Sunday, February 17, 2013

The New Gym is Haunted

So I've finally found and joined a new gym. I wrote about that last week. But there's something about this gym in particular that bothers me.

It's just so .... old.

Don't misunderstand. I don't mean the building itself or the equipment is old. No, it's the people.


A coworker of mine had told me about this gym and encouraged me to join and to come work out when she does. It took me several months to finally go by and sign up, but I did it. I did my first lunch hour workout last week, as I said I would.

I'm not joking when I say that I was the youngest person there. And I'm not especially young.

I tried to ignore it. I tried to focus on my workout and not gawk around at all the other people. But then this old man, so stiff that he walked like he couldn't move anything above the waist at all, walked right up to me as I was doing some dumbbell presses. He almost seemed not to see me as he stumbled a bit and then went around me. He was hunched over a bit and his hair was as white as snow.


I asked my coworker about it after I got back to the office. I thought maybe it was just an off day. "Is everyone there super old? I mean, are there ever any younger people there, like even in their 30s? Any at all?"

She laughed and said that she hadn't seen anyone there who wasn't old. She's younger than me so technically when she's there that makes her the youngest person and me the second youngest person. But I have to say, this is sort of depressing.

First of all, even old people mostly prefer to be around young people. Young people are alive and exciting. A world filled with white haired, gray skinned, wrinkly people is depressing. And who wants to be depressed while working out?

Second of all, researchers conclusively proved that for men, being around attractive young females literally makes us stronger. It makes us happier. It makes us feel better in every way. The primary reason is because their presence causes our bodies to produce more testosterone. More testosterone makes us healthier, stronger, faster, in a better mood and have a better workout. Everything about the reason we're at the gym in the first place is improved by working out around attractive young females because of the way our bodies respond to them.

Inspiring
Whereas, the lack of them is just sort of sterile. And the lack of them combined with a whole gym filled with elderly people is just downright depressing.

Depressing

5 comments:

  1. I can, and WILL quote you on your comment from the previous entry...

    "And now I'm just so busy trying to get in, do my workout, and get back out again that I don't much pay attention to the other people there."

    Dude... what's changed since last week?!

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    1. Ute, the old man who came up to me while I was lifting was impossible to ignore. After that, I ended my workout on the treadmill. The treadmills are in a weird location, with a a row of them facing the TVs and then the rest facing the other treadmills from the side. All the TV treadmills were full so I had to get on a treadmill facing all the other treadmills and ellipticals, etc. The entire time I was on the treadmill I was facing the other people. They were all gray haired and old. Some women walked around my treadmill while I was on it. They were old. There were mirrors. Everywhere I looked while strolling along in utter boredom on that treadmill I saw old.

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  2. Sorry - ran out of time to read or comment much last week!!!

    Regardless of how hard you are concentrating on your own work out, the other peeps in the gym do have an impact I recon!!. It's hard to find the perfect mix. To many pretty young things & the gym is packed & you can't do what you want when you want. I'm inspired by older fit/ripped people, but too many saggy bodies makes it a bit too depressing & uninspiring.......

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    1. AlleyCat, thats true. If the gym were filled with beautiful girls and young guys chasing them then there'd be no room for me to work out at all. There has to be a balance of just enough good-looking exercisers to inspire you, but not so many that it turns into a hook-up club. The old people I see aren't inspiring me, but at least they're slow moving enough that I can get to a machine or weight before they do when we are both wanting it at the same time. It's like they're moving in slow motion.

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  3. My pet hate is when they stand still in doorways. If I'm in the gym I'm usually on a mission & am moving quickly. Dawdlers shite me!!!!

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