Do you avoid the gym because you’re worried you’ll be judged on your weightlifting technique, or won’t quite match up to the super-fit folk around you? Rest assured, you’re in good company. A recent poll* of non-gym-going adults reveals that one-in-three women describes feeling ‘intimidation in the gym’ – popularly coined ‘gymtimidation’ – while more than half were put off signing up due to the pressure they feel to wear Lycra while working out. It needn’t be that way, believes Emily Servante, global trainer, education manager and certified personal trainer at Ultimate Performance (ultimateperfromance.com), who is on a mission to break down the barriers women feel working out in front of others.
The answer? Servante believes if we embrace the benefits of going to the gym to lift weights, it will empower us to get stronger, fitter and leaner, and to feel more confident.
‘You only need to look at the popularity of
