Got to develop this more but I'm reminded every time I'm at the gym that it's a little soap opera. I'm not sure how many members we have, but it could actually number the population of a really small town. Being a natural eavesdropper, I hear things, or I pay attention to things around me — even though I try and just do my thing and get in and get out.
Happily, not many people know my name at the gym, and even though I've been a member more than two years I know relatively few names myself (partly because I'm bad with names; an occupational hazard). That's mostly by design. I seek to be pretty anonymous at the joint.
And yet. 1) There's the couple who aren't married but who work out together every day, spotting each other with weights; by the looks of some of the intimate moves, they need a room but the woman mentioned her husband to her guy "trainer" the other day. I always assumed they were a pair.
2) There are definite cliques. This mostly seems to depend on which trainer has which trainees. Are you one of C's people, or one of J's?
3) One person has been guiding some others on diet. These are not otherwise hefty people. They have NO fat to lose. I think there's a happy medium on the diet/exercise thing. Unless you are training for the Olympics, no real need to go this overboard. Some, mind you, need to go overboard. Like if you weigh 500 lbs.
4) One guy dominates most of the classes he's in. By that I mean he hogs space without regard to others. I think this is universal in gyms. There's always at least one.
5) One woman stands out, too. I call her the Groover, because she's always sort of dancing to her iPod on the stair climber or whatever else she's doing. This was sort of off-putting at first but then I thought, "Good for you, girl. Strut your stuff."
Any gym observations you'd like to share?
5 comments:
This is hilarious. Reminds me of the soap opera at AU English Dept. 30 years ago. Of course, my girlfriend and I were part of it.
Our episode had a happy ending (for me, anyway) -- she's still my girlfriend. Also my wife.
Excellent!
I know Couple Number One! Meaning, I've seen them!!! BTW, we should say "hi" next time we're both there! (...you probably don't remember me from the Playwright Cafe' days...)
Yes please find me. .. It's not that I don't talk to people there, of course, and I have made a couple of friends--but I've wanted to stay out of the gym drama! know what I mean?
Love my body pump class. All the fat folks (like me) go to the back. I've been going on a pretty regular basis since March 2007. But the few times, when there's a new instructor, she always makes a beeline for ME, to point out my wrong form. Well, next time, I need to tell her that I was a member of European Health Spa on Auburn Avenue, when you were a mere glint in your fathers' eye!
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