Body confidence: “Am I the only one who doesn’t feel comfortable being naked at the gym?”
Source: Body confidence: “Am I the only one who doesn’t feel comfortable being naked at the gym?”
A 7am fitness class is one of the best ways to start the day. You wake up sweating, and in my case, the walk to an early morning class means you end up right next to my office. I can shower fresh and fresh, change clothes and show up for work.
This morning, however, was fraught with danger. Several weeks overdue for a wax, I found myself doing all sorts of towel exercises to hide the fact while I dried off and changed in front of all the glamor city guys I’d just sweated with. Excessive sweating is one thing, pubic hair – so natural and normal – is still something that worries me.
The whole gym locker room is generally pretty stressful. In this particular studio, the dressing room is beautiful and full of women who look supremely confident. You have to be, as there are no private stalls and the showers themselves don’t have hangers or benches to put on sports gear or fresh clothes – so you’ll have to be okay with going in and out with a towel.
A total lack of private space in the locker room areas is something I’ve noticed in a number of high-end gyms and studios. I get it: space is a premium, especially in central London. These should also be safe spaces: no matter what you do for a living, where you live or what you look like when you sweat – everyone is there for the same purpose. It follows that privacy is not essential. But that doesn’t mean you lose all inhibitions as soon as you step through the door.
I’ve never had body confidence and it took me years to get comfortable enough to just stand in my pants while wringing into a bra (always a struggle when you’re still slightly wet) . I know nobody else cares how I look, but quite often our problems are irrational.
A few years ago, when I was just beginning my gym journey, I went to a gym that had four private cubicles and a large public locker room. As I walked straight to one of the changing rooms after class, a woman came up to me and yelled that I was making everyone else in the dressing room feel bad about my embarrassment. Not being sure of my younger and smaller body was, in her opinion, a judgment on everyone else. This is obviously nonsense, but it stuck with me. Was I spoiled or selfish for not feeling comfortable in the gym naked? Was body confidence a requirement for training in these spaces?
My mother has often told me that it only takes one baby to lose all inhibitions; Once you’ve shown it to a bunch of midwives, standing naked in a gym locker room for five seconds is no doubt easy work. But I don’t think it’s unreasonable to feel a little weird baring your ass in front of a crowd of strangers when we live in a country that prides itself almost on its prudishness.
In Scandinavian countries, where saunas are part of everyday life and nudity is celebrated, I find it awkward to huddle in a corner and try to cover parts of your body, but here, where many of us still try to cover up to make work comfortable, to expose your waist In just a sports bra, confidence in the dressing room can still be a work in progress. Maybe I’m trying to be as confident with my body as the women around me – drying and dressing as usual without the damp towel skirt covering my modesty. If you end up in the same dressing room, I’ll be the person to angrily avoid eye contact.
For more first-person fitness experiences, follow Strong Women on Instagram (@StrongWomenUK).
Images: Getty
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