The Gym

I am not going to claim that I am a gym expert by any means. When I first started going to the YMCA in Florida, I went to the one that all the retirees went to so I could work out next to an old woman and after she did the treadmill for 5 minutes on speed of .3, it still told her good job. BUt in response to one of my acquaintances getting a mention in the express in his comment about Bally Total Fitness, I felt the need to impart my observations.

The funniest workout I've ever had was when I was doing my elliptical because that's what anorexic blonde girls do for exercise and this guy (middle aged) comes out in full workout gear, knee high socks, headband and such. He sits down on the bike and proceeds to eat 4 or 5 twinkies, a bag of chips, and drank a two litre of soda. All I could think is you're not doing enough cardio to burn that off.

Another hilarious moment was a couple of weeks ago, on craigslist, someone posted about one of the guys at my gym, who walks around with his shirt pulled up like its a training bra and shows his abs. The particular poster said something like "its great that you have a six pack, but shirts are made longer than that for a reason." I about fell over laughing since she said what I think every time I see him.

While gyms are huge cruising grounds, especially for the gays, there is a completely creepy, trollish element that exists. I can think of three or four guys at my particular gym who considers workouts being 1. enter gym. 2. go to sauna/ steam room 3. go to shower and leer at the younger, fitter, more attractive clientele 4. repeat steps 2 and 3. After a few hours they claim they had a good workout and left.... Since when does trolling and making people feel uncomfortable constitute a workout? The fat rolls that exude over their pants or why they have to hold their towels in place as they walk around might go down if they left the locker room and experienced a little cardio. Really, is it so hard to expect that people who go to a gym actually use the facilities. In fact, I think maybe they should be required to go to separate gyms than attractive people like myself. Is that too much to ask?

PS. Thanks to DCGaysofOurLives for the inspiration for this entry.