Overcoming Gym Shyness

After reading Five Ways to Overcome Gym Shyness, I have another one to add, as a first step to avoiding confidence issues in the gym: make sure you’re wearing an outfit that is cute, fits well, and that aren’t self-conscious about.

This week, for my gym workouts, I packed a pretty loud pair of neon green short-shorts. I discovered that my gray Little Rock Marathon shirt had the same shade of neon green as an accent color, so that became my top to match… but the shirt was baggy and t-shirt-like. I like to wear something less bulky and more fitted for most of my workouts, so I also threw in a pink tanktop that happened to have a bright green logo on the front. I wasn’t thrilled with the outfit, but I was at the end of my laundry cycle, so it would do. Meanwhile, I packed an electric blue sports bra – figuring the rest of my outfit was bright, and no one would see it anyway.

Unfortunately, what I didn’t count on was the the tank top was cut in a racerback design, while the bra was cut like a normal back – which meant that my outfit now became neon green, hot pink, and electric blue. Lovely! And while in 2 months on this project I had never before seen one of my coworkers at the gym when I was there, it was today while wearing this hideous outfit that the gym was packed and one of my coworkers was there and next to me on the elliptical. Hi, Joe! Don’t mind my blinding and skimpy workout outfit, please.

Ugh, I was so self-conscious that I was tempted to cut the workout short… but I persevered. Never again, though! Next step in the “diet and get in good shape” plan: do laundry more often 🙂