I have a confession: I’ve been secretly afraid of the gym. Yes, I know I’m studying to be a personal trainer. 
And I know I just lost a whole boatload of weight. But I did it all at home. When I spoke of going to ”the gym,” that gym was my home gym. I’d been too afraid to set foot in a gym-gym. So considering my future career, I obviously had to tackle this fear NOW. This is what had previously been holding me back.
Remember the old me? Yeah, no way was I going in. 
One, it stemmed from having to see my large figure reflected everywhere. I could barely face seeing myself in my bathroom mirror at home, much less face the horrors of the wall-to-wall mirrors at the gym.
Is she pointing/laughing at me????
Two, I felt like everyone was going to be wondering why I was even at the gym, as if I was too far gone to get help. Plus, everyone at the gym already seemed like they were in great shape. So I couldn’t possibly walk in, looking like I did, huffing and puffing and risk being someone’s focal point.
So many machines...are they friend or foe??
Three, I had no idea how to work the machines. They looked like robots. Robots frighten me.
That's a whole lotta man.
Four, and I’ll stop here, some of the men in there are scary. I like a muscular man for some eye candy and all, but what if one was going through a crazy bout of ‘Roid Rage and decided to take me out?! These are the things that go through my head. Well, WENT through my head. I took care of that today once and for all.
Snap Fitness in Chapel Hill, NC
Today I went to Snap Fitness to shadow a personal trainer for a few hours. Yay!!! This is the same gym that I’ve been going to for my beloved hot yoga classes. Yeah, so this week is all about tackling gym fears, huh? First a group exercise class and now this! Go me! I wasn’t planning on tackling the gym fear today, but it just kind of happened. I had a little bit of time to kill before the trainer arrived so I made myself go around to all of the machines to read about them and see how they worked. I shadowed one of the trainers {that was already there} to pass some more time and watched as he had his client go through some reps on the machines. Then, when my guy arrived, I proceeded to follow him around and watch him and his client. The machines weren’t scary! They didn’t form a plan of attack to kill me and take over the world! And there weren’t any crazy beefy men in there. And if there were, they wouldn’t have looked at me anyway–everyone seemed to be minding his or her own business. Wow! Apparently the only thing holding me back, as usual, {CUE THE DRUMROLL} was ME. Duhhhh!!
After my trainer guy was done with his client, I took the opportunity to quiz him about the kinds of things that I won’t learn in my book–the day-to-day duties, the selling, the BS I’ll face since every career has it and I wanted to know now. He was quite the straight shooter–which I love because I am too–and told me the nitty gritty. Overall, I had a great time! I need to make some arrangements to follow a lot more trainers at different gyms to get different feels, but this was a fun first shadow. And the best part? I’m no longer afraid of the gym. This week, I’m kicking fear’s butt! {But robots, yes. Still afraid.}
I need to do a commercial for this stuff.
I came home and I was so proud of myself that I decided I could have a treat–a delicious bottle of Isopure! {40 grams of protein, no carbs, 160 calories–what??!!} They aren’t cheap, so I told myself I could have them sparingly. That was supposed to mean after a kickass workout, but today I deemed kicking fear’s arse a workout. 
Did you ever have gym fear?
