when i started going to the gym a few months back i got sessions with a personal trainer who talked to me about what i wanted, made a routine for me and walked me through how to do it right. without that i think i wouldn't have lasted. from a shutin nerd perspective it felt a little embarrassing and awkward but she was super accommodating and i'd really recommend it

Lots of non-hypermasculine folks go to the gym. I know it's hard to do this but you can ask to talk to someone to show you how to use the machines you want to use. I mean asking gym staff not some rando lol. Most gyms have policies about making sure their staff are nice and not judgmental.

From my limited experience the best way to avoid annoying dudebros is to stay away from free weights :P

oh i know the gym isn't a place just for hypermasculine folks. i need to be excused for ironically engaging in hypermasculinity, as once i get Swolen i will have the opportunity to cosplay as the shining model of masculinity: Dad Egbert

alas personal trainers are prohibited from the gym i go to (it's a uni gym). i don't think they have their own personal trainers either

what the fuck why would that even be the case what is the point

Not sure, I also don't know if it's enforced? It might be that the gym is HELLA crowded as it is - maybe 200 people max capacity for a ~25k student population. PTs would make that worse I guess??

Look into whatever options you have to have someone show you how to do stuff correctly, like maybe a nearby Y

holy shit that must be a big gym. i don't think i've seen more than 10 people at my gym at any one time ever

i'm overexaggerating how bad my form is. i'd def find someone to teach me for free weights or for running, but for the machines, they have instructions on the side.

It is pretty big. Like, it has basketball courts, pools, weight rooms, weight and cardio machines, etc. Crowding in the locker rooms is the worst part tho, they hold maybe 40 people, maybe 80 if people were okay with lots of accidental physical contact.

Does your college have a Kinesiology program? A student population that big probably has students that you could work out a mutually-useful arrangement.

oh man i am gettin way more support here than i anticipated

I've not looked too much into it tbh ;0 I should check that out

Honestly since everyone went into the advice mode, so will I:

1. The mental health benefits of cardio are better supported than that of resistance training, but you shouldn't neglect the latter. The WHO recommendation for resistance training is twice a week for 30 minutes at a time, so that's where you could start.
2. Be wary of dichotomies. Free weights aren't for experts and machines aren't for beginners. Compounds (multiple joint exercises) and isolations are both useful.
3. Weight training is generally the safest recreational athletic activity. There seems to be a form of contagious worry about it though where people who don't have any expertise in it are trying very hard to warn others of its dangers. Disregard these and seek input from experts instead.
4. People generally give very little shit about you in the gym unless you're using equipment they want to use.

If you can't get coaching and want to learn a lift, then there are a couple of strategies.

1. First is learning easier variations first. For example to learn back squatting, you could learn goblet squats first and then progress to front squats. Goblet squats teach you good habits and it's a weaker variation in the sense that you can't use as heavy loads as with the back squats. Front squats are stronger than goblet squats, but weaker than back squats.
2. You can get more practice in a movement if you i) do more reps per set ii) do it more often iii) you use variations instead of grinding the same exact movement. So to learn bench pressing, you could do it three times a week. On Monday do three sets of 10-20 reps of normal bench press, on Wednesday do three sets of 10-20 reps of incline bench press and no Thursday do three set of 12-20 reps of dumbbell bench press. Try to increase reps every week and if you hit 20 reps, add weight the next week. High reps are good for your joints and lessen accident potential by lowering the load and you get more opportunities for practicing the movement as well.

Ooh thank you, this is helpful and I appreciate this a lot

You know, I got enough time 'under the bar', enough regrets and read too much internet writing on lifting that these kind of things just write themselves. Good luck and enjoy your mental health gains! Exercise really does help, after a while.