One of the toughest parts of working out isn’t the sheer physicality of getting your reps in. Rather, it’s dealing with your confidence, especially when you’re new to working out and surrounded by people who seem to know what they’re doing. If a lack of confidence is keeping you from getting your exercises in, give these strategies a try to get your groove back.

Have a Plan
One of the biggest reasons for feeling unconfident is not having a good idea of what you’re doing. It’s one thing to fail at meeting your goals, but it’s another thing entirely to be looking around cluelessly while everyone else is hard at it. Before you head out, come up with a routine that works for you and stick to it. If you’re a total beginner, you can always enlist the help of a trainer, who will help you develop a plan and teach you how to use the equipment.

Don’t Overdo It
It’s hard not to compare yourself to the fit girls and musclehead guys you see around you at the gym. But while you might think it’s uncool to not be able to lift as much or run as far, what’s really uncool is overcommitting in an effort to impress everyone else and failing hard in the process. What’s worse is that you could also end up hurting yourself, which is seriously uncool. Don’t try so hard to impress everyone. You’ll get there eventually.

Work Out Consistently
One gym session every few months is not going to do anything except tire you out. The only way to see results is to stick with it regularly. That’s not the only good thing about hitting the gym often. Humans have this funny ability to get used to new things pretty quickly, and it’s the same for exercising. The more often you go, the more you’ll improve and the more you’ll be used to being around other people while you work out.

Go With a Friend
It’s good to have a little moral support. If you enlist the help of a friend, you’ll have someone to share any potential embarrassments with. Everything’s a little easier when you’ve got someone on your side. Besides the confidence boost, working out with a friend has a lot of other great benefits. You can keep each other accountable, motivate one another to finish your reps, and achieve success together. Plus, a little competition never hurt anyone.

Realize That People Don’t Care That Much
If the silent judgment of others is keeping you from hitting the gym, you need to take another look around. Most of that judgment is only in your own head, created by and directed at yourself. The truth is that everyone feels a little insecure about themselves; it’s human. These people are more focused on their own goings-on than they are about you. And if, by chance, someone is judging you, who cares? The kind of person to make a judgment is the very person whose judgement shouldn’t matter to you. Focus on why you’re at the gym–to improve yourself.