“Think theater and go mirror-free! Participants want to be absorbed in a fun and motivating experience, not to watch their possibly out-of-shape bodies attempt to match a lithe instructor’s every shimmy and shake.” – so started a fitness newsletter about the latest workout trends that Turbo Jennie forwarded to me the other day.
I wrote her back a very intelligent response that basically consisted of LOLWUT?
No mirrors in a workout studio? That’s like a restaurant with no fake centerpiece candles or a subway with no bizarre ads or a strip club with no poles! I mean, what are you supposed to look at then?? Turbo Jennie agreed with me, answering, “Mirrors are a must. It seems like most work harder with a mirror and those that don’t stand in the back or sides!”
I figured we were all in agreement until I posted about gym mirrors on Facebook and was surprised when the vast majority of people said they prefer no mirrors. Several women even said that the no-mirrors thing was one of the reasons they switched from a traditional gym to a CrossFit box. (That and the implicit permission to wear crazy knee-high socks. Okay so they didn’t say that but I know they meant it, deep down.)
I’m going to just say this straight out: I’m one of those people who likes to stare at themselves in the mirror while they lift weights. The majority of the time, it’s to check my form, I swear. Although those floor-to-ceiling reflective surfaces have other good uses like making sure there aren’t any bumps in my ponytail or checking out the progress of the cut on my tricep. Occasionally I even use it to stare at people without actually staring at them. (Hello man walking around with a weight plate literally chained to your waist!)
All of this got me thinking about gym mirrors in general. I remember at my old gym the studio mirrors were so warped that just doing a grapevine to the right made you lose 10 pounds. That is, until you went left again. The teachers always wondered why the right side of the class was so crowded compared to the left! At any rate, I tried very hard then to not look in the mirrors.
But aesthetics aside, gym goers avoid the mirrors for other reasons as well. One thing the newsletter got right: A big concern for many women is being self conscious about their appearance. I will always fondly remember one Bosu class where my top was too short and my pants too tight causing a roll of stomach flab/child skin to blurp out. Mesmerized, I watched it the whole class as it bounced when I bounced and turned when I turned… but always a count behind. A friend expressed a similar fear, saying that she refused to wear tank tops to work out in because “then I’d have to stare at my flabby arms the whole time.” I’m pretty sure when our group fit teachers tell us to focus this is not what they have in mind. In fact, I’m told that many female-only gyms like Curves have no mirrors at all and it is considered a selling point. If you can’t see it then you can’t obsess and worry about it, right?
However, as anyone who has taken yoga will attest to, it is easier to stay balanced in bound eagle or dancer pose if you can see yourself in a mirror. In Hip Hop and Zumba, being able to see the mirror helps with footwork and form, not to mention staying on the beat. Mirrors are also an essential tool for being able to see the instructor from different areas of the room (especially if they’re short). Not to mention they are great for catching and preventing wardrobe malfunctions.
Some of these problems could be remedied with an emphasis on creating a “theater experience” according to the newsletter. For example, the GoodLife clubs, in Canada, replaced front-of-studio mirrors with mirrors on the sides of the room, to be used for alignment and safety cues only. “Instructors face the participants (i.e., mirror-teach) to create a theater effect, as if the exercisers were audience members watching performers on stage. This helps participants “lose themselves in the performance,” they report.
They add that the stage adds to the effect, “providing [the same kind of] performance feel you would get in a theater or club.” One club owner reports, “Effectively all of our classes are a performance of the highest level, so a stage is a must.”
Well now! I have always loved me a stage and while I generally prefer to be the one on it, I do also enjoy watching others perform. Plus I’ve taken classes where the instructor is up on a platform and it can be really useful, especially when the class is very large. (P.S. I always knew that TurboKick was 50% performance art! Zumba, I think, goes up to like 90%.)
But we need to discuss this “mirror-teaching” thing. Call me an old fogie set in my ways but I’ve spent years with instructors facing away from me and it kinda freaks me out when they turn around! Zumba is alllll about the mirror-teaching and while some teachers will still face away from the class, it is entertaining to watch the class fall apart like a bag of marbles dropped on an ice rink when the instructor faces us. Yet facing away from the class only works if you have a mirror. If there are no mirrors, it’s just you and the wall having a special moment.
I never thought that I could get used to working out without a mirror but then it occurred to me that I already do. At my new gym, I take a power yoga class every week and that’s done in a conference room. Scratchy corporate carpeting, chairs shoved to the side and no mirrors anywhere. The teacher (who is aMAYzing) faces us. And I do just fine! So apparently I can hold Eagle without the aid of a reflection.
And: if there are no mirrors in gyms then I will never again have to watch someone pop a zit using one. That might be the best argument yet.
So what is your take on mirrors when you exercise? Do they make you focus on things you don’t like about yourself or are they good for form and balance? And what about this whole “theater experience” trend with stage and the teacher facing you – you dig it?
The one and only class that I’ve had was kickboxing (otherwise known as aerobics) with mirrors and a tiny teacher facing away. You know all those ‘what I think I look like’ photos….. I learned how completely NOT graceful I was and it made it hard for me. However, for something like yoga I am sure I would want at least the side mirrors because I am a bit clutzy and would want to make sure I was at least attempting it correctly. I’ve never had a problem with following from instructors facing me (pretty much any video is that way), but I’ve never done it in a crowd where it might matter.
Pretty sure you could use a high-low skirt as a butt cape. 😉
As a Canadian myself, I would cast a doubtful eye on an idea that comes about from a time and place deep in the land of polar vortex where “freeze brain” has an entirely different meaning than the fun ice cream kind.
As such ideas have a need to be…reassessed in warmer climes…as such ideas may look different after the frost formed in the brain wrinkles dissipate.
There is after all…a well established crystalline…chiming effect…as the chill penetrates the Dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus which renders almost any idea not only pleasant but seemingly logical.
(It is the same effect as when a person who is freezing to death decides it is a great idea to lay down and take a nap. Unwise.)
Not to draw a parallel between the absence of mirrors and the arctic air induced reduction of core body temperature…but…
The abrupt lack of coordination resulting in a domino effect of flailing New Years Resolution fueled physical activity enthusiasts CAN be a chilling sight.
In university in dance class and also in productions we learned choreography by using mirrors.
It reduced injuries, I think.
Wild Bill Hicock always said that he preferred mirrors in the gym/bar he frequented in Deadwood, but the owner failed to comply and LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!
Shot in the back.
I would err on the side of not being shot in the back.
Thawed perceptions change…I guess is what I am really saying.
Oh!
And…
“NO CAPES!” – Edna Mode
When I taught, I already had enough trouble with right and left: If I’d had to face the class, it would have all gone to hades. 🙂
I actually prefer to do yoga without mirrors, but other classes with. Often the yoga instructor is going around the room correcting students’ form, so s/he isn’t doing the postures with us, but talking us through them. Zumba classes are all about following along, and tend to get crowded, so having a mirror is helpful for seeing the instructor.
And then there was the time I took a Spin class and had put my hair in a ponytail, not realizing that the top was sticking up like Alfalfa from The Little Rascals. And my boss came in right in the middle of it all, and I wondered why she was looking at me funny when I waved to her…
“I wondered why she was looking at me funny”
*realization*
Perhaps THAT’S why people walk up to me and ask: “Don’t you have a mirror at home?”
My gym does not have a mirror in the room where classes are held; I absolutely hate it! My favorite class to take is Zumba and while, yes, it is fun to get into the performance, I would like to know how to do that performance well. Therefore, I need a mirror to do it. Let’s be real: when we go to the club, we go with moves we have perfected at home in our mirrors. So between our shimmies and our shakes, we throw in our signature moves that we pretend are spur of the moment ala our inner Britney’s and Beyonce’s and dare we say, our inner Miley’s. At another location of the same gym franchise, they do have mirror’s and I find my experience there so much more rewarding. Especially in another one of my classes I love, kickboxing, the mirror is needed for correct form. So gym owner’s, I beg, please bring mirrors back!!!!!
I think it depends whether we’re talking about classes or the gym itself. I train in a powerlifting gym, that has curtains over the mirrors. You can open the curtains but people rarely do. I’m currently on holiday and training at another powerlifting gym, and there are no mirrors anywhere except the bathroom! The reason is that you need to learn how to feel the weights properly without relying on mirrors. When you are squatting in competition, you won’t have a mirror there to tell you that you have reached depth – you need to be able to know it instinctively. Plus, most of the time looking at yourself in the mirror puts your spine out of proper alignment.
That being said, I used to be a dance teacher and I can’t imagine doing a class without mirrors!
Same here – my powerlifting coach had me squat, deadlift, and bench sans mirrors to be more in tune with a movement “feeling” right vs looking right.
I do think the reduced use of mirrors is more of a trend these days . I go to 2 branches of Pure Gym (not sure if you have this “no frills” chain in the US?). One branch is in a building that has been a gym for 15+ years, and during a refurb last year it kept the existing mirrors in the studio but removed most of them from the gym floors. The other branch was refurbed as a gym 2 years ago (used to be a Harley Davidson dealership!) and they just put mirrors in the “big boy” weights room but none out on the general gym floor and none in the studio. Pure Gym also seems to have a thing where there are never any mirrors facing the cardio machines, instead they tend to line up all the treadmills etc in front of the floor to ceiling windows so that you can watch the world but the world can see in!
Like you, I initially thought ‘no way, mirrors are essential for checking form’. Then I realised that over the years I’ve switched from doing body pump and body combat in a gym studio with mirrors (btw the instructors faced the class most of the time!), to doing my own gym workouts plus bootcamp/crossfit style classes and rarely check the mirrors now. I think mirrors helped in the would have always said yoga needed mirrors and I think mirrors helped me in the beginning with yoga (along with a very good teacher which I guess was the main thing), but the last yoga classes I took were in a Buddhist centre with no mirrors – I’m not sure whether the lack of mirrors was a Buddhist thing? As an experienced exerciser I felt comfortable enough to not even notice the lack of mirrors in the above examples. I agree with Tara that the best way is to “feel” what’s right rather than constanstly check in the mirror, but maybe they’re a help to beginners until they get more confident?
I don’t use them most of the time, but sometimes I need a mirror. To check my form; to make sure no one is going to bump into me while I’m lifting; to make sure I don’t have boogers in my nose after I sneeze. And I agree with what Janet just said above: How do you know if something feels right unless you know you’re doing it properly? Not everyone has a workout buddy or can afford a personal trainer.
I need mirrors! Not for cardio, so much. But when I’m strength training, I have no idea if my back is flat or my thighs are parallel unless I have a mirror. Plus, staring at a focal point is a great way for me to stay focused.
Huh…this is all weird to me. I’ve never been to a fitness class where the instructor didn’t face the class. I didn’t realize that wasn’t a thing? It would be very weird to me to have them face away.
As for mirrors – no strong feelings, but I do like them for weights to check my form.
Dancers practice in front of mirrors. So do boxers and MMA fighters (shadow boxing). So do yoga practitioners. It’s how they make sure their form is correct. And that is why strength trainers/weight lifters also work out in front of a mirror.
This “let’s take mirrors out of gyms” is a sad reflection (no pun intended) of our “no scorekeeping” and “everyone gets a trophy” and zero-balance scales that don’t ever show you how much you weigh, just how much you’ve gone down (or up, more likely) from your last weigh-in, and vanity sizing (“I’m a size 4…in Lane Bryant”) and the Planet Fitness “don’t work out too hard; have some free pizza” self-deluding, soft and sensitive society… a society that increasingly shuns progress and excellence in favor of stagnation and mediocrity.
If you don’t like what you see in a mirror, isn’t that motivation to do something to change that?
How I agree with you. Good on you. I am only motivated when I can see my faults so that I can work hard to improve. If I can’t see myself I am not only distracted by watching other people, the door, and the clock, I also think I am doing enough, which I am clearly not. I am more self-conscious when I can’t see what I am doing because I might be looking like a plonker. With a mirror I know what I look like and don’t have to worry if my mascara is running. Correct posture and alignment is paramount and unless you have a personal trainer you will keep doing exercises wrong and end up with a permanent injury.
My gym has a theater room where there are tons of stationary bikes and treadmills and they continually play movies in an otherwise pitch dark room. When I read the headline, this is what I thought you were talking about. I’ve never used it, but a friend of mine loves it except that it can be so hard to set the bike up in the dark.
But then I was distracted by all of your instructors facing away from you! I’ve taken Zumba, step, spin, bodypump, bodycombat, etc. at multiple gyms in different states and I’ve only had one instructor ever who didn’t face us. It was a Zumba class and the teacher was young and in college and I thought it was because she was an inexperienced teacher. Every other class, my instructor has faced and mirrored us.
Disagree re: balancing poses – if you need to stare at yourself in the mirror to balance in dancer/eagle then you need to work on your drishti (gaze) – that’s the whole point of drishti!
I’m very against mirrors in yoga, I think it goes against yoga’s tenets …… but I’m not apposed to them for other things like zumba, kickboxing, etc.
Mirrors in yoga! Nope, nope, nope.
I can see (no pun intended) how it could help you with positioning but it would be far too distracting to me. Part of the joy of yoga (for me) is losing myself, of actively NOT worrying about what I look like (which is a sweaty red faced butterball, thank you very much). And, I’m going to bet the “dressing up” phenomenon would be a million times worse if there were mirrors in the studio.
Now in a gym setting, I think there should be designated mirror areas. Like in the lifting area where you may really need them to see proper form. But there is no need for mirrors everywhere. That’s just cruel and unusual punishment.
I think mirrors are important for when I weight train to check my form. I do like mirrors in Zumba so I can see if I am shaking it as hard as I think I am! I don’t need mirrors for cardio machines. 🙂
I have a hard time with proprioception and feeling my body out. I would probably hurt myself with no mirrors, if it was anything physically difficult, and even if I didn’t, I would be worried about my alignment the whole time.
Even in the dance-based or yoga classes, it seems like there is so often a gap between what people **think** they are doing and what they are **actually** doing that it would be an advantage to see yourself.
But I’m also a perfectionist…
I like mirrors. They help me make sure my form is correct, whether when I’m spinning (making sure I’m not bouncing too much), lifting weights or running on the treadmill.
I can’t think of a gym I’ve been to without them, so I guess I’m in the mirrors camp!
I don’t mind mirrors. I like them on the side to check my form.
I’m in the no mirror camp mostly, especailly for yoga (as others opinted out before). If I look in mirror at ypga, I actually often lose balance… when I workout with mirrors, I get dsitracted checking myself out (and most of the time go to defualt mode of dysmorphia…) I ahve no idea if my form is great, good, poor, but coaches don’t usualyl correct it… I go with feeling it (I did go through a transition period though)… to each their own I can see it both ways having been there myself 🙂
I love mirrors in the gym. My form is so much better with a mirror in front of me. I zip up my core due to vanity, but if it has the side effect of better form and a stronger core. I also know from my heart rate monitor that if I can’t see myself during cardio dance classes, I don’t work as hard and I don’t burn nearly as many calories. I have noticed too that when I run on a treadmill (which I don’t do often and do not enjoy) I enjoy myself more when I can see my reflection in a window (no mirrors in the cardio area at my gym). I get energized by seeing how strong I look while running and it encourages me to keep going and push myself. Oddly I am not like this outside the gym…
I used to teach Zumba and I always faced my class, I felt it allowed me to connect better, see their eyes, smile at people, etc. I was lucky it was easy for me to switch to leading with the left and flipping around as needed if people couldn’t follow me. I would always say at the beginning “I am going to be facing you. It may seem harder at first, but you’ll get it. Just remember I am your mirror. If I move this way, you move this way. And I will call out your direction, if I say right I mean YOUR right.” It worked. I have been in too many classes where the instructor faces the mirror and looks at themselves the whole time. No thank you. Plus I do not need to see myself so up close when I was teaching. Way too close with that much sweating and bouncing!
It’s funny, at my new YMCA there are no mirrors in the gym where the large cardio classes are held. The little studio where I do Pilates and the free weights room has them but that means no mirrors for HIIT, kickboxing, Zumba, and Body Jam. I really only noticed it for about 1 class and then it became normal. I feel like I move with more abandon in dance classes and I can feel my form in classes where that’s important. The instructors mirror-teach, which I actually really like. Also, I don’t have to stare at the fact that I’ve turned into a sweaty red tomato with my red hair and very red face. So I’m fine with it. But I like mirrors too! Both really work for me. I do like mirrors to people watch though!
I can swing either way, but I think it really depends on the type of workout. At my old gym, there were a lot of ‘everyone face and mimic the trainer’ type classes, like zumba and bodypump. I like mirrors in those instances. My current gym is a functional HIIT training gym with lots of circuit training and kettlebell stuff, and I find mirrors way less necessary in that setup. I think I’d find them really distracting, actually. But not gonna lie, when I have the mirrors, I’m totally checking myself out the whole time. 🙂
Love it!
Pretty sure all the yoga classes I’ve attended were conducted with the teacher facing the class – some classes had mirrors, others didn’t. And the Zumba class I went to (sadly, no longer available) was in a studio with no mirrors and the teacher facing us. I have done other classes in studios with mirrors, and I think I prefer no mirrors – I don’t really like seeing myself in them.
I’m barely 5 feet tall, and half way to being deaf, so I always look for a spot a the front where I can see the teacher. If there was a mirror in front of me, it would be hard to ignore it.
I don’t have a gym membership and I just work out at home. One of my biggest pet peeves about the whole business is that I don’t have a mirror to check my form in so I end up waiting until it’s dark so I can look at my reflection in the sliding glass door. Maybe it’s a left over from all those years of ballet and ballroom or maybe it’s just because I’m that vain but I hate workout out when I can’t see my form!!
I’ve been a martial artist for 26 years and calisthenics practitioner for 6. I know for sure my workout isn’t nearly as effective when I can’t watch my technique. I’ll vide tape myself to make sure all of my parts are where I think they are. Sometimes I think my elbows aren’t where I thought.
I use the mirrors to watch my form & make sure it is correct. I really think that is important.. and isn’t it about learning to love ourselves for our flaws too… You can get hurt with the incorrect form – just my take…
I work out at home, and check a mirror occasionally for form, but mostly don’t watch myself. I also see a trainer periodically (again to clean up form, get tips, etc.) and his studio has mirrors everywhere. I do appreciate the mirrors for checking in, but I admit that when I watch myself do kettlebell swings and see my belly bounce when I snap my hips … it’s a lot easier to slide into hating myself instead of focusing on the movement.
Someone above mentioned that not liking what you see is motivation to change. I’m working on change. It’s happening steadily, but really slowly. Watching my fat jiggle doesn’t make me feel more motivated, it makes me feel hopeless. Like no matter how long and hard I work, it’s never enough. So why bother? I don’t WANT to give up. I’m tired of giving up. And for me? It’s easier when I can focus on the movement and how hard I’m working and how strong I feel, instead of how hot I still don’t look. (I’m also working on what’s inside my head. That’s a long slow process too.)
So this is a no vote for mirrors in general. 🙂
I love the post Charlotte. I love reading the post and all the replies-a lot I never considered! I used to use mirrors to just focus on my flab and what I didn’t like about myself. This post made me realize I’m not doing that so much! I love losing myself in an activity and a mirror can get in the way of that. But sometimes it’s really great for form. I don’t think no mirrors help me feel better about myself. I just had to learn to love the woman in the mirror!
“No mirrors in a workout studio? That’s like . . .”
. . . a traditional gym.
“Several women even said that the no-mirrors thing was one of the reasons they switched from a traditional gym to a CrossFit box.”
Oh. My.
I prefer short video clips for checking and correcting form. It lets you focus fully on what you’re doing while you do it, and then give your full attention to reviewing it afterwards.
Hi Charlotte C…!
On another topic, may I inquire as to where one finds rose water?
Oh, I’m sorry – I thought I did reply to that question ages ago but it looks like the internet ate it.
Anyway, I usually find it at Asian supermarkets but if you live in a different country to me – which you probably do, seeing as wolves are a bit thin on the ground in these parts – then that may or may not work. It’s probably also worth trying anywhere you’d get fancy baking supplies.
Yes, I thought I would try to keep the wolves occupied and their attention distracted so they don’t wander elsewhere. *grins*
But it seems I have offended them in some fashion. They don’t like me anymore. They never call, they never write.
We do have Asian markets, so many thanks for the tip! And I LOVE fancy baking supplies as I developed a passion for cake decorating many years ago but have fallen out of practice.
Thank-you for your kind efforts on my behalf!
And as soon as the polar vortex (or as it is called around here, winter weather) subsides a touch…I will go exploring for rose water!
The only class I do is yoga. In a studio (smaller space) I don’t need a mirror; at the gym (40 people), there is no way to easily see the instructor, so there it can be helpful.
Out of the gym floor? I try everything I can to avoid them. Don’t like them. Don’t need them. Carefully monitoring how a lift or move feels (in my back, in my shoulders, in my knees…) is better feed back than looking at a mirror.. and lets me tune into ME.
In my opinion it really depends on your confidence and fitness experience. I enjoy the mirrors because I can check my bio-mechanical movements and certain cues in certain classes that I like. But I would say if someone is new and not confident that the mirrors could really be hard to deal with and should be ignored or ideally avoided.
I personally like when a workout room has mirrors because I can check my form… but yeah sometimes I do also check how muscle-y my bicep is looking that day and if my thighs look good in those pants. For yoga however I don’t like it.
When I teach zumba classes I’ve taught “theater style” and normal…. and in rooms with and without mirrors. Some participants seriously struggle with mirroring a teacher for some reason…. something about it just doesn’t click. As an instructor I like facing everyone because you can connect more, but I’ve been on fitness auditions where they say we have to face the mirror since thats what the class is used to.
I was a theater major in college and all the mirrors in our studio had an option curtains… maybe some gyms should start doing that too?
I like mirrors in the gym! Maybe not in all areas (like in front of treadmills-I don’t want to seemingly be running straight toward myself without ever reaching myself. I feel like there’s some sad symbolic “finding yourself” metaphor in there somewhere.) But if I’m doing weights or am in a class, I love the mirrors. I use them for form especially; and trying to figure out what the instructor is doing. But when I’m starting to feel tired or exhausted, then I like the fact I can look in the mirror and see that sweat dripping down my face and my shirt dripping wet. It means I have worked hard! And if I’m slacking off I like that I can look in the mirror and literally look into my own eyes to tell myself to work harder. I’m a big self motivator and the mirrors help me with that.
Plus-one of the classes I used to do involved jumping into the air and punching. I cracked up every time I would do it because I thought I looked so ridiculous but I loved it!!
Maybe a good idea for non-weight-lifting exercise areas, but anyone who has lifted serious weight in the weight room knows that mirrors aid with problems regarding form. If there is an imbalance with how you’re lifting, yes, you’ll notice it first physically, but a mirror can help you visually notice the difference between good form and bad form. In this way, mirrors can be helpful tools for corrective training.
I can only work effectively using a mirror. It aids me to check that my posture is correct and that I am doing the exercises correctly. I concentrate on what I am doing and it completely motivates me. I was never good at competitive sports at school because everyone was better than me. Now I can compete with myself and improve my fitness. I never look at my hair etc but I do notice if I am not pulling in my tummy, which is so important for core stability. People should not be so vain but use them to help themselves to improve their technique, which in turn will give them a better fitness level which will make their shape look so much better.
Interesting to see thoughts here – our DavidLloyd has just had a refit and the mirrors have been removed from the new studios. The majority are complaining as we are use to observing form in Pump, watching technique in Combat and making sure you don’t flatten someone running backwards in Attack.
Our instructors have always faced us and now in our new studios they have a stage – albeit to small if you want to grapevine (a one instructor’s ankle discovered)
I love mirrors and they motivate me to punch harder, jump higher, to have a better workout. There is currently a petition to get them returned – but it appears DavidLloyd have made a corporate decision that they want to follow the latest trend rather than listen to customers. At 5’3 my weight has been between 9st12 & 12st5 – I have never hidden from the mirrors, considered them a vanity tool or something that makes feel uncomfortable. Only so many people can be at the front of a class in view direct view of the mirrors – those that don’t like them stand towards the back everyone is happy ….. That is until David Lloyd took them away!
Mirrors are a must for group exercise classes. For most people, learning movements, especially complex ones like in advanced step, kick boxing, dance is easiest using the technique of imitating . All people use this learning technique to some degree for a wide variety of things. So, instructors should face the mirror for major portions of their classes to enable students to imitate moves and face the class periodically throughout when moves aren’t as complex. Mirrors help to give members of a class perspective on where other members are at any given time, which helps prevent running into someone. Mirrors are a great aid for most people in checking form for weight lifting, boot camp moves, almost any fitness move. Don’t take mirrors away, please!