Aug
29
Help! I’m Stuck!
Filed Under Gyms, Motivation, Uncategorized
When I first started working out, I could barely lift the bar with no weight on it. Yep, I was that out of shape. However, like most guys (do women have these issues too?) I felt a little embarrassed about this, especially when the folks around me at the gym were bench pressing entire cars (or at least it seemed like it at the time). So my second week at the gym, I loaded up the bar with 20lbs on each side, lay down on the bench, picked that bar up, lowered it down to my chest and… nothing!
I’m sorry, were you thinking that this post was going to be some inspirational story where I tell you how I overcame my fear of weights by trying something I thought was impossible? Oh no, this is the post where I tell you about how I spend 10 minutes with a bar across my chest because I was an idiot.
10 Minutes!
Yep, I lay there for 10 minutes trying to hoist that bar of my chest and nothing. I couldn’t lift it. I couldn’t even get it moving, much less lift it back up and onto the supports. Of course, being a guy, I didn’t ask anyone for help. Oh no, I just lay there hoping that somehow I would develop the strength to get this weight off my chest before I died of dehydration. 10 minutes of pure shame and desperation. Finally, a fellow gym goer came by and said “need a spot with that?” Now that’s kindness right there folks. He didn’t say “hey dummy, need me to lift that light weight off your chest because you obviously can’t?” Nope, instead he let me keep the tattered shreds of my dignity by asking if I needed a spot, as though this was a common every day occurrence. I said “I suppose so, if you got the time” although I probably should have said “oh god yes, get this thing off of me!” and the kindly man lifted that bar up, releasing me from my predicament.
Oh The Shame!
I didn’t go back to the gym for a week. I figured I was now known as “that idiot who tried to lift too much and got stuck”. People would surely point and laugh when I walked in. Little girls would walk up to me and say “Hey mister, need a spot?” and then they would giggle and walk away. How could I return to this place where I had made a complete fool of myself?
You Know What?
Actually, it wasn’t so bad. No one remembered or at least no one said anything, and I went back to lifting just the bar with no weights no it. Slowly and gradually, I added a bit more weight and then a bit more and a bit more and so on.
So What?
So why am I telling you this? Because I was talking to a friend the other day who said she was embarassed to go to the gym. She felt fat and out of shape and thought people would make fun of her. It was difficult for her to expose herself to that kind of potential embarassment and so she simply didn’t go. So I told her that today, I would tell the whole world the most embarassing things that have ever happened to me at the gym. Because you know what? It’s really not that bad. Everyone is a beginner at some point. Everyone is out of shape when they start. Heck, if you were in shape, you wouldn’t be thinking of starting to work out, right?
Believe me, we’ve all been there. We’ve all been embarrassed and we’ve all felt like the whole world was making fun of us. It gets better folks, it really does. One day you find yourself not being afraid anymore. So please, don’t use your fear as an excuse to not work out. No one at the gym is out to judge you (and if they are, change gyms). They’re there to help, support and encourage you. We’re all rooting for you, so why not come out and join us? I’ll be waiting by the bench press, just in case you need a spot 
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And in case you’re curious, the second most embarassing thing I’ve ever done at the gym was fall of the treadmill while walking at 3mph and the third most embarassing thing was dropping a weight on my head because I was laughing too hard. The fourth involved locker rooms, showers and missing clothes and no, I will not go into details.
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5 Responses to “Help! I’m Stuck!”
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The most embarrassing (and dangerous) thing I ever did was take both 45lb plates off one side of a barbell that was resting on a bench stand. The loaded side immediately pivotted downwards, slamming the unloaded end into an adjacent wall where it embedded itself into the plasterboard 18 inches from the head of my training partner. Mercifully the gym was quiet at the time so all I got was a couple of shrugs from the regulars. But I had been training for years at the time so the lesson is that even regulars do stupid things sometimes and are unlikely to judge newbies because as you say they can all remember doing dumh things themselves.
Thanks for the reassurance. I must admit, I avoid the pull-up bar religiously for this reason…..
Yes, women have these issues, too
And, whilst I am thinking about it, women gym bunnies can be QUITE A BIT nastier than their male equivalents. I’ve gotten snickers during aerobics classes when, as a beginner, I couldn’t get the moves correct, and I’ve heard tell from a friend that she got openly called a “clutzy fat b&^%$” by someone in a step class…
Of course, these are things you should either complain to management about (a gym instructor SHOULD say something to the offender, since both of you are paying customers) or change gyms.
I’m glad you point out that overwhelming majority of gym members don’t judge other members. Most of us remember what it was like when we were starting out. I’ll help anyone in the gym. The only people that bug me are the people who come to the gym and spend all of their time talking and not working. As for embarrassing moments, I’ve had a few. I’ve gotten stuck with 225lbs on the bench and had to squeak out a wimpy “can you help me” to the young lady training next to me… that and dropping some 45lb plates off a bar once…
Talking of the missing clothes in the gym - I was taking my son to baby swim for the first time and after showering I walked out with him to the pool with my towel around my waist. It was just as I was about to remove the towel that I remembered I had forgotten to put my trunks on after the shower!
Embarrassement narrowly avoided, but of course I was laughing so hard that I had to explain what had happened to some of the other parents anyway.