Abstract: Although the benefits of exercise are well documented, Americans remain sedentary. A potential barrier to exercise is anxiety. The current study proposes that elements within the exercise environment, combined with individual factors such as body mass index (BMI) and social physique anxiety (SPA) can evoke anxiety in exercisers. Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses that self-awareness and perceived difficulty heighten anxiety levels in female exercisers. Study One was a field study, and used the potential threat of others to induce self-awareness. Participants (N=87) were told they would complete either an easy or difficult yoga exercise in a room where there would be a group exercise class or in an empty room. Multiple regression results showed an interaction between the presence of others and perceived difficulty, suggesting that participants who believed they would be completing difficult exercise in front of others reported the highest anxiety levels, β = .44, p<05. There was also a difficulty by BMI interaction, suggesting that low BMI participants who believed they would be completing the difficult exercise showed heightened anxiety, β = −.34, p<.05. Study Two used a cycling task in the laboratory to further test the role of perceived difficulty. Additionally, Study Two investigated the ability of mirrors, which are common to exercise environments, to evoke self-awareness. Participants (N=39) came into the laboratory to complete a 9-minute cycling task. Half were told that the task was difficult and half were told that it was easy. Three mirrors were set up in front of the bicycle for half of the exercisers. Anxiety was assessed upon completing the exercise. While mirrors did produce self-awareness, results from a multiple regression were unable to find significance. This lack of significance may be attributable to the failed difficulty manipulation. Overall, these studies suggest that there are elements within the exercise environment that contribute to feeling anxious. This line of research should be used to educate fitness professionals about the most appropriate design for exercise facilities. To lower anxiety, such environments should be cautious about mirror placement, provide new exercisers with easy to operate equipment, and limit class sizes.