Firstly, it’s important to say that obviously, you don’t have to go to a gym to workout: you can workout in whatever way suits you and wherever suits you.

Although anxiety can definitely still kick in when you’re working out in the privacy of your own home or out and about on a running track or in nature, most people find that their anxiety levels surrounding fitness tend to skyrocket when they actually want to step foot into a gym, hence why gym anxiety is a real thing and we’ve labelled it!

The underlying definition of gym anxiety is exactly as it sounds: it’s anxiety about being in the gym. This anxiety can come from various sources: from being embarrassed about physically working out and feeling intimated by others to feeling awkward about using equipment and nervous that you won’t know where things are.

The thing about gym anxiety is that most of us feel it - if you don’t, then go you, but you’re certainly the anomaly. Although this doesn’t make it any better, it does mean that there are some well-known things you can do to reduce your gym anxiety and move forward more confidently in your fitness journey.

So, let’s take a look at exactly how you can handle gym anxiety before even stepping foot into the gym and then what you can do during your first session in your new workout space!