If you are ever afraid of embarrassing yourself at the gym and that is the reason why you aren't going to the gym, trust me, I have already done it. No need to feel embarrassed because everyone has already seen me be clumsy.
What I have done already at the gym (and these are just a few things):
- drop my headphones in the garbage cans
- drop my iPod in the garbage cans (these are BIG cans!)
- knock over "wet floor" signs that are big and bright yellow and make a lot of noise when dropped
- trip over mats
- legs almost gave out on the elliptical (this has happened more than once)
- almost fell off the treadmill
- drop weights
- and many more things!
Today I added two things to that list. Yes, 2.
1) I knew it was going to happen and today was the day. The barbell rollout exercise is a killer and I knew at some point I would fall on my face. I even told people the last time I did this exercise that if I fell on my face they could laugh at me. Today I fell on my face. I thought that when it did eventually happen that I would fall a lot harder than I did. The fall was more of a gradual letting go...you know the kind. You can see the event actually happening in your mind but you know that there isn't a way to stop yourself so you just keep going. I kept going until my face was connected to the mat in front of me. This one actually wasn't as embarrassing as I imagined it would be.
2) This one is a little bit more intense...and even involves blood. I am working hard on an exercise that is done on a cable machine. I have the cable pulled out and at the same time I also have to pull it in towards my chest/stomach area. I am almost done with my entire workout for the day so I am tired and sweaty. My hands grab the handle and I do 12 of 15 reps without a problem. Then, in the middle of rep 13 my hand slips because it is so sweaty and my other hand somehow goes across the main hand holding the handle. The cable snaps and I can hear it even with my headphones on as the cable smashes back down with the weights. I have long fingernails and so as my hand scraped across my other hand, my fingernails dug in and gave me some beautiful scratches. One finger in particular was bleeding but not horribly so I managed to finish up my reps. Then, I went to go see if there was a band-aid. I know that I was watched as I did this one because the staring continued as I tried to do face pulls and rows after I got my band-aids.
Don't be scared of making a fool of yourself at the gym. I learn by my mistakes and I will always make sure that my hands are wiped off before I use the cable machine again. :)
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