and running forever. It is all I can do not to leap off my elliptical, run home and start scarfing down salt and vinegar chips to defend myself against a similar fate. Both the idea and the reality of girls starving (and/or running) themselves into non-existence is really, really distressing to me.
I hate seeing eating-disorder types at the gym too, because I end up worrying about them. But that skinny woman on the treadmill could've just been a hardcore runner, and an hour of fast running might not be a big deal to her. She could be training for a marathon. Heck, even I have run for more than an hour a few times (though on a treadmill that's a bit too boring for me). One day when my mileage is built up I'll be doing runs that long on a more regular basis, and I may even be thin from all that running. It won't mean I have an eating disorder, though. I guess we just can't make that kind of judgment without knowing what she's really doing with her workout. At one time, I would've thought running for an hour was just madness, but not anymore.
