gym thoughts

Yes, Tony, I recognize the inherent hilarity of me writing about the gym, but as I have started to go with regularity, there are some observations I thought I would share.

Yesterday was the first time I went at six pm. Usually I try to go in the morning because it isn't very busy and I like to get it out of the way. Now, before I continue, you have to understand that the gym, a 24 hour, while decent sized, is not that big, and it is in a parking lot with nothing else except for a small bakery. The parking lot looks like it should be for a stadium. It's gigantic. So, I always wondered what the deal was. Well, turns out, at 6, you might as well just go home and come back at like 8. The parking lot was completely full. Couldn't believe my eyes.

Obviously, this means that the gym was ridiculously packed. There was not a single machine not in use. Gross. So while I was waiting to sneak in, grab a spot, and do some weights real quick so I could bounce, I noticed something interesting about the population of the gym at 6pm. I think this is the craigslist missed connection crowd. Just a ton of gym jocks and their girls. Now, don't get me wrong. The morning crowd has its own share of gym jocks and those guys are way more hardcore because they're the ones that must spend like every minute at the gym what with their 70 pound bicep curls. But this crowd was like the j-crew frat boy gym jocks. Needless to say, I am never going back to the gym at 6 ever ever again. In fact, when I told Mike about it last night I believe I used thirteen "never evers." Worst. Time. Ever.

Now, aside from the two sets of gym jocks and their associated girls, there are some other fun characters. My favorites are the oldish men who are really into their preplanned workouts. They are my kind of gym people because they tend to get in and get out with a minimum of foolishness, as I try to do as well. Then there are the ubiquitous 24 hour trainers, who are ALWAYS there, either training other people or being trained by their coworkers. Then there are the girls that work out in pairs. They are related to, but not quite the same as, the die hard class goers. Those people, mostly women, wait outside the group room for fifteen minutes to make sure they get a good spot in their class. Finally, there are the old women swimmers. There might be old men swimmers too, but I would never know it with the direct pool access from the locker rooms.

I almost forgot the slackers! I just recently left their ranks. But those are the kids you know never come because they walk around looking terribly confused and sort of half ass their way through everything. Those were the days.