What are you afraid of? Is it hard work? Do you fear failing? Do you fear being criticized? Is it all of the above, or a combination of a few? Every new gym goer probably has some kind of fear when entering a new facility. Will everyone there be in better shape than you? Will people make fun of you? Will the workout be too challenging and you won’t be able to do it? Am I going to look stupid when I’m learning where everything is?

A friend of mine recently joined a gym out in Arizona where he lives. He has long black hair, is covered just about head to toe in tattoos, and for years played in heavy metal bands across the country, dealing with crazy mosh-pits, long drives through dangerous cities, thieves, drugs, guns, just about everything you can imagine that would come along with playing rock and roll. I called him yesterday to see how his gym experience was going.

“Dude, I have no idea what I’m doing.” he said. “They give you two free training sessions, but I made them give me a woman trainer, cuz I just didn’t feel comfortable with some jacked guy trying to show me stuff.” He didn’t seem too enthused.

“Well what did she have you do?” I asked him.

“I did some pull-ups, and then she had me jump in and out of this big tire, but it was right in the middle of the gym with everyone else around me on treadmills and other machines. I just felt like everyone was watching me, so I told her I couldn’t do it, and we found a smaller room to move to, I was so embarrassed.”

Now think about this guy: Long hair. Tattoos. Heavy metal. Embarrassed.

It’s natural to feel nervous or anxious about trying a new gym or facility. You are certainly not alone, in fact there is one person who is also afraid too, but you may not have ever realized it: Your coach.

As a person who works with people on a regular basis there are a lot of fears that I have. Just like you are nervous when you first come into a facility, I’m nervous when someone new comes in too. Why? There are a lot of reasons why! I want you to like our facility, I want you to have fun while you’re here, and most importantly I want you to achieve your goals, and even though I’ve helped hundreds of people in the past, every time I train a new client I get nervous that I might some how fail in helping them reach their fitness dreams. As a coach I’m also responsible for a lot of different knowledge, like anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, etc…With that in mind there are a lot of subjects that border what a trainer or coach covers. As a coach I get a lot of questions, sometimes they pertain directly to what it is we do, sometimes they don’t. I fear that I won’t be able to efficiently convey the information you need to know to succeed, sometimes I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you if I’ve referred you to a different type of professional because it’s outside of my realm.

The next time you’re thinking about coming down to check out our facility, and you’re nervous, just know that you and I are a lot alike. But if I can stare my fears in the face, then so can you! There will be no one here waiting to critique you when you walk through our doors. Instead there will be dozens of examples showing you that you CAN do it. Dozens of people who at one point were walking through our doors for the first time and were in your shoes, but it who saw it through, and every single one of them is happy that they did. And when you realize that you’re not working out alone with eyes watching you, instead you have a TEAM around you to support you…well that’s when you start to have fun, and take real big steps to a healthier, more fit you.

Here is a video of some of our members who have faced their fears and came in to our facility. We think you will be interested to hear what they have to say!

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