Communal changing at gym- am I weird?

[TinselAngel]

The gym I’ve joined recently has a large communal changing area with just a few cubicles. I seem to be one of the only people (women) who doesn’t want to get changed in the communal changing room and uses the cubicles.

Is everybody else really fine with getting their kit off in (single sex) public?

Mind you I am fatter than the average gym goer which doesn’t help.

Getting your swimming costume on after that must be a pain, unless people also swim naked in Sweden?

You’ve never heard of claustrophobia?

Of course I have but it’s not something the majority of people suffer from so I assumed there would be other reasons for the majority of women seeming to make a different choice to me.

I'm so sorry that happened to you, but I really think you should ask for that post to be removed

I would hate for some scumbag to enjoy reading it. I also think it could be very upsetting for someone else who has suffered similar

I heartily dislike communal changing and the lack of privacy, so I head home to shower. The only changing I do in the gym is to put another layer of clothes on for outside and change my trainers for outdoor shoes.

They don't even have shower curtains at the one I go to, or any cubicles other than toilet cubicles - that's Germany for you, but at least the gym is cheap and close to home.

No you wrangle yourself into the cossie when wet - not easy with toddlers in tow.... Then if you use the sauna you have to shower naked before and after.

I didn’t used to use them, used to be really self conscious now though I’m not that bothered and just crack on. I’m in and out, no one is looking or really cares what I am doing.

It’s not something that bothers me. There is only one cubicle at our gym and I don’t even go in there even if it’s free.

I’ve always been extremely comfortable about nudity.

You are not weird OP.

What a palaver

I don’t do communal changing either. My David Lloyd (I go only for the pool) has only 4 cubicles, but I go at relatively quiet times so it’s never been a problem

I don’t think it’s in the least weird to prefer a bit privacy, and before anyone starts going on about what they do in Germany or anywhere else, and how prudish we Brits are by comparison, I do not give a flying fuck about what they do anywhere else.

I only change to use the swimming pool, and we have plenty of cubicles to change in - men and women use them which I don't have a problem with. For any other classes I come dressed in my leggings etc. and go home to shower/change.

It used to bother me before I had kids, but labour cured me of any embarrassment about my body, even if I am overweight! The only thing I am coy about is my pants, I take them off in the shower cubicle and put my clean ones on while I've still got my towel round me.

Yes, but you don't splay your legs whilst you're doing it to display your vulva and clitoris! (sorry to be so crude)

I'm overweight and wouldn't use the communal changing room in my gym - I walk there in my gym clothes and leave wearing them. I shower when I get home. It doesn't bother me what other people do but I'm much too self-conscious to change in front of others.

Provided it’s truly single sex it doesn’t bother me to be honest.

Doesn’t bother me and I’m overweight.

Only one large communal changing room at my gym (JD)

Nobody gives a damn what others look like. Some women use the toilet to get changed which is so frustrating as there are only 3 toilets. Leave them free for those of us who need a wee and need to get in and out of the gym on a tight schedule!

Always use a cubicle and I’m skinny. Still don’t want everyone seeing my body and I certainly don’t want to look at theirs. Also one of my colleagues ( we’re teachers) was once spotted naked in the gym changing rooms by some students and honestly I have nightmares about that!

I'm fat and fine with communal changing. I think it's good when there are cubicles for those that want them. My local swimming pool has unisex changing with smaller individual cubicles and larger family ones which made life so much easier when the children were little and DH and I could wrangle them together.

Our gym is like that - 3 cubicles and the rest open plan. I just change at home but often walk through the changing area to get to the loo - the number of women who just wander around there with their bare arse out for all to see amazes me tbh 😂

I find that interesting because I change in the cubicle but do my shoes, sock and hoodie in the communal area because sometimes there is a queue for the change rooms and I don’t want to hold anyone up.

De On how big or busy the change areas are. I don’t change in communal areas where people are using their phones. There are signs up not to but people still do.

Funny how thread like this allow us to learn about change room etiquette.

I think the more women hide away in cubicles or do the Blackpool shuffle under a towel, the more we are passing complexes and neuroses on to our daughters. I don’t exactly change with tits to the wind but I’m not about to hide away (and I can’t at work as there are no cubicles) just because someone doesn’t want to see my pubes, or bum, or stretch marks, or belly overhang.

Fellow fat girl here. I genuinely don't care about getting my bits out in communal changing rooms. Honestly, the number of people that look good naked is in single figures. Even those who are slim and fit. Our fat bodies are no more and no less attractive than the average other person.