I’ve been running interviews with athletes lately, and the same three words keep coming up.

I hate gyms.

I get it. And more than you’d expect.

I train at one of the most chaotic gyms in Berlin — crowded, loud, equipment scattered everywhere. The guy who pulls out sixteen dumbbells and never puts a single one back.

So when someone shares how the gym makes them feel anxious, I feel ya. I’m nodding along.

Here are some of the flavors I’ve heard. Do any of them resonate with you?

Overwhelmed — there’s too much going on in the space, few machines free, barely any weights. Not always sure what to do.

Watched — the sense that people are watching what you’re doing, maybe sizing you up or judging you.

Mismatched — the posturing, the grunts, a version of toxic aesthetics and fitness culture that feel far away from you.

If any of these speak to you, know you’re not alone.

But I care about your health and don’t want these things to control you or stop you from building the capacity in yourself to accomplish your goals.

So here are some of the strategies the team and I at Page Street have been sharing with our athletes:

The first move is to make a plan. Not your year-long program — but a plan for your workout session. Maybe you plan for twenty minutes. Forty minutes. Maybe an hour.

I think of each session as a chain. Each link in order:

Warm-up → main lifts → accessories → cool-down.

The plan is just knowing that shape before you walk in. The warm-up gets the body ready — I run a common protocol called RAMP, but that’s its own topic for another day. The main lifts are the point of the session; the accessories and cool-down round it out.

On a shoulder day, mine might be a 10–15 minute warm-up, three rounds of strict presses, a little accessory work, followed by a short cool-down. I decided that before I got there.

The chain is ordered by what matters most, so when time or energy is short, you trim from the back half. Drop the accessories, keep the warm-up and your main lift. You never skip the front. Use your walk home as a cool-down.

Deciding is its own kind of effort. So when the decisions are already made, the gym loses much of its grip. You’re not negotiating with yourself mid-workout — you’re executing something you chose while you were in a more relaxed state.

The second move is to bring someone in. You don’t have to do this alone.

A friend — or even a coach (us!) — changes the whole equation. Now it’s a thing you learn and practice and interrogate together. Suddenly there’s a reason to show up that’s bigger than your mood that morning, and a second set of eyes you trust, so you’re not standing there guessing whether you’re doing it right. The anxiety, the plan, the doubt — all of it gets lighter when someone’s already carrying part of the load with you.

The third move goes further. The gym is just one room with weights. It’s one venue among many, and if it never fits you, there are others to explore. Maybe that’s a barre studio. A dance floor. The open floor of a CrossFit-style gym during off-hours. Your living room or an open field, a kettlebell, a couple of resistance bands.

Your body adapts to the stimulus — tension, effort, a little more over time. It’s indifferent to where that happens. The work doesn’t care what room it happens in.

I’m not trying to get you to like the gym. You might never like it — that’s allowed.

But notice, next time, what’s actually around you. Most people in there are deep in their own slightly ridiculous thing — half-watching themselves in the mirror, chasing numbers with questionable form, leaving a trail of equipment behind them. The person you’re sure is judging you is resting between sets, eyes pointed at their phones. The verdict you’re bracing for is mostly something you carried in with you.

And the stakes are bigger than one bad session. Training and movement are power — over your body, your energy, the years ahead. Nobody should take that from you. Not a crowded room, not the people in it.

Their presence isn’t a verdict on you. And it doesn’t get to own you.

If the gym is the thing standing between you and what you want in life, reply and tell me what it is for you — I read every one.

—Ivan

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