going from womens gym to co-ed

hi~

i am switching from a GoodLife for Women to a co-ed YMCA. it is less expensive and two of my friends go there. 

sounds silly, but i am sort of uncomfortable working out in front of men and a mixed population. GoodLife attracts a particular sort of crowd in my town... and i suppose i got used to that.

girls; have you been in this position? is it un-nerving using a weight room with men? have men ever made you feel uncomfortable?

men; are you respectful to women in the gym? do you pretty much ignore others and do your thing while they do theirs? 

just curious (terrified)

 

and thanks in advance ~ 

I've been to a bunch of co-ed gyms (24 hour fitness, the gym at work, my climbing gym), and I've never had a problem with the guys, they leave me alone, and I leave them alone.  If anything, it's the tight butted chicks in spandex on the treadmills who bother me, they're more likely to look askance at me.  Give me the weight room and a bunch of guys any day!

oh goodie. cardio-bunnies i know how to handle!

For the male point of view: I just go and do my workout. I barely notice who is around and I haven't seen anything that would make someone uncomfortable. It's only my experience, of course,

I am a woman and I would never go to a women's only gym as I think they are overpriced and have subpar equipment.  I see all kinds of male and female body types in my gym, from very obese down to hot young things.  Unless you are wearing something very revealing or something VERY unflattering to your body type, no one is going to pay much attention to you.

I've never understood why women seem to have such a problem with co-ed gyms.  Women are way more critical of other women then men will ever be.  Men will not stare any more at you in the gym than they would on the street.  I use the weight room at my gym all the time and I think the men spend more time checking out what other men are lifting than than they spend looking at the women.

I use a co-ed gym and I just go and stick to myself. Or go with a buddy and we laugh and talk and work out. No one has ever bothered me/us.

It wasn't until my coworker went with me that I even noticed there were that many guys at my gym -- I just don't look.

But one Saturday afternoon I was in and there were these annoying guys grunting while lifting. And I went over to a weight machine and grunted back. I think they got the point, they weren't loud after that. Then again, my boyfriend (a big guy himself) says that ripped guys don't have to be loud for people to know they are ripped, people can tell just by looking at them!

Anywho...I go to Bally, which is awesome for me. There are people of all abilities there, and everyone is really supportive. If you need help with a machine, trainers can help you but most likely someone on a machine near you will help before you have to go ask!

And seriously...I'm obese. And I used to think "Oh, people will look at me funny in a gym" but then I realized that that's the best place to be! Hahah! That's where people want to see fatties like me!

hm interesting food for thought.

goodlife wasn't overpriced per se, they are the same price as the Y actually (with fine equipment) but just don't offer a discount for those with income difficulties.

grunting i can certainly handle :) girls do it too! glad people are helpful. i hope it is the same here, kinda, i keep to myself and know my way around a weight room pretty well.

good to hear. 

though two of my friends go there i pretty much will be on my own (they don't go often enough or go at wacky times) which was not so daunting in a women only gym. not like i plan on wearing inappropriate clothing - but a potato sack and lederhosen looks mighty alluring to some guys. heh heh. not sure why i am so worried about it. i totally hope, patches, that people just don't may much attention but "Men will not stare any more at you in the gym than they would on the street." kinda worries me. i think for once i will be wearing a shirt over my microfibre. oh well.

thank you all :)  

I work out at Gold's now talk about muscle men and tight body girls... wow.  I have seldom had anyone look at me weird cause they are so into their exercising that they dont care that I am over 450 pounds or even that I have pink hair, in fact a few people have really gone out of their way to compliment me for working so hard.  I wont deny there are times I am in my swimsuit where I feel funny but then I seriously need to put some extra cloth in at the neckline of those suits before something falls out.

Just enojy yourself.   I, for the first time ever, LOVE going to the gym, I love their pool and I even love how bright and energetic the workout room is.  People just seem happy there and they have been so supporitve and nice to me.

Good luck

    My Best freind is gay so this is in no way homophobic,

But most of the guys in Toronto anyways are gay, and they arent checking you out!! LOL When we used to go together they were always checking out my husband.

The other half are either so into their workout or high on steroids they dont care.

That was my perception at Good life in Yonge and St Clair anyways.

i found myself wishing for a gay male to workout with. ~sigh~ they all moved to toronto (go figure). none of my male friends work out. my bro-in-law used to - but not anymore. besides, he was a home-gym guy anyhow.

for my first visit i am def going around with my gal pal cass. she is a seething energy fueled cardio punk riot grrl so it will make me feel a little more at home.

 

 

Anytime I get nervous around the people I work out...I just remind myself; I am here for ME...not the people around me. Their doing their thing, I'm doing mine.

It's YOUR body, not theirs. Be good to it, and who cares whose working out near you....their working out for THEMSELVES...so work out for YOU.

:)

I'm a 17 year old female and I have no problem going to the gym. Actually, I'd rather have a mixed population than strictly women.

At the gym I see everything - muscular women, flubby women, buff men, trim guys, skinny girls, old people, kids, everyone. We also have TVs in my gym, so usually people are in trances. :)

Usually, I move quickly to to free weights area, and it seems like it is mostly guys there, and mostly women on the treadmills or elliptical machines.  The nautilus machines usually have either.  I can't imagine gawking at any woman, however gorgeous, while I'm lifting because there is so much effort involved in just getting the weights up.  Between sets, I'm just scoping the availability of the next station--the weight workout is more expensive time-wise, so I don't like lingering anywhere.

Can't speak for all guys, but this seems pretty typical to me.  Any guy I'd ever seen staring was checking out himself in the mirror :-)

 

i've belonged to two different gyms in the past 3 years. My first gym also was a specific crowd of people (mostly 60-70 year olds) and i was 14 at the time. I loved it but i had to switch because it got too expensive.

My new gym is a MUCH younger crowd and i was sooo nervous about going (i'm 17 now). When i went there, i was really self-consious for the first ten minutes and afterwards i realized that no one is looking at me (just like i wouldnt look at anyone else). Also, there were all types of people there... some were really athletic, some were a little overweight and some in between. I like it so much better and it didnt take long at all to get used to it.

I guess what i'm trying to say is that you'll be fine. The first time you go you will be nervous (its okay, that's normal), but after that you'll realize that its really not that big of a deal. I know its something you've heard before, but its one of those things that you have to see for yourself. Good luck and have fun!!!

I L O V E my gym!

My usual gym time is around 11 am ish and I find it's all seniors doing their daily 'social' event!  I LOVE seniors LOL

I have been a few times in the evenings which is much busier and a younger crowd, but still I feel pretty comfortable around everyone!  In the beginning I felt like everyone was looking at me but you soon find out they are more interested in doing their own thing. 

~H~

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one with this fear. I went to Curves for a month and I really enjoyed myself there, never once was I insecure to walk in because I knew it was all girls and all older, mature women that wouldn't judge me. And they were really wonderful to talk to.

But now I do want to go to a co-ed gym, it's cheaper and I think it might benefit me more because I can work different parts of my body, versus the limited parts offered at curves and i'm also terrfied, i've been putting off joining this gym because i'm afraid that guys will judge me & I'm still really nervous about it, but I KNOW I need to do this.

 I hope it works out for you & me too, if it doesn't, i'm going back to curves.

I quit gyms and bought my own. I was sick of getting hit on.
Womens gyms..didnt even try it.

LOVE having what I need at home better anyway

chop_chop~  having a home gym rocks. ~someday~ :)

i went. it was okay. everyone wears baggy tshirts so what i thought was baggy was mid-range. only one woman wore a tank that showed mid-riff. this is a big change from my old gym where a lot of us wore tiny tops because we could! interesting.

my gal pal was a no-show. i had a really good round on the arc trainer and rowing machine.

normally, i only spend 14 minutes warming up in cardio then hit weights (then more cardio later if needed) but today i just checked it out.

nothing was much different, and ya people do look, and stare, and prowl. i missed having mirrors to watch myself in so dearly i mostly watched me though lol. 

i am going to try going around noon tomorrow and early morning the next day to check out the crowd. today was the afterwork crowd and i was scared off free weights by the gaggle of guys that hung out there. out of 4 guys i only saw 1 lifting anything. the rest seemed to be hanging out on the benches. there were no girls at that end tonight at all. that sucked. 

i checked out the lever machines hoping a few of those guys would leave and got tried a handgrip pectoral fly machine i had never seen before.  i did some bicep work at a preacher curl station but got fed up waiting for those guys to leave. ugh. they had sat there doing nothing for 45 minutes~ 

so i went home for some squats, deadlifts, rows and dumbell swings! 

What's the YMCA membership cost? My dad bought me a 2 month membership for Extreme Fitness, promotional thing, it would cost $90/month I think to continue...no thanks.

I don't mind that guys are around, I used to be embarrassed with how I looked, since most were in good shape, but now I just wish I could lift more and 'show off' :P

student rate $14CDN/month

regular rate $44CDN/month

at least here anyway.

i find they have more equipment (though some is in disrepair) than my last gym and the fitness level of fellow patrons is generally higher. 

getting used to the co-ed situation~ it took me two visits to touch free weights due to a gaggle of men that hang out there after work. during mid-day the guys that are there are actually working out, not hanging out, so it was less intimidating by far. still nervous to use the squat rack and such, so my intensity is suffering a little. no supersets yet! heh heh.

if only weights had been incorporated into girls gym class in high school or into sports (cheerleading and volleyball were mine). bet there would be more women on weights then! other than me, no female has touched the free weights when i have been there. come to think of it, none have used the lever machines or cables either.

having the freedom of an array of dumbbells again is certainly awesome! not to mention access to a rowing machine~