Quit worrying about it. You're only slowing your progress down by thinking like that. To the people saying you don't need to lift weights.....you need to go research what actually causes your muscles to grow. Anybody who is anybody in the bodybuilding/powerlifter field will tell you to lift those fuckin' weights. Although, as a beginner I would tell you to focus on form until you get it down then start lifting more.
Weightlifting and bodyweight exercises both cause microscopic tears in your muscles, it's caused by the muscle contractions of exercise. But these tears are what trigger muscle protein synthesis, and in turn, muscle growth. Muscle growth, no matter what stimulates it, raises your metabolism, and can cause fat loss, assuming you aren't consuming too many calories. Depending on the difficulty of the bodyweight exercises you're performing, you may be doing a more 'low weight high rep' workout, which will help you lose weight for sure, but not cause the amount of muscle growth that 'high weight low rep' will. Not knocking bodyweight exercises. I love some of them a lot, and do them almost daily. Lots of pushup and pull up variations, even bodyweight squats. But weightlifting can certainly make your muscles stronger, so long as you're going about training and eating right. OP, I know it's easier said than done, but you just have to learn to ignore them. They're either focused on working out themselves, or they're not even working out and just paying attention to others. Some gyms can be a place for weird attempts at impressing or showing up the opposite or same sex. You just have to look past the social bullshit and focus on training though. Perhaps music may help you ignore them? Good luck with your training and ignoring
No offense, but this is total nonsense. And I went from 275 and totally miserable, to 230 and loving life with a ton of muscle mass through strength training and moderate cardio. It CAN be done.
do not accept what you read in a book called "convict conditioning" as what you should be doing. i also doubt the validity of their advice, but i haven't read it. although if it states something like what you said above... it's pretty much b.s. yeah and try to stay out of prison.
Hey don't worry about it man when I started at the gym I was chubby and weighed 190 I max 120 on bench (which is horrible) after a year I got up to 195 and weighed 180 it just takes time
I got the hair color down but that's about it. I'm a tall skinny guy all around. Wish I was that big up top haha.
This is meant to help you feel better... When i go to the gym, i mostly look at myself in the mirrors because, well, im there to work on me. Next most looked at group is the huge juiced up lookin dudes, because i admire their size, as im trying to get big and not neccessarily toned. Next group is all the women in yoga pants lol. I generally dont pay much if any attention to the skinny/overweight people. And not too long ago i was in your shoes. Just stick with it, try to go at least 5 times a week, eat lots of protein and carbs and youll be big as shit in no time. If you dont stay consistent with it tho, you wont get far. Look into buying creatine. It helps your muscles absorb more water, making you look bigger ( if you stoo taking them every day, youll lose all your extra mass since your muscles will start releasing all that extra stored up water) Sent from my XT1080 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Do your thing brah, they won't even look at you while lifting. And if they do, then they are not really lifting. STAY FOCUSED.
Most likely, it's just your self consciousness. If you can learn to focus on what you're doing rather than wondering about what everybody else is thinking about, you won't have this problem. There will be some big egos in the gym, but just because there's a pile of bullshit in front of you, it doesn't mean you have to smell it.
If you don't look at other people, aka don't meet their gaze, then you won't know they are watching Ok maybe you have excellent peripheral vision or something. Just do what you are after in the gym because it's what you're motivated to do. Some people may suggest you try new exercises or techniques, and that's a great thing. Keep learning. Find what keeps your body working hard, your mind happy, and your motivation strong. Just please don't listen to one persons advice strictly while ignoring everyone/anything else. You'd be surprised at what new and fun exercises your mind/body will absolutely LOVE if you give it a chance. In short, train how you want. Be happy. You are going in the right direction.
I feel you op but honestly you should try to use these people lifting heavy as an inspiration, thats what I do. You can tell the diff between people who got big by working hard and those who used steroids (usually the chicken legs) and inbetween sets I watch what these people do and learn different work outs and watch their form so you can enhance your knowledge and expand your workouts.