I’ve been out of the gym for two months because of shin splints. Some of may have noticed this if you follow me on snapchat and tomorrow is the day I am allowed to get back into exercise so I booked a 3 hour paddleboarding session for tomorrow. Jumping into the deep end so wish me luck!
Before I booked I had a momentary hesitation because it’s a group class and I was worried about judgement. Unfortunately the potential of these looks, the stares and the judgement is why so many people don’t start exercising. When I started exercising 5 years ago, I dealt with the same thing and even today as an overweight person in the gym, I still do. I have had PTs tell me I’m doing things wrong, when I know that I’m not because I have to alter exercises to accommodate for my disability. I have had to deal with men telling me I don’t belong in the weight area. I’ve even had someone I went to uni with snigger because I was walking in the gym and tell me to not bother if I was just going to walk – I had just finished running 20 minutes continuously for the first time and was so proud of myself and he has just walked past me as I started walking to cool down.
All this makes it so much more difficult to enjoy ourselves because that’s what exercise is for – enjoyment. So I hesitated before booking paddleboarding but then I still booked it.
I can conquer that worry because I know the payoff is worth it. But people who are just starting, don’t. I work around my disabilities every time I go to the gym and it’s bloody difficult – I can’t put any strain on my neck or shoulders, I can’t lift my arm too high or my traps flare up AND none of this is weight related so be aware that you never know the full story.