There was a fellow here in Ottawa that put an ad up on Kijiji saying that he would clean someone's private pool if he could use it three times a week. The reason he didn't want to go to a public pool was because he was 400 pounds and he feared the ridicule of being in public, exercising at 400 pounds. Having been near that weight (topped out at 350) I had the same reservations about going to the gym. And yes, at certain gyms I got odd looks from the more jock-esque people. And even a few points and snickers. I was able to ignore the idiots (though I would love to go back and track those guys down now that I've lost 170 pounds). But if you are more sensative, like the guy I mentioned above, you can be more creative like he was. Buy your own gear, get some DVDs and do the weight lifting yourself. Or really, for a lot of it, you don't even need your own gear.... squats, push-ups, crunches... a lot of exercises you need to build strength require no gear at all.
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