Workout Wonderment
I like to go to the gym.No scratch that, I like to work out.
No that's not exactly correct either, lemme try again, I like to stay fit.
Since I tore my ACL and I haven't been able to play soccer I have been going to Golds Gym. That's been about a year now. I used to go to the gym, like when I wrassled in High School. And I used to go to the Rec Center pretty faithfully most of the way through college but at some point I got fed up with the gym and started just riding my bike and doing the things that one can do at home or outdoors to stay fit like push-ups and pull-ups and sit-ups and stuff. It was easy to stay fit when I was playing ball three times a week. So when I joined Golds I was a little wary. I knew that with my busy work schedule and the repealing of daylight savings time in the Fall that I had to do something to maintain a tolerable fitness level. Basically I had forgotten why I didn't like going to the gym, that is until yesterday.
I got to the Gold's on hwy183 on Monday at about six thirty. The place was packed, like more than usual. I wanted to do a quick leg workout some easy abs and finish with my personal fav, The Stairmaster. I wasn't really in the mood for any of that shit but after my weekend of total debauchery I couldn't in good conscience just skip out.
With the increase in bodies there seemed to be an convergent increase in tensions. I am generally pretty aware of the emotional states of the people around me. Actually for the most part I am hyper aware of the emotions of any and all humans in my range of perceptions, both boon and bane in my existence I assure you. Well it all sort of came down on me like a ton of bricks. I was so not in the mood to be there. At one point I actually went back to the locker room and got my gear in my hand and started to bounce but I got ahold of myself. I was all ~
"You have to sweat it out sucker, you're gonna feel like shit if'n you don't, c'mon man thirty minutes."
So I stayed. The Stairmasters were all occupied when I got there so I did my other shiz and kept an eye on them. As I got into my workout I just couldn't block out the whole colliding egos issue of the gym environment. This is hard to explain but I'm gonna try ~
a. there's the hot ass bitches walkin around with their snotty little totties, of course
b. there's the true buffed out "gym rats" who prance and preen and make noises at themselves in the mirror as c. they go about their business,
c. there's the slightly overweight to the obese men and women who you can tell are trying to get into a better body and it is painfully obvious how self conscious they feel,
and the thing that all these people have in common is that none of these groups is very friendly.
And then it hit me. This is what I dislike about the gym. The fact that everybody there, for one reason or another, is acting as totally aloof as possible. Oh you can tell some of the regulars know each other and there are a few words exchanged here and there but the prevailing attitude is one of too much testosterone, or too cool for school, or please don't look at my fat ass and all those produce the same effect in my emotion receptors, Icy Cold Humanity. There you are amongst one hundred and fifty people all in the same big ass smelly room and all everybody does is avoid aye contact as if you could get a case of Ebola by looking around. It kind of makes me feel isolated and frankly a little lonely.
There is this one girl. I see her almost everytime I'm there. She's not super hot but she quite cute and she's quite fit. She even seems like somebody I might be friends with in regular life. Well anyways, whenever I try to make eye contact, just simple "Hi human I see you there" kind of eye contact she either ~
a. totally blanks me ~ or
b. gives me a dirty look ~ or
c. one time I'm sure she rolled her eyes at me.
Now I could be totally off base about that but its hard to disregaurd what you've seen with your own eyes even if it doesn't jive with reason. I want to introduce myself if only to make it personal, cause its easy to hate people but its hard to hate individuals, but I'm afraid that she might just clown me.
One day I was taking care of some overdrafted account/rejected payment situation at the front desk when i tried to talk to the girl that stands at the door greeting folks. I mean she talks to me ~
"Hi, have a good workout" and "Thanks we'll see you next time"
~ why can't I talk to her? I complimented her on her smile and said that it is a pleasure to be greeted by such a lovely smile. Well she got this look on her face like I was the biggest loser in town and I had just asked if I could suck her toes. It was one of those forced smiles that is chocked full of unstated annoyance. I think she said thank you in the same manner in which one might say thank you at gunpoint. That whole incident left me with a rude feeling about the gym staff. And holy shit do those gym staff people, they do an awesome job at maintaining this aloof status quo. Its as if this mileiu is not only fostered by but set up by Gold's and their policy manual.
Anywho, I am off to the gym,
its an unfortunate situation but until humanity comes to see the err of their ways or until my contract is up I am going to go there and Sweat It Out.
In a completely unrelated story
This guy is in deep shit. Did you see the last episode?
<< Home