Wednesday, April 29, 2009

day 117.

in lieu of a photograph, random musings about our gym today.

i've never understood how a gym functions as a pick-up spot - i imagine this could be because i personally could care less about whether or not a guy works out, and would rather see him eating a cheeseburger than lifting weights. but i digress. - even when i was younger, and i suppose more stupidly into all that stuff and spent a good deal of time at my college gym, which was a total scene, i just focused on my workout and left the chatting-up-the-muscular-guy-at-the-next-treadmill to my roommate. it takes so much to actually get me in the place, i suppose the least distraction i have in there, the better.

anyways, i bring up that line of thinking as our current gym is almost more of a social club than an actual fitness facility. given it is the a. cheapest gym in the entire universe, b. on a main strip where all the astoria tween hooligans roam, and c. has free tanning, it shouldn't be that surprising that the place is more hangout than workout - but still, it boggles my mind. and i have to marvel at the fact that when i'm there maybe 35% of us are actually in workout clothing, moving vigorously, and breaking a sweat. the rest are roaming about in tight and/or little clothing, feigning minor physical exertion and looking like extras in [insert teen movie here. i started to write clueless and then realized i was massively dating myself].

this evening, however, the "i'm only pretending to exercise" vibe was brought to a whole new low when two young ladies waltzed past the elliptical machines missy and i were huffing/puffing on with their giant dunkin' donuts iced coffees, which they then proceeded to place in the cup holders of the machines in front of us. the cup holders that generally hold hydrating beverages. like water. and gatorade. you know, stuff to rehydrate you when you, like, sweat because you are at the gym!!!!

a few minutes later the girls had started their 'workout', and were moving about .0000003 mph on their machines, flipping their hair about and sipping their coffees.

i promise i won't write a 'shocked and appalled' post when they install a bar in the locker room.



3 comments:

Tim said...

Ooo, can I bullet point again?

• I totally know what you mean about not understanding how gyms are pick-up spots - when I used to go to one I was just focused on what I was doing, not scouting for girls!

• I used to laugh so much at the people who would get on a treadmill and go at walking pace for about five minutes then think they'd actually done something worthwhile. They probably did more walking from the car park to the gym. I genuinely think some people believe that just paying for a gym membership automatically means you're fitter than you were before.

• I once saw a guy down my old gym in jeans and a cotton shirt doing a workout. Sensible kit FAIL.

• It alway made me laugh when you'd see people step out of the gym and immediately spark up a ciggie. Um, kind of defeats the point, eh?

Gym rant over!

Tim said...

Whoa, that was a seriously long comment - sorry about that!

missyandchrissy said...

no need to apologize - we love comments! and since we get so few, the longer the better then. bring on the bullets!

wearing jeans to workout is insane though - i'm totally going to be on the lookout for that next time i'm there.