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Going to the gym.

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So why is it that when you're in the locker room, everyne wants to have a conversation with you? What is the basis for that? "Hey, we're all naked, let's be friends!" I mean I don't want to talk to these people but every goddamned day, I have to talk to some lunatic in the gym. Is this normal? Am I the weirdo who just wants to get dressed and head out?

― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 30 March 2003 19:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't go to the gym anymore, but yeah, you're OTM. I used to just grab my shit from the locker when I was done and make a run for it.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 30 March 2003 19:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I think this is exclusive to girls. Among boys, there is an Unbreakable Code of Silence.

― Douglas (Douglas), Sunday, 30 March 2003 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Ok, so I'm not the only person who is uncomfortable having a conversation with a TOTAL STRANGER while you are COMPLETELY UNDRESSED then. Maybe if they handed out vodka at the gym so that you were smashed when this occurred, it'd be ok.

Douglas, the boys all stand around the gym chit chatting with each other instead of exercising, so they don't need to talk in the lockers.

― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 30 March 2003 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I dunno . . . this doesn't actually happen to me at the gym (usually because I am busy accusing people of stealing my stuff) but maybe for people who do this it's a holdover from playing a sport in school or something. It's weird, the whole team/bonding/locker-room thing. I think it fulfills some need or some nostalgia trip.

Maybe too it's a little passive-agressive power play, like how if you have a dog that is acting up, you have to do a stare-down and WIN in order to put it in its "place" in the pack. So maybe the naked chat thing is kind of a subconscious pack-arranging competition, as if anyone cares whose "turf" the NYHRC locker room is.

― felicity (felicity), Sunday, 30 March 2003 20:06 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe the people are uncomfortable being naked around strangers so they distract themselves by talking

― Maria (Maria), Sunday, 30 March 2003 20:07 (twenty-two years ago)

(Oh and hey, Douglas, I was at Paragon today and shh, don't tell anyone, but I decided sports clothes are really not that different from hipster wear excpet they are about 1/10 the price. So if you are still looking for shopping tips that's mine, Paragon.)

― felicity (felicity), Sunday, 30 March 2003 20:11 (twenty-two years ago)

mesh tops yeah!

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 30 March 2003 20:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know how we are expected to address this sensibly without, for instance, seeing videos of some examples.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 30 March 2003 20:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Videos!?!? Umm no thanks.

― brg30 (brg30), Sunday, 30 March 2003 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

They had to bring in security guards to my gym as they were having a problem with pervy old men just coming in, getting naked, and watching TV. Next they'll be saying the guards are checking everyone out.

― Bryan (Bryan), Sunday, 30 March 2003 20:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Attention: Men who openly ogle the workout classes through the glass at the back of the room

We see you. It's not a one-way mirror.

― felicity (felicity), Sunday, 30 March 2003 21:07 (twenty-two years ago)

some other gym phenomena:

1. Even if there is a lockerrom full of empty lockers, the only other guy in there (who is usually naked and still wet and soapy from his shower) will choose a locker next to yours so he can chit chat about his hanging hemorrhoids and how they feel like they are going to burst when he pushes more weight than he should on the squat machine.

2. Even if you are the only one taking a piss and there is a whole row of urinals available for use, the guy you want to avoid most in the gym will come in and use the pisser right next to you and start a conversation on how the kidney stones he is trying to pass feel worse than the time he had gonorrhea from a bad bar experience in Bangkok. He usually also makes it a point he isn't shy when shaking his wank nor is he shy about taking a peek at yours while you are either staring up at the ceiling, down at the floor or straight into the wall to avoid eye contact with him at all costs.

3. If you are taking a dump so guy will start calling for somebody. Sometimes he want you and sometimes it is someone else. It doesn't matter cuz he'll look under the partition to make sure the person he is looking for isn't trying to avoid him. When he makes contact with you in that awkward position, even he was looking for someone else, he will undoubtedly strike up a conversation about the wife, kids and/or the amount of fiber necessary to keep his bowel mobements regular, which, if you haven't guessed by now, are anything but... in fact, he's either been constipated or had diarrhea all week and a detailed and graphic description of said malady is now in order.

― order some disorder, Sunday, 30 March 2003 21:07 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a guy who keeps shaving his chest in the changeroom at my gym. Is this normal?

― Bryan (Bryan), Sunday, 30 March 2003 21:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Man, you guys go to some f*cked-up gyms!

― felicity (felicity), Sunday, 30 March 2003 21:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Serves me right for going to the Y.

― Bryan (Bryan), Sunday, 30 March 2003 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)

A lot of guys shave in my gym. All manner of hair. Most of it is in the shower but the facial is usually done at the sinks. I've come to think that a lot of guys either are homeless or want to cut down on their water use at home.

― order some disorder, Sunday, 30 March 2003 21:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Well actually that seems normal, especially for a Y. Gotta shave somewhere. I think Bryan's use of the word "keeps" made it seem like the guy was a werewolf or something.

― felicity (felicity), Sunday, 30 March 2003 21:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I've seen him do it three times now. He looks like he might be some kind of porn actor or some shit like that. I think there are some things that should be left for home. The guys who stand in front of the mirror popping zits at the gym, for example.

― Bryan (Bryan), Sunday, 30 March 2003 21:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I've never been to a gym in my life.

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 30 March 2003 21:23 (twenty-two years ago)

You're missing out!

― Bryan (Bryan), Sunday, 30 March 2003 21:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I hate when a woman is changing and is butt naked and bends over in front of me. It's like "Whoa, man the helms."

― Carey (Carey), Sunday, 30 March 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Easy solution to gym problems: be an idle, out of shape slob. It works incredibly well, and moreover, you're more likely to die of a heart attack in a nice, comfortable sitting position rather than on a rowing machine.

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Sunday, 30 March 2003 23:10 (twenty-two years ago)

i've never been to the gym, and now i have even more incentive not to go! hurrah!

the only time i like mutually naked conversations is when i am making out or about to sleep with someone, and even then it can be a hassle.

Ally, you go to the gym everyday? i feel ashamed of my laziness.

― sand.y, Sunday, 30 March 2003 23:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I go to the gym every day but Mon. and Wed. because I have have class those days, and it gets out too late to make it for a reasonable workout. This is a recent thing, though. Prior to January I hadn't worked out in about a year. I'm trying to shape up for the big wedding in June.

this doesn't actually happen to me at the gym (usually because I am busy accusing people of stealing my stuff)

Ha, once I somehow managed to leave my purse out of my locker (my theory is I knocked it out and didn't notice, because I always ask for a "floor locker" because it's easier to get the lower ones, however you don't notice if you knock things out when they're the ground level). No one stole it! They brought it up front, cash, jewellery, cell phone and all. I was very surprised by this, I thought it was gone forever.

THe thing with my gym is that you don't choose your locker, some guy up front gives you a key. The people up front are all very nice and personable, but they must be DUMBER THAN ROCKS because even if it's an empty gym with like 500 lockers, inevitably every single person in the gym is in your alcove. I mean, I go to a very expensive gym*, I'd like a little leeway so that I'm not like ass to ass with someone else while getting changed.

* note: I go to Reebok Sports Club/LA, but I don't actually pay close to full price, my company owns part of Sports Club/LA. HOWEVER if I was paying full price, there'd be hell to pay.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 31 March 2003 01:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Exactly, hell IS paying full price.

― felicity (felicity), Monday, 31 March 2003 01:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Certainly ASS TO ASS is a lot more tolerable than NUTS TO BUTTS as it sometimes gets when there's a traffic jam waiting for the showers in the morning at my gym!

― order some disorder, Monday, 31 March 2003 02:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Paying full price is a total dud, I'm shocked to shit how many people do it. I mean it's one thing if it's a regular club, but Sports Club/LA is like $200 a month full price, and I don't even know what the iniation fee is. I mean, to pay that much and have to grind the naked stranger next to you is a total dud.

Actually, people who have that much to spare deserve it, what am I talking about. That's ridiculous! Now that I'm staring at that in writing, I am dumbfounded. It's not like it's particularly nicer than any other club.

AGAIN I don't pay anything close to full price before anyone gets disgusted with me.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 31 March 2003 02:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh also if any NYers would like to come to the gym with me for some weird reason, I can give free passes, email me.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 31 March 2003 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

What if I want to come for a normal reason, like to work out?

― felicity (felicity), Monday, 31 March 2003 02:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I want to come so I can rub my naked ass against people.

― Carey (Carey), Monday, 31 March 2003 02:59 (twenty-two years ago)

It's always interesting to hear reasons why people want to come...

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Monday, 31 March 2003 14:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I couldn't afford the full price for my gym, so I got the mega cheapo version that allows me to go Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays for $32 a month. Of course, I usually go on Monday and Wednesdays but can't be bothered on Friday because it's Friday and Sunday I just feel like being lazy. I am not getting my $32 worth.

I love people who make friends at the gym. There's a sweaty dude who always seems to pick the bicycle next to mine who has sweaty friends come up and talk to him about pumping iron in their legs. I bet they think he's a wuss because he uses an exercise bicycle instead of running or doing something manly like that.

― Mandee, Monday, 31 March 2003 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Fat dudes shaving and walking around while naked = TOTAL DUD
Getting hit on by guys in the steam room = flattering but also a total dud
Getting to my locker to find some dude's personal belongings strewn around the area making it impossible to get to my locker = DUD DUD DUD

Ally, I think people pay boucoup bucks to go to the swank exercise clubs cuz it's more about the whole ... err.... being seen thing than the actual exercising.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Monday, 31 March 2003 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

yuck... boucoup -> beaucoup

Je dois aller de nouveau à l'école.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Monday, 31 March 2003 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

At the Boston Y (across from Northeastern University) they very kindly had a small exercise room adjacent to the men's locker room in the basement, apparently for those older guys who couldn't brave a walk up to the first floor. The TV was always set to MSNBC and the volume was excruciatingly loud. The old guys would typically pedal the stationary bikes for 30 seconds and then spend the next ten minutes either calling for a Y staffer or trying to engage the rest of us in conversation as we changed or got dressed. One guy always wanted to talk politics.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 31 March 2003 16:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm suddenly very glad I can't afford the gym.

― Nicole (Nicole), Monday, 31 March 2003 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

My inspiration for going to the gym is an old Chinese guy whose wife takes him, (literally) straps him to a machine (typically a recumbant bike or a Nautilus machine), and he works out as best as he can for an hour or so almost every day. If he can do it, why the fuck can't I? So I go. I try not to talk to people at the gym.

― Bryan (Bryan), Monday, 31 March 2003 16:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I always enjoyed the tough guys that grunted everytime they did a set. Grrrraarrrrrrghghghghghg... I'm always waiting for one of their heads to explode or one of their nuts to come rolling out of their shorts.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Monday, 31 March 2003 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I also got a kick out of the teenagers who always flexed and checked themselves out in the mirror. I can only imagine what was going on in their little teenage heads "oh yeah, im so gonna fuck the shit out of every girl this year."

― Chris V. (Chris V), Monday, 31 March 2003 16:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Have any of the females on here looked into the "Curves" gym/fitness thingy? I know several women who joined and swear by the program - and since the emphasis is on getting healthy, instead of losing weight and getting totaly buffed, the feedback is positive and such. I am dithering about joining, especially as the nearest one is about 40 minutes from home.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 02:09 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...
Urgent revival.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:26 (twenty-one years ago)

There was a guy shaving his head in the shower this morning. An old guy. It was a bit scary.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Was he shaving anything else?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't dare investigate.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm SHOCKED by how many people at my gym leave their stuff in unlocked lockers. seriously. what are they thinking?

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:31 (twenty-one years ago)

...I did that this morning. I forgot my combination. :[

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyway, I found out that the Curves owner guy is a fundamentalist right-winger, just like the Domino's Pizza guy. He gives money to anti-abortion causes. Just in case you don't want your money going to such a person.

I used to go to a college gym, but it was crowded and sucked. The showers were full of scum and the locker room smelled like feet. I'm so glad I got a Gazelle™ off the black market!

― Kerry (dymaxia), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Are the rumors about Snapple funneling profits to the Klan true as well?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:40 (twenty-one years ago)

No, but the Curves thing is true.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

i saw more old man penis when i was going to the gym than i ever needed to

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Old man penis should be sanctioned, like French wine and Cuban cigars.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I still don't really understand the whole needing-to-go-to-a-sanctioned-gym-to workout thing.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

now that i walk a good 4 or 5 miles a day, every day, there's really not much point for me in paying $60 a month.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Because gyms have cool machines. I've been going the last couple weeks, and should go tonight, but my tummy isn't happy and I feel loagy. So I'll go tomorrow instead.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Plus I hear the chicks are even hotter than the ones in church.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Just saying.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

haha hot chicks + my flabby, flaccid, sweaty, exhausted body != happiness

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

and I hear that they just love being ogled and hit on while at the gym.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

almost as much as they love being ogled and hit on while at church.

― martin m. (mushrush), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Does anyone have a can opener for these delicious worms?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 21:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I rarely use the machines at the moment - it's all about the swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi, steam room or the squash courts after a crap day at work. They've just installed Playstation games on the exercise bikes which is kind of cool. Also I like that they have Sky Sports on everywhere so I can go and watch the football without going to the pub and actually doing some exercise (note, I don't usually do this, I usually go to the pub, but it's nice to think I could take the healthier option).

― ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 21:00 (twenty-one years ago)

They've just installed Playstation games on the exercise bikes

Man if I could do that at home I would be totally ripped already.

― martin m. (mushrush), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd be at the gym every day if they had Bagelcise.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I've still never used the machines at the gym. I was going to swim several times a week but lately I've been too exhausted to even do that. The decay of my muscle tissue continues unabated.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Most gyms now have masturbation devices built into all the exercise equipment. Oh, wait. Did I imagine that?

― Skottie, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

You gym rats, what are you thinking? A one hour hike-jog through the hills every morning is what you need. That's what I do. I'm jacked up like Jarvis Cocker over here.

― Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

bad example perhaps

― Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

some of us live in places where the are no "hills" and there is something called "winter"

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:21 (twenty-one years ago)

My hills are full of rich people. And the parking is impossible.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Winter is the only time I truely feel like exercising. It's too hot and sticky the rest of the year.

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

interesting, winter is usually when people stop exercising and put on winter weight

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:33 (twenty-one years ago)

ah there's nothing like a good run or something in the morning to warm you up on a cold winter's day

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

some of us live in places where the are no "hills" and there is something called "winter"

so get a exercise bike. run around your house. do pushups/sit ups. buy a couple weights.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I keep meaning to get a damned exercise bike as I actually kinda like riding those things. I've not done it yet though.

― martin m. (mushrush), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

buy a REAL bike that can actually use outside, and some rollers for stationary use in the apartment. an exercise bike is the ultimate waste of money.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:56 (twenty-one years ago)

that you can actually use outside.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate exercise bikes. They force you to move in a most unnatural manner sometimes. Plus those home ones always fall apart.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:58 (twenty-one years ago)

i hear ya, cutty, but it's kinda hard to use a real bike in two feet of snow.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:00 (twenty-one years ago)

and some rollers for stationary use in the apartment.

(I also know a few Chicago bike messengers who bike in wintertime.)

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

ah i didn't connect the roller thing to the bike thing. I was picturing some stand-alone roller exercise contraption

yeah but those are bike messengers!

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I made a point of saying that I actually kinda like riding exercise bikes specifically so I wouldn't have to listen to crap about how riding a real bike outside is better... I see no problem with having both.

I don't live in an apartment either. It's a house.

― martin m. (mushrush), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:09 (twenty-one years ago)

i bike to work all year round. not a messenger.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:29 (twenty-one years ago)

and you live where?

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:30 (twenty-one years ago)

new york city.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:31 (twenty-one years ago)

20 minutes to work / 20 minutes home

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

well let's just say that outside of downtowns (and I personally wouldn't wanna bike through a bunch of slush with traffic all around) it's pretty unfeasible to bike during a good portion of the winter.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:34 (twenty-one years ago)

why i go to a gym:
- i have fun using the machines that i can't afford/can't fit in my apartment.
- i have motivational problems, and the gym is on my way home thus easy to incorporate into my daily routine. if tried to exercise at home, it would be "just five more minutes of e! true hollywood story, then i'll lift those weights" all night long.
- my gym is crazy cheap.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i have to drive somewhere to walk/jog and am often too lazy to deal with this/find parking etc.

riding bikes to work is also not an option as i'm not keen on biking down the freewayl.

i used to have amembership at the Y which is fairly cheap but i can't afford it anymore.

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:38 (twenty-one years ago)

- i have motivational problems, and the gym is on my way home thus easy to incorporate into my daily routine. if tried to exercise at home, it would be "just five more minutes of e! true hollywood story, then i'll lift those weights" all night long.

that's what I assumed was the case for a lot people. needing a designated THIS IS WHERE YOU WORK OUT place.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...
I signed up to a local gym the other day, and it's great. Today (Sunday) I went in and did my full programme, and then hit the pool, spa, and steam room. I am now quite relaxed.

Fortunately I haven't run into any bizarre behaviour or people at my gym. (yet)

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 7 November 2004 08:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Music-wise, I did cross-training to Prodigy's Fat Of The Land, and weights/stretches to Jan Jelinek's Personal Rock (released as 'Gramm').

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 7 November 2004 08:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Sounds better than my gym. They play so-called empowering stuff like techno versions of Respect by Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan songs.

― papa november (papa november), Sunday, 7 November 2004 08:40 (twenty-one years ago)

adam crankypants to thread to tell the tale of working out to 17 televised images of Bush winning.

― bulbs (bulbs), Sunday, 7 November 2004 08:43 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't like exercising indoors. hence i don't use any gyms, musically or visually enhanced

― gem (trisk), Sunday, 7 November 2004 08:48 (twenty-one years ago)

its a weird one, gyms. i mean you PAY to do the exercise that labour saving devices and work practices have FREED you from.

― bulbs (bulbs), Sunday, 7 November 2004 08:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually that music was playing on my iPod - I'd never expect a gym to play anything other than that usual dance-pop crap with accompanying videos on the plasma screens, and certainly not microhouse.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 7 November 2004 08:54 (twenty-one years ago)

micro house = works those muscles on a very very local level. the small muscles that don't impress in an obvious way?

― bulbs (bulbs), Sunday, 7 November 2004 08:57 (twenty-one years ago)

we await the new buffed (in a micro way!)naked andrew pics

― bulbs (bulbs), Sunday, 7 November 2004 09:02 (twenty-one years ago)

As soon as I feel better about my appearance you can expect more shirtless photos. Don't worry about that.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 7 November 2004 09:07 (twenty-one years ago)

its a weird one, gyms. i mean you PAY to do the exercise that labour saving devices and work practices have FREED you from.

Well, as humans we have to exercise to be healthy and balanced. I suppose if you want to spend your time focused on intellectual pursuits (ie physically sedentry) you've got to counter that with exercise. Gyms are just comfortable places to get that exercise in a well-rounded way.

(I'm aware that you were just throwing that point out there - and I agree it is a bit strange. Then again, if you think about anything in great detail it starts to seem a bit odd.)

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 7 November 2004 09:10 (twenty-one years ago)

haha yes. but i wonder if i could start a gym for those who wanted non-"usual dance-pop crap and make money?

(i need a new venture)

― bulbs (bulbs), Sunday, 7 November 2004 09:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I like my gym. But stupid me is leaving Canberra and will have to find another one that's as non-threatening.

(And I love the usual-dance pop crap they play on the monitors there! They even have the occasional WTF song in between.. i.e. who exercises to "A Perfect Day Elise" by PJ Harvey between Snap! and "Montego Bay"?)

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 7 November 2004 09:13 (twenty-one years ago)

this one is to work on those lachrymatry muscles.

― bulbs (bulbs), Sunday, 7 November 2004 09:17 (twenty-one years ago)

this thread is hysterical.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 7 November 2004 09:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorry Andrew, I just couldn't imagine anyone choosing to listen to Fat of the Land :)

― papa november (papa november), Sunday, 7 November 2004 09:51 (twenty-one years ago)

adam crankypants to thread to tell the tale of working out to 17 televised images of Bush winning.

DON'T TAKE ME BACK THERE

― Adamdrome Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 7 November 2004 10:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Back to the topic at hand, nobody ever chit-chats to me at my gym. Everyone's always very focused. It's great.

Apparently some gyms in this area are gay pick-up spots. God that'd be so annoying when you just want to do your routine and leave.

― Adamdrome Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 7 November 2004 11:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorry Andrew, I just couldn't imagine anyone choosing to listen to Fat of the Land :)

It's a patchy album, but Narayan and Climbatize make up for all other evil.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 7 November 2004 13:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Hell, I was listening to that album the other day.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 7 November 2004 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

How about you exercise at home like a normal person?

― Mr. Normal, Sunday, 7 November 2004 13:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Who the hell exercises at home? Nobody I know.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 7 November 2004 14:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Nobody you know is normal, obv.

― Mr. Normal, Sunday, 7 November 2004 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

That could be seen as a compliment.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 7 November 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

What are the options for exercising at home? Jogging on the spot? Riding an exercise bike? Wanking?

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 7 November 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

All three at once?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 7 November 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

You can get an exercise video and watch that! Some of them have pretty ladies in them!

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 7 November 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

The thought of wanking while sitting on a bike seat makes me extremely uncomfortable to say the least.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 7 November 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

But there are real pretty ladies at the gym, jel.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 7 November 2004 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess so, but it's still a gym. The thought of a gym wants to make get all Manic Street Preachery.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 7 November 2004 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I like how Andrew's last two posts there could actually be combined into one.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 7 November 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm going to join the gym as soon as the lease on my rehearsal space is up. I didn't need it during summer because I could run outside, but winter, whoo boy.

― Jordan (Jordan), Sunday, 7 November 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Hi guys! I just wanted to say that I am going to the gym right now!

― adam... (nordicskilla), Sunday, 7 November 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the gym is kinda like Invasion of the Body Snathchers...you go there, aliens clunk you over the head and you get replaced by a pod person who talks about bench pressing this and that, energy drinks and heart rates.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 7 November 2004 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Energy drinks are great!

― adam... (nordicskilla), Sunday, 7 November 2004 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh no! They got Adam! :( Oh no!!!

I thought noise dudes rode bicycles?

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 7 November 2004 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not really a noise dude, though. I'm just a tourist.

― adam... (nordicskilla), Sunday, 7 November 2004 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Fair enough, but be careful down that gym.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 7 November 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I just got back from the gym and am feeling angsty. Surely it would be more cost-effective/energy-saving/time-saving to just stop exercising and eating both?

― mouse (mouse), Sunday, 7 November 2004 19:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I went to the gym this afternoon. I swam, had a sauna and a jacuzzi then ruined it all by leaving to go to the pub to watch the Manchester derby.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 7 November 2004 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

haha yes. but i wonder if i could start a gym for those who wanted non-"usual dance-pop crap and make money?

You've heard of punk-rock aerobics classes? And apparently now someone somewhere has started a punk yoga class.

NOIZE GYM NOW DOODZ!

― j.lu (j.lu), Sunday, 7 November 2004 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I went to the gym and it brightened up my whole day. I hope you're all happy and well.

― adam... (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 November 2004 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Punk Yoga?

― Andrew (enneff), Monday, 8 November 2004 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

The thought of wanking while sitting on a bike seat makes me extremely uncomfortable to say the least.

Not to mention wanking while sitting on a bike seat.

― Adamdrome Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 8 November 2004 00:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Gyms are a weird one. It is just the convenience of having a place where you do nothing but excercise, no matter what the weather, whether it's dark outside or not and so on.

My gym is obv. very low tech they only just got round to bikes where you can choose difference resistance settings and propr up a magazine to read let alone playstation. Today the music was a selection of greek dance music (kind of traditionally, instrumentally, the only one I recognised was zorba the greek from teh olympics).

― isadora (isadora), Monday, 8 November 2004 07:15 (twenty-one years ago)

At the Y I used to belong to, there was a coterie of tubby old men who would sit around naked after their showers on the vinyl couches in the lounge and watch CNBC.

The most disquieting naked-old-man-in-the-gym story comes from a friend, who went to Carnegie Mellon in the '80s. He was washing in the shower room at one of the student gyms, turned around and saw an old guy in the room, a couple shower heads down from him, naked and shampooing. Which wouldn't have been any big deal except that it was Mr. Rogers!

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 8 November 2004 07:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I joined a gym yesterday! I did 45 minutes of stuff and then nearly fainted on the cross trainer, so I sat on the floor and pretended to do stretches in case anyone was watching. They probably weren't though, because it's a weird little gym in an office building, so it's very busy weekday lunchtimes and almost deserted at other times. Last night it was just me and a muscley man who was Pumping Iron.

I'm going again after work today.

― Madchen (Madchen), Monday, 8 November 2004 15:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I should've gone to the gym today. Instead I exercised at home, halfheartedly and without machines. I'll go to the gym tomorrow. I used to like going first thing in the mornings, but I think my preference has switched to the 5pmish time, which is bad 'cause that's when my gym is most populous. Makes it harder to pretend to ignore everyone else in it.

― sgs (sgs), Monday, 8 November 2004 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Blimey Lucy, I only do half an hour and then I'm STRAIGHT outta there! I am going to the gym after work as well. Hopefully I will catch menko Hollyoaks hurrah. OH NO! WHAT IF THEY ARE NOT SHOWING CHANNEL FOUR!!

― Shabazz (hello chickens), Monday, 8 November 2004 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

That is one good thing about my weird little gym - every piece of equipment has its own flat screen telly so you can watch exactly what you darn well like. And what kind of freak likes to watch news channels while they huff and puff anyway?

― Madchen (Madchen), Monday, 8 November 2004 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Which wouldn't have been any big deal except that it was Mr. Rogers!

Ha, I once read about the same thing in Esquire a few years ago.

Mr. Rogers once showed the behind-the-scenes of Make Believe Land, holding the puppets up to the camera like limp fish. He also went behind the scenes of "The Incredible Hulk", showing Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno sitting SIDE BY SIDE and asking them "Sometimes, it's okay to feel angry, isn't it?"

So Mr. Rogers showering in a public gym doesn't surprise me at all. He's just cleaning the body that God gave him, after all.

I am getting horribly off-topic here.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 8 November 2004 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember watching a CNN interview with Mr Rogers where they showed Mr Rogers swimming laps in a pool and stated that he usually swam IN THE NUDE.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 04:24 (twenty-one years ago)

The gym is awesome!

I don't even know your "Mr Rogers"!

― adam... (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 04:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I can lift big weights! BIG

― adam... (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 04:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Here is, adam.
http://www.misterrogers.org/images/families/fred_rogers.jpg
and we miss him, too.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 04:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I went to the gym today too and did this big huge weights routine and then did running/walking intervals on the treadmill (which I now just want to call the t-mill.) Then I came home and ate homemade baked beans on toast. With a side of saurkraut. Freakin' winter...

Who would win?: Mr. Rogers vs Mr. Dressup in nude swimming race.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 04:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Something to do with puppets?

― adam... (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 04:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I went to the gym today and did 10 minutes on the cross-trainer. There was an incredibly weird smell, and I had to leave before compleating my regular 40. I ran to the bathroom and puked everywhere. My stomach is still growling.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 04:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Weird Smells at the Gym could be its own thread.
Maybe also: Puking/Farting/Fainting at the Gym.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 05:18 (twenty-one years ago)

i've switched from gym membership to pool membership.

pro: swimming is so much more fun than any other kind of exercise.

con: screaming children everywhere. i find myself wishing for drownings every few minutes.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 11:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Lauren, what time do you swim at?

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 11:37 (twenty-one years ago)

They weren't showing channel four!!

They had Sky News AND ITV news on!!

I am thinking of writing A LETTER.

I only did 20 minutes last night because the gym was full of mewling students and a GOTH with very strange patchy hair. VERY STRANGE.

― Shabazz (hello chickens), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 11:41 (twenty-one years ago)

My gym has a swimming pool which is usually empty because the other members seem more interested in the jacuzzi full of muscle-bound blokes/bikini-clad ladies. Also, it just over the road from my house, so I get to go first thing in the morning/last thing at night.

In the gym I usually stick to the treadmill. Are those funny-looking elliptical trainer things better for you?


― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 11:48 (twenty-one years ago)

i go after work. there would be fewer rowdy kids if i went early in the morning, but getting up an hour earlier is NOT going to happen.

xpost - yes, ellipticals are less stressful on the body.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 11:50 (twenty-one years ago)

However the elliptical step machines are just IMPOSSIBLE. I can't even use the stinking things. Curses.

Our swimming pool is good too, but as I refuse to get into a swimming costume I can give no further details.

I wub the treadmill. But after seeing The Running GOths yesterday I am worried I look a similar mockery of humanity whilst on the treadmill myself, o dear.

― Shabazz (hello chickens), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 11:53 (twenty-one years ago)

step machines/stair climbers are the devil's own work. if the machine isn't calibrated exactly right with height and weight and whatnot, you sink down like a leadweight.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 11:58 (twenty-one years ago)

It never occurred to me that I might be making life difficult for myself by just pressing Enter when the machine asks for my weight. Note to self: find out weight in kilogrammes.

― Madchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 12:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Hm, ellipticals are good for certain things, I guess, but your body actually does need a bit of stress on it (to keep bones and muscles renewing/growing) and I've found ellipticals are almost too easy in that regard (though I guess you can put it on a higher resistance). Running can hurt though, but walking fast on a steep incline and/or doing walking/running intervals is great. Stairclimbers - why? They are dumb. (Except for the huge ones that are actually *rotating stairs* - great but possibly the most evil thing in the gym.)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I am trying to force myself to go to the gym *right now*. It hasn't worked for several hours, and now I'm hungry. Help.

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, 18 November 2004 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

get off the internet!!!

(then eat a toast and get gymming!)

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)

If you go, I'll go!

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

(Eventually.)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm joining the work gym soon. grand theft auto convinced me.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Did you go, sgs?

(if not, you have email)

― Ol' prune face (Mark C), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

otherwise.. email gets deleted

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't been. I don't want to go! Bright lights and loud music, I can't face it today. I'm no longer quite so hungry--I had some yogurt.

I'm still not convinced here people.

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

you're going to feel vaguely bad all day about not going and probably continue to beat yourself up about it, so you should just go and get it over with and enjoy the rest of your day guilt-free.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Lauren pretty OTM I'd say :)

― Ol' prune face (Mark C), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I've had a big fattening plate of pasta for lunch, so going the gym will make you feel even smugger when I roll home tonight.

― Ol' prune face (Mark C), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm no longer able to motivate myself to go after work in the evenings...and it's seconds from my bedroom and part of my uncle's estate. Wot's wrong wiff me?

― P.A.T.H.E.T.I.C. (Barima), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Lauren I feel your pain, swimming is my excercise choice too and the screaming kids really do need drowning.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

one of the little bastards kicked me in the head the other night trying to do a flip.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Lauren's right about the guilt. Ugh. Thing is, I'd much rather go for a long walk or something, if the weather didn't suck ass. But something about exercising's always gonna suck, so I might as well use what I've paid for. Ah, guilt and money already spent. The true motivators.

xpost the kids are why I never use the pool at my gym. They're not allowed in the gym bit.

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

you enjoy your drinks too much barima

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I tried swimming recently and thought it not bad. So long as I use the pool when my other uncles and/or their screaming kids haven't come over for the day.

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)

at our work place we have a pool that's kids free (since it's work only) and it's quiet all the time - it's great (no lifeguard is scary though)

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I clocked one in the face a few weeks ago, he was in tears. I apologised but my fingers were crossed under the water.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)

You have pool at work Ken C? You bastard I'd kill for that.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I have still never been to a gym, or indeed, a pool, since the 1980s.

― the bellefox, Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Sarah, the pool at Putney is kid-free until 4pm - there's lane swimming at one end which they dismantle after schools have finished. I used to go at about 3, after I'd digested my lunch.

(this might have changed since I last swam, I don't know)

― Ol' prune face (Mark C), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Ken, become the part-time lifeguard! Red shorts, red boat-shaped thingy, bad theme music -TOTAL PWNAGE!

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

How big is your work pool Ken?

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah.. you have to be a social club member to use it (it's 10 a month but it covers gym pool and other stuff so it's good if you use it)

xpost i can't swim to save my own life, though!

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

i dunno the dimensions.. it's not very big - about 20 m long i'd say? the winning part is that there's never more than 3 people in the pool.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

20 Meters is cool, the one at the main college where I work is 12 and i'm rarely on the main site.

I go to the Ormskirk public pool after work which is 25 but often full of kids until later on but I have to eat at somepoint.

The Manchester Aquatics center is lovely, speed controlled lanes and deep at both ends (50 meter pool split into 2 x 25 with an adjustable depth)

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I go here: http://www.kieser-training.com/en/index.html -- there's one in London somewhere too.

No lights, no music, no pool, no screaming kids, no snack bar, no treadmills -- but the effect is actually more soothing than hardcore, the trainers are quite helpful, it's pretty affordable, and I show up three times a week every time. And I started looking and feeling better pretty quickly, too.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't mean to be a grinch (well, maybe i do) but this whole kid thing is really annoying. a swimming pool is not a giant aquatic babysitter. between them and the violent front crawl swimmer who is there most nights, it's like a minefield.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

It seems like there are always kids/teens in the pool in Putney--you can see them all cavorting from the windows in the gym. Although maybe they're not allowed in the lanes, you can't really see that bit too well. I get sensitive about my personal space (understatement) and I am always having to dodge careening children or try to navigate through ranked lines of them on my way into the gym bit. It seems to be perpetual half-term or something.

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyway, now I'm officially off to the gym! Thanks ILX! Perhaps it will help purge the foul mood I've been in all day. Further bulletins as events warrant.

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Lauren you are my swimming soulmate,

Feel my pain as a kid gets in the way during my 10th length totally throwing me off my stroke or as someone decides that the 2 lengths i've just done is enough and sets off doing breast stroke into my lane as I reach the shallow end of the pool intending to turn.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 18 November 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

'Minesweepers' - that's a good song.

Congratulations SGS.

― the minefox, Thursday, 18 November 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

my current favorite swimmer is the little old man who goes for long-ish stretches underwater, just long enough to make you forget about him until his ridiculous blue bathing cap (too big on top) pops out of the water. i would laugh, but i'm too busy frantically sculling water to avoid hitting him head-on.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 18 November 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

'sculling'?

― the bluefox, Thursday, 18 November 2004 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I like the old woman with a red cap who swims practically standing up and diagonally. Also there are no marked lanes in our pool so breathing is a lottery, will you get a mouth full of water or not?

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 18 November 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

sculling is the technical term for moving your hands around in the water to control your speed, direction, depth, level, etc.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 18 November 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

How was the gym, hon?

― Ol' prune face (Mark C), Thursday, 18 November 2004 17:34 (twenty-one years ago)

it was great thanks

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 18 November 2004 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

heh

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

It was fine actually. I did a reduced length of time there though--skipped the treadmill because I didn't want to walk home in the dark. Fairly empty, not as loud as normal, and the instructor who sometimes forces small talk left me alone. Foul mood partly purged.

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...
I'm getting my muscle tone back! Yay!

― .adam (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 17:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Yay!

Okay, so I have a dilemma about joining the gym. There is a giant, new facility like ONE MINUTE away from our apartment. I really want to get back in shape, and I need the convenience to actually go.

HOWEVER, it is run by raging conservative Christians. We had to go to the dingier location on the other side of town to sign up (since we're taking over another couple's memebership) and they were renting out space to Christian bookstores, a 'House of Prayer', etc. in their strip mall. Inside there were Christian Business Guides next to the newspapers, and cards with Christian sayings next to the business cards on the employees' desks. They refused to donate to an AIDs walk last year. We didn't end up signing anything that day, but only because they totally fucked up the paperwork.

All of this makes me and my girlfriend very uncomfortable about giving them our money, but I know I'm probably going to join anyway for selfish reasons and feel bad about it.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

i haven't been in two or three months.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 17:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Jordan, your dilemma is very vivid and rich in detail and yet I can't make any sense of it. Good luck, though!

― .adam (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Jordan, you should just do laps around that gym wearing provocative t-shirts!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Never join a gym in January, you'll look like all the other new year resoluters.

Personally, I wouldn't join at all.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)

adam conservative christians hate your jewish soul.

along similar lines, does anyone know if Curves has suffered at all after it was revealed that their founder/president gives all his profits to right-to-life organizations?

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Jordan, exercise in a shirt like this:

http://www.lefton.net/images/tiny_yo.gif

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Should I join the Crunch on the street where I work? It's like the ultimate metrosexual gym!

I'm worried that I do too much upper body stuff and that I will begin to look ridiculous and misproportioned.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

And I just ate two pieces of birthday pastry. Shit.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I always say Yo Semite!

― .adam (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.jewishfashionconspiracy.com/ultrac/images/main_13.jpg
wow.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Who knew Howard Stern had such a great ass?

― .adam (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

This place should not be over the street from me.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

What an odd article.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

OMG, I need more clothes like that. Not that I have any right now.

I just read that this "24-7" gym closes the basketball courts (if not more) from 9am - 1pm on Sundays to have church services there. Jesus fucking christ.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Jordan, that's awesome!

― .adam (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

And I'll ask you not to take His name in vain like that.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...
ow.

― strng hlkngtn, Wednesday, 15 June 2005 22:38 (twenty years ago)

i hurt.

― strng hlkngtn, Wednesday, 15 June 2005 22:39 (twenty years ago)

I totally f*cked up my shoulder this week.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

i rejoined. i figure if i dont want to leave a greasy, overweight corpse, it's for the best.

― strng hlkngtn, Wednesday, 15 June 2005 22:43 (twenty years ago)

Do it, jess, it's great!

I am on my 6th straight day of going to the gym! This morning I went at 6am and listened to the Moodymann Novamix and went crazy!

― the D Double signal (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 22:44 (twenty years ago)

i can't get myself to go, lately.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 22:44 (twenty years ago)

there for a while, i went 6 days a week.. now i'm down to 1 day a week, if that.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 22:45 (twenty years ago)

Do it, mandee, it's great!

Last night in yoga, we did more than half of the poses with our eyes closed!

― the D Double signal (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 22:45 (twenty years ago)

I still wish I didn't have to look at *so* much old naked man ass that early in the morning, though.

― the D Double signal (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 22:47 (twenty years ago)

once i get going again, i really really like going to the gym. it's just hard though.

― strng hlkngtn, Wednesday, 15 June 2005 22:59 (twenty years ago)

what gym do you use, spencer?

― Remy (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 23:04 (twenty years ago)

good question!

― the D Double signal (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 23:05 (twenty years ago)

I have a bench that I put up in my room! And then I run to the farmer's market and back! It only works for me if I have immediate access (I'd go to a gym if it was across the street). It's a pain to assemble and take down, but that's part of the workout too!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 23:07 (twenty years ago)

I also hate being sweaty in my car.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 23:08 (twenty years ago)

I've gotta get back into a routine. I don't like going 2 or more days in a row somehow, though that would probably be better.

― sgs (sgs), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 23:18 (twenty years ago)

I still wish I didn't have to look at *so* much old naked man ass that early in the morning, though.

What I don't get is how gyms are usually packed to the rafters with beefcake, but the only bare arse you see in the change rooms is pasty and flabby and 68 years old. And no amount of looking at the floor can totally eliminate peripheral vision.

― Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 23:30 (twenty years ago)

Another reason why I have weights at home.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

I tried the weights-at-home thing, couldn't stay applied.

― Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 23:50 (twenty years ago)

sometimes it is pasty and flabby and 27 years old.

― strng hlkngtn, Thursday, 16 June 2005 00:21 (twenty years ago)

there was a bigfoot sighting in my locker room today.

weighing himself on the scale...

― ryan (ryan), Thursday, 16 June 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

i don't really believe in going to the gym except i used to have so many muscles but now i'm just bony and flabby and old. i guess i have to go.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Thursday, 16 June 2005 01:27 (twenty years ago)

i love working out. one of the best feelings in the world really. those endorphins are very addictive.

― ryan (ryan), Thursday, 16 June 2005 02:12 (twenty years ago)

serious? I've gone to the gym more or less every day for the past year, and I despise it like nothing else.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 16 June 2005 02:20 (twenty years ago)

i like running, outside

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Thursday, 16 June 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

yeah to be honest Remy i dont know--maybe im lucky in that respect you know?

i have been working out pretty seriously for about 11 years tho. (started lifting weights for football and track--and the cardio just comes along with those sports). so maybe it takes a long time. i'd like to see a study on that actually...

― ryan (ryan), Thursday, 16 June 2005 02:30 (twenty years ago)

i cannot make myself go anymore. I don't know why.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 16 June 2005 03:08 (twenty years ago)

i filled two kitty litter buckets with a gallon of water each and lift them sideways level with my head, and back down again. i try to do it very slowly and levell-ey, as if they are actually full to the top, and my sensei will strike my back with a birch strip if i let one drop fall.

and then there's this thing --> joggers anonymous

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 16 June 2005 03:57 (twenty years ago)

I left sweat on a machine the first time I went because I didn't know any better and the disgusted looks of the guy who used it afterwards scared me straight.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 16 June 2005 04:05 (twenty years ago)

fuck the gym.. i now have THIS

http://www.ventasportv.com/images/mine/Large/Ejercicio/6secabs.jpg

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 16 June 2005 07:25 (twenty years ago)

I hope you don't end up looking like that scary woman, ken.

I really want to start swimming regularly, but a question for the swimming glasses wearers of ILE: how do you manage in the pool? Do you wear prescription goggles?

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 16 June 2005 08:45 (twenty years ago)

Even myopic people can surely swim without glasses, right? I mean, if you see a non-blue lump moving towards you, you get out of the way.

― Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 16 June 2005 09:12 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I just hate it. And finding the way from the changing room to the pool... I suppose I can leave my glasses on the poolside.

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 16 June 2005 09:14 (twenty years ago)

I've tried swimming without glasses or contacts and it's just a horrible, horrible experience. I just end up feeling more of a clumsy doofus in the pool than I already did. And jumping in and accidentally mounting some poor unsuspecting old bat is not good news for either of you. Anyhow, prescription goggles are less than thirty quid I think and are supposed to work quite well. Don't know how you feel about dry-land gogglism though, cos you'll need to wear them from the lockers to the poolside if you want to see where you're going. Or run the risk of diving out the window or something...

― NickB (NickB), Thursday, 16 June 2005 09:30 (twenty years ago)

i just wear my glasses into the pool. i tend to keep my head above water while swimming anyway

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 16 June 2005 09:34 (twenty years ago)

Ahhh, like a goose!

― NickB (NickB), Thursday, 16 June 2005 09:36 (twenty years ago)

a swan, nick! a swan

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 16 June 2005 09:42 (twenty years ago)

i think toby wears his contacts under his goggles. my dad has special prescription goggles for when he does open-water swimming, otherwise he just goes with fuzzy vision.

― colette (a2lette), Thursday, 16 June 2005 10:56 (twenty years ago)

and, to answer the original question, people don't tend to talk to me in the locker room, but they do in the hot tub, which i find somewhat uncomfortable. such a small space, wearing so little clothes, you need to maintain the personal space! people leave me alone otherwise, because i've got my shuffle on, i guess. need a waterproof thingy for the pool and hot tub, obviously.

― colette (a2lette), Thursday, 16 June 2005 11:07 (twenty years ago)

i wear contacts under goggles, yeah, which works really well. in the past i had glasses with little plastic hooks that went over my ears that i wore for sports generally and were ok for swimming. i also swwam a bit without glasses or lenses which was a nightmare, really.

people v rarely talk to me in the changing room. an exception was the old guy who recommended bracing cold showers to us, which was pretty funny. and i've had people make passes at me in pretty weird ways, one by chasing after me in the street and telling me how much he'd enjoyed looking at my naked body, and another by bumping up against me in the shower without saying anything. those were both pretty weird.

― toby (tsg20), Thursday, 16 June 2005 11:53 (twenty years ago)


I stopped going to mine because of all of the bitchy people and creepy surveillance cameras. Then there is always something that I want to use that is broken.

― bob n0pe (bobnope), Thursday, 16 June 2005 11:59 (twenty years ago)

i am joining a gym any year now.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Thursday, 16 June 2005 12:39 (twenty years ago)

I like going to the gym, I wish I made myself go more often (it's probably twice a week these daysm, three times on a good week).

I've cut out the locker room completely though. I live like 2 minutes away so afterwards I just drive my ass home to take a shower. It improves the experience immensely.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 16 June 2005 12:46 (twenty years ago)

I stood next to Bobby Z4m0ra in the showers at my gym a couple of years ago. This was just before Spurs signed him up, when there was loads of transfer speculation flying around. Really wanted to ask him about it, but sensed that maybe he wouldn't take kindly to being pestered by a naked fan.

― NickB (NickB), Thursday, 16 June 2005 12:56 (twenty years ago)

You seriously swim in your glasses, Ken?

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 16 June 2005 15:54 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...
I am on a ROLL

― Nevada Lime (nordicskilla), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

I am a roll. A big fat buttery roll.

― luna (luna.c), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

i can't go to the gym at the moment because i am recovering from some shitty fucking cold-type virus and it is fucking me off.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

After a month of travelling and / or being sick and / or being lazy I am back with a vengeance going to Gold's every other day and it feels stupendous. The secret combination is reading a good book + treadmill = double whammy and less boredom.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:45 (twenty years ago)

i need to find a place around here that i can afford, coz i need to start working out again.

― kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

i am too many rolls and not enough gym right now

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 11 July 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

i am also rolling.

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)

PLUR

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 11 July 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

i haven't gone for about a week & 1/2 b/c i think i strained my wrist.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

that's technically not working out anyway

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

WHY DO GYMS COST SO FUCKING MUCH? Is it assumed that only rich people are fat?

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 11 July 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

No, that's how the rich stay skinny and the poor stay fat.

― Leon C. (Ex Leon), Monday, 11 July 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

I consider $50 a month to be worth it for somewhere I go 4-5 days out of every week.

― Nevada Lime (nordicskilla), Monday, 11 July 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

the fat guy at my gym owns. he'll waltz in, say hi to the girls (they all know him by name), get all suited up and waltz from station to station, sipping from his 1.5 litre bottle of water and watching other people while not actually exercising at all. i swear, the only thing i've ever seen him do are like five roman chair lifts (ie. the world's most useless exercise for someone with six buddhas worth of bellies) and he farted with every single one.

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 11 July 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

haha

― Nevada Lime (nordicskilla), Monday, 11 July 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

I gotta go blast my quads later dude.

― Jimmy Mod Is Sick of Being The Best At Everything (ModJ), Monday, 11 July 2005 18:20 (twenty years ago)

I lift some weights in the Ladies Only room at my gym. It's because during my training session they taught me about the weights there and I don't know where the weights are in the other room. Anyway, what is the deal with the girls on the machine who just sit there on the machine lifting nothing and staring into the mirror for like 5 minutes? I need to use that machine, bitch. It's fine if they are actually moving things, but they are like resting before the start again. But they never start again.

― Mary (Mary), Monday, 11 July 2005 23:51 (twenty years ago)

I do that sometimes. but I start again.

― I'd still rather be in Tokyo (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 00:05 (twenty years ago)

I just don't like the way they stare into the mirror like they love themsleves soo much. Do you do that, Ad?

― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

no

― I'd still rather be in Tokyo (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...
i'm really looking forward to the gym tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!! even though i have a slight cramp on my left thigh right now.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 19 August 2005 10:18 (twenty years ago)

less enthusiastic now - hangover kicking in and my ipod ran out of power!!! catastrophe!

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 19 August 2005 11:44 (twenty years ago)

One of my co-workers went out drinking the other weekend. He woke up on the Sunday morning with a bit of a memory hole, so looked in his wallet to see how much cash had gone. He was rather surprised to find a membership card for the local sports club, printed with his name and signed on the back. Phoning them up, he found that whilst drunk he had apparently signed up for membership, filled out all the direct debit forms, and then completely forgotten about it.

He goes every morning before work, now, just to make sure that he gets what he accidentally paid for.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 19 August 2005 12:51 (twenty years ago)

i'm heading to a new place tomorrow, hopefully to get a regular pattern started.

― kingfish fucked up his login (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 19 August 2005 15:54 (twenty years ago)

I was there this morning and so was all the hairy man ass!

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Friday, 19 August 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

ipod running out is not good but I also had my best workout when I forced myself to keep going without music.

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Friday, 19 August 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

i joined a month ago, i went twice. got to get into a routine or im going to die.

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

I was really good about going last week, but now I'm busy and my back and my ankle and my thumb hurts (not because of the gym) and blah.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

i just hate that everyone in my gym appears to be a high school student....all prepping for the gun show. the grunting is annoying as all hell.

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

tho i won't buy the monthly membership until i'm actually into the routine of that often. I prefer the one-offs.

― kingfish fucked up his login (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:11 (twenty years ago)

I watch the TV channels at the gym and plug in my own headphones. Sometimes the news is interesting, but it is disheartening to see how close CNN has come to FOX now.

― Mary (Mary), Saturday, 20 August 2005 01:00 (twenty years ago)

It would be nice to listen to my own music, but I work out at Curves, where you have to be able to hear the cues to change machines. And I know the founder is a right-wing crazy, but I decided I could live with that since the gyms are franchises, and the owners of my local know everyone in the neighborhood and are putting a lot of time & money back into the community.

And working out there is really pretty cool -- there's no competition, no pressure to perform, and since there are no men present, we have a number of observant muslim women who arrive in hijab or abaya and work out, then cover up again when it's time to go. I'm really fascinated by this and glad there's somewhere they can get fit, take care of themselves, without compromising beliefs.

Plus, since my neighborhood is almost entirely Black West Indian, let's just say the women are not generally petite, nor do they respond well to popular images of skinny beauty, so no ones tries to push that shit there. And our manager (who's from Dominica) gives nutrition lectures on the side and makes up healthy alternative recipes for stuff like red beans & rice, or fried foods. I dunno, I just love seeing local services working the way they SHOULD to promote functional, friendly populace/community.

― Laurel, Saturday, 20 August 2005 03:14 (twenty years ago)

Should I join 24 Hour Fitness at $40+/month or sign up for the gym-only YMCA (formerly a Gold's Gym building) near my house that's presumably much cheaper?

I don't really want to go tour either - I figure 24 Hr is going to push personal trainers and self-improvement classes and crap and the Y staff will just be annoying. The idea of being able to go work out at 3am is nice, but I'm pretty sure will never happen.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 20 August 2005 03:21 (twenty years ago)

I use the Y. I like it.

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Saturday, 20 August 2005 03:35 (twenty years ago)

I no longer work out since I have to walk a half-mile each way to bus. I save my early-generation iPod battery for that time as it will prevent other bus-commuters from talking to me.

but walking more than one block in TX in August is sweaty and gross therefore I never think of working out b/c that's just too much fucking sweat.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Saturday, 20 August 2005 03:40 (twenty years ago)

i survived it! i was on the machine for just as long as usual without music - really helped when a cute girl came in half way through and did her warming down exercises for 10 minutes on the mat right across from me. it was very .. invigorating

― ken c (ken c), Saturday, 20 August 2005 09:00 (twenty years ago)

bah. all i ever get in front of me is the freaky old sinewy dude doing weird abdominal exercises that involve waving his arse in the air.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Saturday, 20 August 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

my gym's a hotel gym, which is great for meeting people in, er, holiday mood. But it closes at 9pm, which is hopeless for late-night types so I'm going to change to the city's 24-hour effort out east. This will either mean I'll go to teh gym all the time, or never at all. But at least there will be few weird dudes doing sinewy things at 3am. Apart from me, I guess.

― stet (stet), Saturday, 20 August 2005 14:18 (twenty years ago)

don't count on it. my gym's open from 6am-10pm and there's always an old man doing something sinewy.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Saturday, 20 August 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

is he short and wearing all-black exercise gear and using an iPod? Does he do the same things you do, but in a sort-of mirrored way that makes you think he's taking the piss?

― stet (stet), Saturday, 20 August 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

god damn, i'm glad i've been exercising my ass-whupping muscles.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Saturday, 20 August 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

How long will it take me to look like Carrot Top?

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 20 August 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...
I did my first deadlift last night! I'm excited about them. I went SUPER EASY though, since I wanted to make sure I had the form down before adding too much weight. I don't know how much weight to really start with. After my bench press last night (i had a "heavy" weights day), I think i'm underestimating my potential! i benched 1 & 1/2 times as much as i've been doing! granted, we're not talking triple digits or anything, i'm still a beginner . . .

― kelsey (kelstarry), Friday, 9 September 2005 13:57 (twenty years ago)

ok, so i didn't get a membership to the gym, but i did get a bicycle, which will probably be more useful.

― kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

what kind of bike did you get?

― kelsey (kelstarry), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...
Everyone at the office had a healthcheck in June. The results came back: we are, without exception, fat binge drinkers. I'm not going to cut back on the bouze, but last night I finally got around to finding out how the weighty machines work so I can do some resistance training, which is what the chap who did the test recommended.

Jim, who works at the gym ha ha, showed me around and kept complimenting me on my style ha ha. I guess he's paid to do that. I told him my knees hyperextend and he said if I knew that word I must be a nurse. I thought he was joking, so I said "yeah!" Then he kept asking me the Lating names of different muscles and I realised it had been a serious question and it got embarrassing.

This morning, my muscles are achey! The next health check is in December and I am determined to be a thin binge drinker this time.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 10:28 (twenty years ago)

I have never been to a gym. It must be nice to feel happy about your body and not want to hide it..one day, maybe..

Is it worth all the time and pain, do you think??

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:02 (twenty years ago)

I'm beginning to wonder if this is the answer. I never used to worry about my physical health because I was forever walking everywhere. Now I work in an office and I don't do nearly as much walking as I should. On Saturday, I got completely winded by the smallest hill, and that worries me. Perhaps I should join a gym. But will I have the time to go?

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:03 (twenty years ago)

i'm going to hong kong in a month and i intend to go to the gym as much as possible between now and then to see how huge my arms can become just so that i can shock my family for a laugh. except i haven't been for 2 weeks. going tomorrow though hopefully.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:08 (twenty years ago)

Can one obtain huge arms in a month??

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:09 (twenty years ago)

TRANSPLANTS

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:10 (twenty years ago)

http://www.yuma.army.mil/mw/images/01c652.jpg

― rasheed wallace (rasheed wallace), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:12 (twenty years ago)

steroids

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:13 (twenty years ago)

Nice arms. Do you work out??

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:14 (twenty years ago)

just make sure you tell your parents you've been sculpting the "guns".

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:15 (twenty years ago)

i'm thinking of checking out one of the $10 yoga classes here. would any of you new york kids like to join me? it's at 19th street and 6th ave.

― astor riviera (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:42 (twenty years ago)

Matt's started going to the gym. Not me though, as physical activity without a short-term goal (winning a game, reaching a destination, seeing a nice view) kind of leaves me cold. I will be playing badminton with my mum instead.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:46 (twenty years ago)

Everyone at the office had a healthcheck in June. The results came back: we are, without exception, fat binge drinkers. I'm not going to cut back on the bouze

No no no! Do like my gran did, triple or rather millionify the amount of alcohol you drink! She was never skinnier than when she was an alcoholic.

― nathalie, a bum like you (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:52 (twenty years ago)

Aw JBR, I would, but if I take yoga it's going to be the classes in my office bldg cos we get a discount and I'm cheap like that. But let me know how it is!

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 12:38 (twenty years ago)

I've been going to the gym regularly for the past month and a half and have lost exactly no weight at all, which is a little frustrating, but I do feel more energetic and stretched out after I go so I'm kind of enjoying it anyways.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 12:41 (twenty years ago)

That's OK because muscle is denser than fat innit.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 12:51 (twenty years ago)

i've been going & doing weight lifting, but my weight hasn't changed. my body hasn't really changed that much, either, but i suspect it's because i'm not particularly focused on fat loss. regardless, i feel better though.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 12:58 (twenty years ago)

Word. I'm generally heavy-ish (for my frame) when I'm fit. Once winter rolls around, I'm going to have to find a climbing gym and/or yoga spot here in Chi.

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 12:59 (twenty years ago)

I started going again during my vacation, and stopped as soon as work started again. No good, I feel like crap when I don't go ('cause I'm awful at controlling my eating and drinking, of course).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

I just want to lose this belly. Without having to eat less.

Badminton isn't going to work, is it??

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:04 (twenty years ago)

yeah, i'm worried about that. i stopped riding my bike around mid-december last year & didn't ride again until march or april. and it is very, very hard for me to be disciplined in the winter to get up early & work out.
i should set some goals for myself to meet by springtime. i think the superficial ones would work best . . . like, "feel comfortable enough to wear a bikini in public."

― kelsey (kelstarry), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:04 (twenty years ago)

Kelsey, mine is "whittle down the thighs until they fit back into all those other clothes you own, so you don't have to buy new ones". Le sigh. Also, apparently I think I can accomplish that goal through only two classes per week. YEAH, maybe if I STOPPED EATING CHEESE. Le ginormous sigh of longsuffering.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

Like to the store?

xpost

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:16 (twenty years ago)

a more realistic goal for me would to be able to fit into some old pants i have. yeesh.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:20 (twenty years ago)

My goal is to look like I did when I was 20. :(

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

That seems like an unrealistic goal, Nick.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:26 (twenty years ago)

Not that you're out of shape at all -- I just mean that we can't expect ourselves to maintain a post-adolescent physique forever.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:26 (twenty years ago)

Or, that's what I tell myself when my old clothes don't fit.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:26 (twenty years ago)

earlier this year i started running about two miles a day to trick my body into not wanting to smoke anymore. instead i now just run *and* smoke (not at the same time, although i do play softball and smoke simultaneously). i have found that i really like running though, so that's cool.

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:28 (twenty years ago)

It's better than not running at all! I've never been to a gym in my life. I refuse to pay the ridiculous fees AND I have no desire to sweat and grunt with total strangers. Plus, I skeeve the whole shower situation.

― Je4nn3 ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:32 (twenty years ago)

i don't like the gym! i joined a new gym in williamsburg for a week but i really didn't like running on a treadmill, and i've never lifted weights in my life. running OUTSIDE is so much more fun. it's like being a kid!

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

Our gym is really cheap (with Sarah and I both going, it ends up being about $27 a month each), I listen to an iPod so I hear no grunting, and I shower when I get home.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:34 (twenty years ago)

Running outside sounds fun in theory but I am really wussy about it.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:35 (twenty years ago)

yeah i have yet to try running outside in the winter. i have a feeling my opinion will change then.

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

i totally have a short term goal for going to the gym! to have HUGE ARMS when november comes!

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

I went on my first run since June and it was...pretty nice, actually. I thought smoking/not running would make it painful, but biking a lot has done a pretty decent job of keeping me up.

but yeah, kelsey, come REAL winter time things might get grim. Which blows, since I'm used to winter being my most active outside-exercise period. Maybe I should just sack up and Get Serious about winter cycling.

Chicago ppl: come to the climbing gym with me! It, like running outside, is like being a kid again! You just fool around and try to get to the top of stuff!

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:40 (twenty years ago)

That does sort of sound like fun, but is it expensive?

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:41 (twenty years ago)

Also, when I was a kid I hid in the closet and read horror novels with a flashlight, so "running outside" doesn't really remind me of that.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:41 (twenty years ago)

Running's alright, but I always think I'm going to be bored even though I never actually am. Like, "Oh MAN, I'm going to have to THINK about NOTHING the whole time?!" And then of course there are always things to see & notice on the way, and stuff pops into my head to think about, but I can't plan on any of that ahead of time so I fear the boredom. NB I might be a nutjob.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:42 (twenty years ago)

I joined in august i think and went once. since i sold my condo i am too far away to go. once i get into my house i will start going as its only 2 miles away. i ride the stationary bike to assist with my physical therapy on my knee.

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

i'd be totally interested in climbing!!

― kelsey (kelstarry), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

It can be... Like going to the regular gym, it's cheaper if you buy a couple trips in advance/monthly membership. Plus, there's teh added expense of equipment rental (which is usually quite reasonable, but an expense all the same).

xpost: the thinking about nothing is my favorite part of exercise. It's like, zen and shit.

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:45 (twenty years ago)

have you guys heard of this thing called Green Gym? It sounds really cool actually i only heard about it a few weeks ago, apparently it's some project run so that instead of going to the gym they design all these more useful exercises that help plant trees and stuff that also build you up. sounds excellent.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:46 (twenty years ago)

Badminton isn't going to work, is it??

Only if you play both sides of the net.

We joined a gym on January 1 and have surprised ourselves by showing up fairly regularly, him more so than me. It helped our motivation greatly to see his dad suffer through the recuperation of heart surgery; neither of us wants that. There was also some book I found - Live like you're 55 until you're 85 - something like that - that was on about 45 min to an hour of slow steady exercise every single day, so he's been trying that instead of killing himself 3 times a week. It's been worth it - better attitudes, more energy, less stress, and the seXoring has improved from good to pretty excellent, probably due to the first three benefits.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

Just joined a gym and I really hate it. Everyone knows what to do with the equipment and I feel totally awkward. My hand eye coordination isn't the best so I'm convinced I'm going to either cause myself or someone nearby an injury. Why do all the mirrors need to be there? It's bad enough feeling ridiculous without KNOWING as well.

― Kv_nol (Kv_nol), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:50 (twenty years ago)

...I've done some research on climbing gyms in Chi, but haven't actually made the time to make a trip yet. There's one at a school somewhere...?

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:51 (twenty years ago)

Kv . . . you have to take matters into your own hands & do some research. You can read books, you can ask people. If you're committed to using the gym, it's really the only way you're going to get comfortable with the gear. You also don't need to use the machines (I use free weights), but it's important to use correct form. I know it sounds like a lot, but the benefits are great.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:55 (twenty years ago)

I love going to the gym. I'm sorta sad like that.

― Munki (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

...or just do body-weight exercises. A regular regimen of push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups is pretty great AND you don't have to leave the house.

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:57 (twenty years ago)

XP Oi gib, you're right, but what "think about nothing" really means, I guess, is "can't be done while reading". And I can't listen to music because it's never going to be the right tempo and I can't separate beats from steps -- too many years of marching band.

Climbing is super fun, though! I think if I went much I'd buy my own shoes, tho not all the other gear.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

Um, I got a full induction when I joined and they showed me how to use everything. Don't all gyms do this? Don't they have to do this legally? If anyone had an accident on equipment they hadn't been shown how to use there'd be trouble.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

Yeah I was about to say what Madchen said.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:01 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone do yoga? I've been thinking about it, because I'm anti-flexible. The gym only has the classes during the day, so I'd be on my own for figuring it out.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:02 (twenty years ago)

I do yoga.

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

so does gib and rogermexico.

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

yeah even we had an induction with ours and it's cheapo work-gym. and also the mirrors thing is good for me because i kind of fancy myself.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

we are known as yoga men.

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

At ours, the demonstration by staff was optional. You had to sign a waiver regardless, so if you hurt yourself, you can't sue them.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:04 (twenty years ago)

Please enjoy our thread:
Yoga Man Roll Call

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:04 (twenty years ago)

Hmmm - yoga men.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:05 (twenty years ago)

It's been worth it - better attitudes, more energy, less stress, and the seXoring has improved from good to pretty excellent, probably due to the first three benefits.

-- Jaq (js...), October 19th, 2005.

You see, this sort of convinced me, but then I realised I'd have to get The Boy to go to. Not going to happen. The only sex will get better is sex with myself. And that's usually pretty good anyway.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:07 (twenty years ago)

What should I be doing if I want to lose my gut? I've mostly been doing the elliptical machine, then doing a little of the ab weight machine, but I should probably be doing more pull-up/sit-up type stuff, huh? I have a free appointment with a personal trainer that I should probably use.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

you need to jog and you need to do hella sit ups and crunches.

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

also some core stuff like pilates, maybe.


You basically need to do all the things you least want to do! - no.1 rule of the gym!

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:11 (twenty years ago)

i'm not a yoga man but i do yoga. trying to get back into the habit of doing it regularly.

― astor riviera (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:11 (twenty years ago)

N/a, can you lose my gut while you're at it?

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:12 (twenty years ago)

we should totally have an ILX yoga FAP. I belive rogermexico actually teaches? so he could lead the class.

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:12 (twenty years ago)

I really like yoga! I am a Yoga Man!

FAPranayama?

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

I am scared of the treadmill, I think I have watched too many cartoons.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

if i were going to the gym again the elliptical machine would be ALL i'd use. i'd buy one if they weren't like a trillion dollars.

― astor riviera (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

E.g., I am also scared of anvils.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

I love the elliptical machine, it makes me feel like that Da Vinci drawing.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

You see, this sort of convinced me, but then I realised I'd have to get The Boy to go to

Yes, I thought the same thing (just reverse the genders).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

Mrs adam is running a marathon this weekend in SF, so it has been relatively easy to keep to a routine for the last six months while she has been training. I don't know what I'll do come november!

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:15 (twenty years ago)

losing the gut is mostly a diet thing isn't it? (you need negative energy balance or whatever) so any exercise, especailly cardio stuff should do it but you just have to do lots of it.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)

is the elliptical machine the same as a cross-trainer?

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)

Treadmills = no good. I like the ellipticals, but I love this thing called the Arc Trainer.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:18 (twenty years ago)

I love the elliptical machine, it makes me feel like that Da Vinci drawing.


Aw, that is cuet, Nick.

― Roxymuzak, Mrs. Carbohydrate (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:18 (twenty years ago)

I really don't want to diet. I have very poor self-control when it comes to food.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:18 (twenty years ago)

Do you cook?

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

Also - beware Thanksgiving and xmas. All yoga men fear this time of year.

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

Isn't that South Beach diet supposed to get rid of belly fat first?

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

well, you can still eat loads, but you just have to do more exercise than you eat!!!! (i eat like a broken vending machine eats coins but i'm constantly restless)

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

All yoga men fear this time of year.

Indeed. It lurks, deliciously.

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:21 (twenty years ago)

n/a, unfortunately, the only way you're going to really lose your gut is through diet & portion control. you can do all the sit ups in the world & they won't change your body that much. someone said something about core exercises & i think those are way better than doing situps & crunches. it engages more of your whole body, helps your posture, etc. up your cardio, watch what you eat & drink. i need to do this as well.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:22 (twenty years ago)

I only eat turkeys that can hold downward-facing dog for two hours.

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:23 (twenty years ago)

I always watch the calorie burn counter on the machines and think "half a candy bar....whole candy bar....". I try for 2.5 candy bars worth each visit.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:23 (twenty years ago)

I do cook. I think I actually do a decent job of eating well as long as we have sufficient groceries in the house. The problem comes when we start to run low but are too lazy/poor to go get more so I end up buying chips/candy/other junk at lunchtime.

Thanksgiving and xmas aren't a big deal for me food-wise because I don't eat meat so no turkey/ham/whatever. Plus I will be home alone for Thanksgiving.

I don't know what "core exercises" are.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:24 (twenty years ago)

Core exercise? Do this!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler19abig.jpg

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

YOGA MAN

― astor riviera (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:26 (twenty years ago)

do the one where you balance on your tailbone with your legs at a 45 degree angle and your arms parallel to the floor.

YOU KNOW THE ONE

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

nick, we'll talk shop in person.

in the meantime, this is my most favorite site ever. great resources listed & a great resource itself. not just for women!!

http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html

― kelsey (kelstarry), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:29 (twenty years ago)

Oh MAN, I know that one, Yogaman. It's torture.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

FEEL THE BURN, n/a

Print these out and put them up in your apartment!!!
http://sportsposterwarehouse.com/warehouse/swimsuccess03fl-1.jpg
http://www.locateart.com/images_zoom/1320z.jpg

― Mun K.E. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

BOAT! THE BOAT!

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

I got the induction, it's sad I know but I'm embarrassed to ask. I will though, there's one thing that I'm convinced will fuck my back up something rotten if I don't talk to them. I'm going tomorrow so will ask. I suppose I just have to get used to it really, I haven't been in a situation where I've been sharing space with people excersizing since school!

― Kv_nol (Kv_nol), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

Do they have ellipticals and stuff? Those are pretty easy and safe to start with.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 15:24 (twenty years ago)

Kv, I seriously can't stress books enough. Or online resources. Many give you photographic or video instruction which is nice b/c you can approach the machine without worry & then double check later to make sure you're doing it right.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 15:39 (twenty years ago)

what's great about books is that if you buy enough, when you move house it's an exercise in itself!!

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 15:40 (twenty years ago)

At risk of being shot can anyone tell me which sites they use? Cheers like.

― Kv_nol (Kv_nol), Thursday, 20 October 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

i posted mine above.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Thursday, 20 October 2005 12:47 (twenty years ago)

I ran on the treadmill for the first time last night, it wasn't as frightening as I expected and I got a cool druggy dizzy feeling when I got off. Then I did the weight machines for longer than usual.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 20 October 2005 12:53 (twenty years ago)

I have a free appointment with a personal trainer that I should probably use

yes. do this. i have a trainer who i see ... what, about three times a year? (he'd like it to be a lot more often, but tough: time is not on my side.) we sort out a programme, i knack my way through it for three or four months, then we meet up again. i am long overdue another meeting with him, actually, but i've been so busy recently that i still don't feel i've exhausted all the possibilities of my current programme.

right now my weight exercises are split over two days: one concentrating mainly on the upper body, one on the lower. i also cross-train and do vicious abdominal exercises (these, because i'm a lazy waster at heart, are the first things to go if i'm running short of time. gaah.)

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 20 October 2005 12:59 (twenty years ago)

"cross-train" = "use the elliptical cross-trainer thing".

i should run more, i know.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 20 October 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

god i love the gym

― High Tea in the Chinese Quarter (nordicskilla), Thursday, 20 October 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

i love it too. there's a sauna and a steam room and there are free toiletries. what's not to love?

in addition to cardio, i've started doing astanga yoga. yay gym!

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 20 October 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

http://static.flickr.com/1/201751_fee9a3e215_o.jpg

― astor riviera (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 20 October 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

I had to do that thing that I mentioned above the other day - the awkward partnering with a total stranger in order that each might stick their hands between the other person's legs. It's crazy the things you end up doing in yoga. I still say "om" sometimes. It feels good!

― High Tea in the Chinese Quarter (nordicskilla), Thursday, 20 October 2005 14:51 (twenty years ago)

Kelsey, thanks. I'll check it out. Here's hoping that it can show me how to stretch after, they took the poster down immediately after I joined due to renovations. I'm currently working on memory and that's not the most reliable ;)

I'd like to try the sauna more, I've heard that's the thing for afterwards and relaxing!

― Kv_nol (Kv_nol), Thursday, 20 October 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

Grimly, pls describe "vicious abdominal exercises". Detail welcome.

― Stephen X (Stephen X), Thursday, 20 October 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

autofellatio

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 20 October 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

OH, Grimly as in the person!

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 20 October 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

I say "om." If you're feeling self-conscious about making noise, how are you ever going to not feel silly doing strange shit with your body, I say.

Vicious abdominal exercise: lie on your belly, place your elbows shoulder width apart on the ground and bring your hands together (make a triangle). Clasp your hands, or put them flat on the floor. Rise up on your toes and hold for a minute. Try not to hunch your shoulders, and look straight ahead. Kickass.

― giboyeux (skowly), Thursday, 20 October 2005 15:54 (twenty years ago)

I wanna get one of those flexi-bar things they have on the shopping channel. They don't look like hard work at all, plus they could double up as a kendo stick thingie, and you could do all sorts of fancy moves.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 20 October 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

I had my gym assessment today. It was disappointing because I weigh slightly less, but my fitness has dropped from 'good' to 'average'. I would rather be fit than skinny. Also I am apparently 43% body fat. Is this humanly possible? I thought people were 80% water.

― isadora (isadora), Thursday, 20 October 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

you could be 123% of a person, I suppose.

― Jazz Funeral in the Chinese Quarter (nordicskilla), Thursday, 20 October 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)

Water is 20-30% fat. You thought all those refreshing glasses were good for you?

― Rhodia (Rhodia), Thursday, 20 October 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

more vicious abdominal stuff (although giboyeux pwns): find a smith press (or a door handle, or something to grab hold of) and a swiss ball. sit on the ball in front of the press with yr arse about 1/4 of the way down the ball. roll back, reach behind you and grab the bar of the press/the door handle/etc. bring your legs in to your chest while breathing in; extend them to just past 90 degrees while breathing out. do 10 reps, rest, then repeat.

or just do what ken says. from what i remember of my early teenage experiments from what i imagine, it's a similar technique.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 20 October 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

This thread is making me guilty! The last time I went to the gym, I sat in the sauna and that was IT because I couldn't actually be arsed doing any exercise. And that was about a month ago, probably.

I was going to go tonight but I opened a bottle of wine instead due to crap day at work. Then when it was suggested we went to the gym, I had to say "sorry, I can't because I've had a glass of wine and I don't want to stagger off the treadmill hahahaha" (I'd had about one sip and could easily have gone to the gym had I not been a lazy old git).

However this weekend I am going to play tennis or badminton at the gym if it kills me (which it probably will).

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 20 October 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

I started going to the Y a couple of weeks ago, I'm trying to stick to five days a week, 60mins give or take split 24-24-12 between the treadmill-stationary bike-elliptical machine. The treadmill kills my right knee and shin, but the stationary bike lets that stop hurting before I go to the elliptical, which usually kicks my ass.

I'm not doing any strength training right now, I want to build up my endurance first so I can work harder in cardio for a shorter period and then do strength training for the rest of the time I can spare.

I got soured on exercise (esp. running) playing football in school - there's something about wind sprints, running bleachers, squat thrusts (in full pads, evil evil shit) that takes the joy out of healthy living. But now I'm finding out that it's actually quite fun.

― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Thursday, 20 October 2005 23:39 (twenty years ago)

i haven't been in months, but am going in half an hour. if I don't come back, someone notify my family

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 21 October 2005 00:41 (twenty years ago)

What should I be doing if I want to lose my gut?

stop eating any sugar and only eat wheat flower and you'll loose weight. I'm serious. sugar especially is bad shit. and it's in EVERYTHING

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 21 October 2005 00:44 (twenty years ago)

they used to make us run up the bleachers in college whenever we had our aerobics class outdoors (even when it was cold out). as strong as my legs are, i could never get very far. i hated that shit.

― katrina vanden roffle (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 21 October 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

knock off the trans-fats too, if you can. it's hard cuz almost all packaged food has it.

― katrina vanden roffle (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 21 October 2005 00:47 (twenty years ago)

I saw some gruesome shin injuries when guys in cleats would have one leg slip through the metal bleachers. It was icky.

Some sugars are OK, right? I always see nutritional guide recommend fruits/berries and nuts in moderate quantities. Apples and strawberries for breakfast keep you full longer than a Krispy Kreme or three and don't kill you, etc..

― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Friday, 21 October 2005 00:51 (twenty years ago)

I have lost a bunch of weight, but I still have a pot belly :(

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Friday, 21 October 2005 02:03 (twenty years ago)

i did the precor for 30 minutes and lived

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 21 October 2005 02:39 (twenty years ago)

stop eating any sugar and only eat wheat flower and you'll loose weight. I'm serious. sugar especially is bad shit. and it's in EVERYTHING

LISTEN TO YOURSELF

― Kurt Russell in the Chinese Quarter (nordicskilla), Friday, 21 October 2005 03:47 (twenty years ago)

I have the day off, so I am going to attempt Morning Gym. I'll go at about nine. I don't know whether it will be completely deserted or full of mums who have just dropped the kidlets at nursery.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Friday, 21 October 2005 05:59 (twenty years ago)

there used to be this BEAUTIFUL bally's down by battery park and apparently no one knew it was there because it was always empty. whenever i went it was just me and some hardcore weightlifter dudes.

― katrina vanden roffle (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 21 October 2005 06:24 (twenty years ago)

Just started going to the gym again myself. Mainly lifting weights, with some cardio to start and finish with. I'm actually trying to add some weight, as I've always been a rather lean fellow. Feeling rather sore, but in a good way! I think changing my eating habits is going to be a lot harder than putting in the gym time.

― Mingus Dew (Mingus Dew), Friday, 21 October 2005 06:32 (twenty years ago)

I got fed up making excuses about not having time between wife/kids/booze/football(spectating, natch)/work/etc to possibly fit in time for stopping myself from dying and went and bought me one of these:

http://images.channeladvisor.com/Sell/SSProfiles/60000121/images/2/gy005.jpg

Building the thing up was more excercise than I could handle but I'm well into it now and am feeling the benefit after only two weeks. It's a struggle to keep the weights down and get out of the "no pain no gain" mentality as the last thing I want to do is build up.

I've also cut out most of the junk from my diet and have already started reversing my post-smoking weight gain.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 21 October 2005 06:57 (twenty years ago)

I didn't make it to the gym. Day off syndrome :)

― Mädchen (Madchen), Friday, 21 October 2005 08:09 (twenty years ago)

I've had that for four days, I really am going today though.

― Matt (Matt), Friday, 21 October 2005 08:10 (twenty years ago)

i'm about to go off for the 2nd gym day in 3 days. My arms may well fall off! Wish me luck.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:25 (twenty years ago)

We were supposed to be going tonight, but I seem to have accidentally opened a bottle of wine. A pattern seems to be emerging.

Last time I went to the gym (at the weekend) I ended up next to stick-thin BBC Scotland newsreader Jackie Bird, which made me feel like a particularly pudgy hippopotamus. Therein lies the dilemma. Feel fat ==> go to gym to get thin ==> feel fat next to thin people at the gym ===> stay and home and drink wine and eat cheese and remain fat. Bah.

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

Each of my dogs and I have all gained three pounds each. I would go to the gym a lot more if I could take them with me and put them on a treadmill.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

I went to the gym on Monday, but I was a bit hasty and overzealous in my dumbell lifting and I think I pulled something in my neck/back (and of course had no choice but to drink wine the last two nights). I think feel good enough to give it another shot tonight, but only safe things like the elliptical and weight machines.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 27 October 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

I haven't been for a week because I have a snuffly cold. I may start again tomorrow, or perhaps Monday. Monday is a good day for new beginnings.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 27 October 2005 20:25 (twenty years ago)

I ended up next to stick-thin BBC Scotland newsreader Jackie Bird

wow: over-made-up Scottish TV newsreader shereen nanjiani used to go to my old gym. the one that went bust.

i went tonight after work and was strangely knackered and sweaty (yet still devastatingly handsome, natch). now i have a sore lat. bugger.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 27 October 2005 20:26 (twenty years ago)

Last night I lifted 20 METRIC TONS (which isn't very much, when you break it down into wee chunks).

I've lost 12lbs in 3 weeks and I am in danger of dropping a waste size :-)

I know a bloke who wrote a song about Shereen Nanjiani.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

i'm going again tonight. oh yes. i'm going to make myself feel pain.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 14:21 (twenty years ago)

Gerry, what rhymes with Nanjiani?

― Stephen X (Stephen X), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

'Fan of', when sung in weedjie:

"Ah'm a big fan 'ay
Ah'm a big fan 'ay
Ah'm a big fan 'ay
...Shereen Nanjiani"

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

Classic.

― Stephen X (Stephen X), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 15:48 (twenty years ago)

you're big fan 'ay.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 16:43 (twenty years ago)


i'm getting conflicting messages from friends; i go 4 times a week, but just axed all cardio in favor of just weights because

a) i hate cardio
b) i dont want to lose weight, i want to tone

now someone is telling me will never build muscle if i don't do any cardio.

gym, you are confusing me.

― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

you'll lose layers of fat to see the muscle you build via cardio. you'll build muscle with weights regardless of cardio. granted, you'll be losing some fat with weight-lifting because your new muscles will be eating up some of yer calories & whatnot, but cardio is best for fat loss.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 22:14 (twenty years ago)


thanks, kelsey!

― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Thursday, 3 November 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

i dont want to lose weight, i want to tone

"toning" as thrown around when discussing fitness DOES NOT EXIST. Getting more defined = reducing body fat percentage. Period.

now someone is telling me will never build muscle if i don't do any cardio

This is crazy-talk. Lift hard, eat right, and REST properly and you will build muscle.

And fwiw, "doing cardio" sucks. Run. Box. Jump rope. Cycle. Swim. Your improved heart and lung fitness will allow you to work out harder and recover faster. But for the love of god don't "do cardio" [/rant]

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 3 November 2005 00:57 (twenty years ago)

i bet your muscles get musclier if you've "opened up the pores" a bit by doing some running or something, i dunno, makes sense to me at least

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 3 November 2005 02:00 (twenty years ago)

Well, you're supposed to warm up with brief (5-10 min), moderate cardio before doing weights. Mostly so you don't hurt yourself though.

"Cardio" is good for your cardiovascular system, but, yeah, obv it's also good for weight loss. Lifting weights, as far as I've read, is also very good for your cardiovascular system. But in a different way. As in weights is about Strength and running/biking/swimming/etc is about Endurance.

I ran for 40 minutes today with a 2 min hill walk in the middle! (I love the treadmills at my gym - so many lights and options! Hook me up to technology!) My endurance (keyword) is increasing. Then, in a freak hormonal fury, I bought a baguette and some cheese and olives on the way home. Then I ate a lot of it. And some chocolate. It was good. Tomorrow: lots of walking, salad.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Thursday, 3 November 2005 02:24 (twenty years ago)

Hey, I think I can do that super-heavy-abs thing while reading! It's the ideal exercise, obviously, although I might only get through about 2 paragraphs before collapsing. Still better than sit-ups.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 3 November 2005 02:46 (twenty years ago)

two questions for people who know more than me (ie everyone):

on the treadmill, should I be doing the 'hill' program (peaks and valleys with some steady bits at middle-incline) or no incline to build endurance/lose weight? I could go forever walking hard without getting winded, but my right knee and shin start to hurt and make me quit after 35 mins or so. (I then switch to the excercise bike for 25-30mins and finish with 10-15 on the elliptical machine)

numero dos:
What's a good, simple, healthy breakfast (preferably in bar-form)? I never have time to cook or eat anything in the mornings, and my only other options on the way to the job site are donuts or kolaches (both of which I'm trying to avoid). Are there healthy (and most importantly) filling fruit bars I should try?

― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Thursday, 3 November 2005 21:45 (twenty years ago)

http://register.eas.com/OA_MEDIA/images/products/myoplexlitertd.jpg

Unlike a lot of protein-type supplements, it's also got vitamins'n'minerals. Cappucino flavor rules.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 3 November 2005 22:00 (twenty years ago)

awesome, thanks

― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Thursday, 3 November 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

milo, it's good that you're going for over 40 minutes at a moderate rate - the idea is to get your heartrate into the "fat-burning zone" as they say. There are a couple schools of thought on it - but you can combine the schools! The first school is the one you're doing - moderate heart rate (btwn 60-75% of max), running/biking/ellipticalling away, good to throw in hills or go faster from time to time, change machines (with no break if possible), if only to not get bored, but also to vary the heartrate slightly in that above zone. Personally, the longer I'm running, once I'm past 25 minutes, the faster I want to go, so that by the time I'm near the end, my heartrate is highest (but still not too high) - as in, you build the intensity as much as you can without exiting that ideal so-called fat-burning zone. So, you're supposed to do that 3-4 times a week, they say.

The other school of thought is high-intensity training (HIIT). Which is bursts of superspeed combined with recovery. So, for example, you warm up for a few minutes, then sprint for 30 sec to a min, then calm down for 30 sec to a minute, repeat process anywhere from 5 to 15 cycles, moving up in speed/intensity each cycle. There are variations - it's all on the web if you want to look for it. It's brutal, but it's over fast - and you have to start off carefully (slow). I have a v. slight heart murmer that isn't too keen on too much HIIT, but I started slow and can handle it now.

So, to combine, you can still do the long cardio a few times a week and try out the HIIT once or twice a week, like after a lighter weights workout perhaps.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Friday, 4 November 2005 04:31 (twenty years ago)

xpost - looks like my image link got zapped - that EAS Myoplex Lite Ready-To-Drink for the curious...

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Friday, 4 November 2005 05:01 (twenty years ago)

Can I still drink it if I'm not curiosity-prone?

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 4 November 2005 06:20 (twenty years ago)

hehe - at your own risk!

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Friday, 4 November 2005 06:27 (twenty years ago)

rrrrobyn is right i think. the best for losing weight is that 60% thing where you're not going flat out, but for a looooong time.

but i think pumping it up is good too to build up your cardio capacity. but you get knackered a lot quicker and so not so good for burning energy.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 4 November 2005 14:04 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...
haha. i had a voucher (from JACKY CHAN!) for this gym in hong kong that gives you 8 days of free gymming which was perfect since i'm there for two weeks. however as soon as i stepped in i was there for an hour with them trying to talk me into getting a year's membership, and they kept reducing the price when i refused! it almost got to some offer that i couldn't refuse, but i had to because since i'm only going to be there for another 5 days in this coming year anything beyond HK$30 for the whole year would be ludicrous (i kind of wasn't honest in the first place about only being there on holiday and only wanted 8 days of free gym, it was totally my fault there). but it was crazy! I had to pretend that I am going to spend this afternoon checking out other gyms before making a decision, this still took 20 minutes of negotiation. fecking hell.

They gave me the 8 days pass in the end (in case i don't find a better gym elsewhere you see) but i don't know if i fancy going back there again! i'll have to let my muscles waste away for a while until i get back to the uk i think.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 07:47 (twenty years ago)

I guess it's only natural they'd give you the hard sell in a gym.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 07:54 (twenty years ago)

i always thought that they only try to give you hard-ons.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 08:03 (twenty years ago)

Dude, you totally have to keep going back. They're going to think you're this hard case they have to crack and will be super nice to you for your next 7 visits!

― marianna lcl (marianna lcl), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 08:40 (twenty years ago)

but i think pumping it up

Ew!

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 08:42 (twenty years ago)

My goodness, I've been good lately. I can do the plank for 45 seconds now and have got more used to feeling like a plank doing things with pissy little 4kg dumbells while surrounded by enormomen lifting girders.

I'm also doing this thing where you keep a constant speed on the treadmill for 20 minutes, but increase the incline to 10 for 30 seconds every couple of minutes. It's a knackerer! I have that good ache all over this morning. What have I become?

― Mädchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 09:53 (twenty years ago)

you've become ROCK!

doing things with pissy little 4kg dumbells

hey, i do lat raises with 5kg dumbells and they're bloody challenging after a bit. i've seen a lot of enormous blokes come hoving in, with muscles on their muscles, then do intricate exercises involving tiny little weights. it's very reassuring.

my PT (who i've not seen since april, erk) tells me it's all about technique: how you lift, not what you lift. certainly, i was massively impressed that, after having a nasty cold and not going to the gym for more than two weeks, i could start again and pick up (literally) where i left off.

with weights at least: i always find it takes longer to get back up to full running speed.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 11:17 (twenty years ago)

doing things with pissy little 4kg dumbells

hey, i do lat raises with 5kg dumbells and they're bloody challenging after a bit

I'm bigger than you though :)

― Mädchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 12:44 (twenty years ago)

that's not difficult :(

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 13:13 (twenty years ago)

Haven't been for a week and now it seems really difficult to start going again :-(

On the bright side, I'm now 16lbs to the good in my "get skinny" campaign.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 10:31 (twenty years ago)

I was meant to go last night, but I went to KFC instead :(

― Mädchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 10:59 (twenty years ago)

I've been slacking off. I need to cancel my Y membership and switch to 24 Hour Fitness. The Y is just too crowded at night and closes too early.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

My tech guy got me back in the gym; we're doing two a weeks in an especially grueling fashion with no rest. Ten minute run then three sets of incline chest press superset with lat pulldowns; four sets of overhead tricep extension (seated in a machine) superset with seated row (two neutral grip, two pronated; three sets of seated shoulder raises superset with sled leg press; three sets of roman chair lower back raises superset with free weight shoulder raises; finishing with three sets of lateral shoulder raises/bicep curls superset with seated pec fly/rear delt. We get that done in just under an hour, then I feel like I'm gonna puke. We're working in a day of running, hopefully this week. Some progress has been made.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 07:04 (twenty years ago)

I'm good with the pushing myself on the lifting and I'm sorta okay on the eating; my problem is the rest. As you can see.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 07:06 (twenty years ago)

gaah, super-setting. hoo. it's a while since my PT had me doing that. thank fuck. these days it's all what he calls "big exercises, wee man".

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 12:45 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...
I have to start. I'm up to 225 lbs. I may be getting a gym membership as a Christmas gift this weekend, but if I don't, I'll be starting Monday anyway.

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 22 December 2005 06:02 (twenty years ago)

oh dear! i haven't been for like 6 weeks now. i am a little bit more wobbly than i was 6 weeks ago. i fear i'll be one of the january gym mob, it feels so dirty.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 22 December 2005 10:54 (twenty years ago)

I've been slacking for about the same amount of time. It's been fun fattening up, but I was planning on startin up again next week. I forgot that EVERYBODY will be doing this though, fuck.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 22 December 2005 15:37 (twenty years ago)

why are extremely paunchy, hair-covered old men drawn to public pools like moths to a flame?

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 22 December 2005 15:43 (twenty years ago)

i have never ever been to a gym.

xpost: the young boys

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 22 December 2005 15:44 (twenty years ago)

I have a bit of a tummy and I have lost my gym card and there are about twelve kilos of chocolates sitting by my desk plus a packet of wotsits.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 22 December 2005 15:53 (twenty years ago)

i'm sure the staff can look up your membership. then you can attack the chocolates without guilt!

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 22 December 2005 15:56 (twenty years ago)

They want to charge me a tenner for a new one :(

― Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 22 December 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

that's outrageous. clearly your duty is to stay put and eat candy, then.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 22 December 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

Are you all American?

Reading this cracked me up. I lived in the States for awhile and I noticed that few people use the change rooms. A female friend of mine said that she went on a date with an American guy who had come from the Gym and hadn't showered because his house was too far away and he never uses the changeroom. So he went out with her smelling like shit.

I guess the nudity thing is a big worry in the States. You don't even shower when you're at school so I guess you don't shower when you get a gym membership. You call your dangly bits your "privates" so it shocks me that there are people out there who don't pick up on the culture. I guess my first week in the states I may have been the bloke who strikes up convos with people in the change room but I'm not stupid, and i learned pretty fast that it's a no no. THe fact that there are people out there who just dont get it and keep doing it is pretty hilarious. It's not fun to have a conversation with someone who 's voice is breaking and face is red and nervously trying to cover up...which only draws more attention to the dangly bits.

Don't ever go to a gym "down under" if you don't like talkative people. We're a sports mad country and we have a bit of a change room "culture" wich includes really dirty jokes, dick tricks (see puppetry of the penis) and good natured bullying and prank playing. So consider yourselves warned.

― The Aussie Guy, Monday, 24 April 2006 22:47 (nineteen years ago)

Good to know, buddy!

― milo z (mlp), Monday, 24 April 2006 22:59 (nineteen years ago)

and people wonder why i have zero interest in visiting australia.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 24 April 2006 23:07 (nineteen years ago)

oh for the love of crimony xposts

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Monday, 24 April 2006 23:07 (nineteen years ago)

Actually Lauren I don't think the girls have it as bad. They're a lot shyer. Shire. They're more shy. I guess.

Why 0 interest in going to Australia? It's just like America exept less people and less guns. And our beaches don't have syringes and dirty diapers burried in the sand.

― The Aussie Guy, Monday, 24 April 2006 23:12 (nineteen years ago)

apparently you've not visited st kilda beach

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Monday, 24 April 2006 23:14 (nineteen years ago)

Where's the fun with fewer guns?

― milo z (mlp), Monday, 24 April 2006 23:15 (nineteen years ago)

After a muscle-frying three hour weight and cardio workout, the last thing I want is some unknown person commenting on my dangly bits, no offense.

― Grey, Ian (IanBrooklyn), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 04:16 (nineteen years ago)

Why 0 interest in going to Australia? It's just like America exept less people and less guns. And our beaches don't have syringes and dirty diapers burried in the sand.

less people, less guns, more exposed penises

time to book my ticket

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 10:25 (nineteen years ago)

What the hell did he even google to come and post that?

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

(see puppetry of the penis)
(see puppetry of the penis)
(see puppetry of the penis)
(see puppetry of the penis)
(see puppetry of the penis)
(see puppetry of the penis)
(see puppetry of the penis)

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 14:08 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...
i've been going to the gym a bit more lately, it's been good. worn myself out last night doing the bike and the treadmill and lifty things.

only saw 2 penises :( (one was mine)

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:04 (nineteen years ago)

Were they engaged in puppetry?

― Bnad (Bnad), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

not really. but have you ever played the game "Artillery" on the computer? it was a bit like that.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...
ever gotten contact dermatitis from gym equipment? is it because of the gym-user residue left on them or an allergic reaction to the materials you come into contact with? purely hypothetical question, of course.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 14:01 (nineteen years ago)

Nope, but I have picked up a veruca, bleurgh. I wear socks for yoga and pilates these days.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

"Residue left on them"

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

i've never had a reaction, but i could easily see it happening. i would think that the problem might be the cleaning solvents (which seem to be industrial strength) people are encourged to wipe the equipment down with after use, rather than "residue" (gross as it is) from other people.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

my skin gets really irritated after the gym. it took me a while to figure it out, but i think part of it is wiping off sweat with the towels they provide, which are probably laundered with industrial strength detergent. laurent's point above about the cleaning solvent makes sense to me to.

― robots in love (robotsinlove), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

i would think that the problem might be the cleaning solvents (which seem to be industrial strength) people are encourged to wipe the equipment down with after use

yes, this is likely otm

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 18:29 (nineteen years ago)

I stopped going to the gym and just work out at home now, btw, to avoid the people who want to have naked conversations.

― Allyzay doesnt get into the monkeys or vindications (allyzay), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

I'm down to 3 times a week at the gym. Not good. I go running outside Wednesdays after work (which is a little crazy on days like today when it's -35 C with the wind chill) to make up for it so it's not too bad. I've put about 15 lbs back on since September, but I'm not too concerned. I ran 10k non-stop last Wednesday and was able to get out of bed the next day, so who cares? At my gym they have antiseptic wipes for wiping down equipment after use, and in 3 years of going there I've never had a problem. I haven't even gotten athlete's foot and I walk around and shower in bare feet. Haven't seen any guys shaving their chests lately.

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

maybe i have ebola! http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/profiles/35/246535/656435208cd484d0_p.jpg

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

i've been going to the gym again, trying to shoot for every other day although tonight after class i was just too tired. but i'll work out tomorrow night, pinkyswear. my motivation is that i'm going to brazil in four months and i want to look hot sipping my caipirinhas on the beach.

― tuesdays with morey amsterdam (get bent), Thursday, 8 February 2007 04:40 (nineteen years ago)

it must be a sad comment on my life that going to the gym is the highlight of my day.

― ryan (ryan), Thursday, 8 February 2007 06:37 (nineteen years ago)

Does anyone actually use the sprays though? I've never seen them! I just wipe down cardio equipment with regular paper if necessary - and I never wipe any weights equipment! I do however exercise in one of those HAZCHEM white boiler suits and gas mask.

Never had a reaction from the lovely gym towels which I love and want to steal each time I go there o they are better and fluffier than mine :(

― Bhumibol Adulyadej (Lucretia My Reflection), Thursday, 8 February 2007 09:28 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...
So, I have made the decision to run the Race For Life this September so I have started RUNNING pooh er. It is a 5k and thus a FUN RUN though frankly anyone who thinks this lark is "fun" is a freak who lives on Fig Newtons and runs the Himalayas for a jolly. Fuxx0rs.

ANYWAY, at the moment I am just building up to be able to do 5k in time increments, doing an extra minute each week - it is not so bad! And I do 15 minutes on the elliptical wotsit or rower first to "warm up". it is still a bit of a chiz though because it severely cuts into BEEFCAKE TIME, and there's something soul destroying about going to the gym more than 3 times a week.

― Sarah, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 13:49 (eighteen years ago)

I am working on servicing all my fitness needs @ home. I have a bike (used sporadically), I recently purchased a bench (still unopened), & plan on getting dumbbells, & possibly those push-up handle things, as my wrists get FUCKED UP trying to do push-ups on my apt's wood floors. Tho I've done maybe 2 push-ups total.

― David R., Tuesday, 27 February 2007 14:30 (eighteen years ago)

Last week was my first week Going to the Gym. I have big athletic plans for myself this summer and so must become lithe and supple. And face-crushingly strong. I would never have been able to afford it if not for the deal I get thru work, it's like 17 pounds a month.

I noticed a guy in there who's in good shape, possibly a bit of a spare tire but who's counting, and he stays there for a GOOD long while, doing the most minimal, subtle exercises I have ever seen. One time he got a bungee thing and looped one end around a workout bench and the other end around his foot. Then he stood about three feet away, just enough for the bungee to stretch, and moved his foot back and forth, about three inches each time, for about 30 seconds, and stopped! Then he went over to the floor mat and sort of flopped one leg across himself and raised it by a few inches, again for about 30 seconds. Then he walked up to some portable steps, got on the top step, and went up on his tip-toes about 10 times and got down. What is he doing?? It's like art. Or he is in such fantastically good shape that now is is focusing on specific bundles of fiber within certain muscles.

The men in my gym are like pathologically averse to talking to each other. One time a dude like BRUSHED my arm with the sleeve of his shirt and was like "SORRY, SORRY."

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 14:48 (eighteen years ago)

Oh yeah, I forgot, I can totally see why people (Ally? Dave?) have home gyms cause it is a bunch of rrrgh - changing, putting your old stinky clothes in a plastic bag so that they don't stink up the subway, putting the plastic bag into your backpack, putting your wet towel in there too, getting home and unfolding it so it can dry and not get moldy... what a f*ckin faff.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 14:52 (eighteen years ago)

the dudes at my gym are the polar opposite, either elderly conversational drones or chatty gay guys

― m coleman, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 14:53 (eighteen years ago)

This is a gym just for employees of the place I work so it may be different that way. Plus the dressing room is about the size of a New York bathroom so there's already a kind of "Huis Clos" feeling in there.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 14:55 (eighteen years ago)

Hahaha! What nonsense is this "clothes in a plastic bag" tomfoolery! A bit of mould never hurt anyone.

Tracey, that dude was prbly doing CALF RAISES! http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Gastrocnemius/DBSingleLegCalfRaise.html

I have never bothered doing them but I think I have fairly hefty calves anyway which might hopefully be useful if I ever manage to break out into an actual run instead of my 8km/p/h plod!

― Sarah, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 14:56 (eighteen years ago)

i have to keep my eyes on my own machine. i was feeling proud of myself last night on the treadmill, then a quick glance left and right revealed the lady and gent on either side of me going strong at 9 and 8/mph, respectively, while i was huffing away at 4.5 or 5.

― lauren, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:01 (eighteen years ago)

The treadmill totally freaked me out!! I noticed everyone else wasn't holding on to the bar, so I was like, well I guess I shouldn't either, but then I got the PHj34R like I was going to fly off one side of it. But of course I didn't. I did very nearly fall backwards, though, once I got off it.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:06 (eighteen years ago)

i have resigned myself to only doing bikram yoga. although I really want to try this out-

http://www.aerialyoga.com/

― Yerac, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:06 (eighteen years ago)

Starry I sweat a LOT; I can't believe the fumes wouldn't flatten half the subway car. Actually wait that's a brilliant idea.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:07 (eighteen years ago)

I look straight ahead on the machine, it would be too humiliating to observe that the overweight woman next to me is doing a higher degree of difficulty workout

― m coleman, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:08 (eighteen years ago)

i have the flying-off-the-treadmill fear (complete with looney tunes windmilling arms) as well, but out of all of my various phobias/neuroses i think that this is one of the least likely to happen. i hope.

― lauren, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:09 (eighteen years ago)

I have been going swimming at a local gym/pool lately and some of the behaviour is seriously weird...eg last week, some guy leaves the pool and then TAKES OFF HIS SWIMMING SHORTS specially to come in to the shower.

Everyone is then forced to turn and face the wall instead of just showering happily in their swimming trunks. I mean for fuck sake "YOU ARE THE POOL....I KNOW A WAY YOU DON'T HAVE TO SHOWER NAKED YOU DISGUSTING FREAK".

To top this off he also had his 3 kids showering naked with him. I mean, wouldn't you think people are less inclined to behave this way nowadays? Whatever about himself, the kids too. So fucking weird, I honestly felt like saying "put on some fucking shorts will you".

― Ronan, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:10 (eighteen years ago)

ah yes, the great 4.5-5.5 continuum. 2 days ago, i had to suffer the indignity of dude grabbing machine next to me while i walked down at 3 or something, and wanted to be like 'b-but behold my incline!' it's sorta hard to read the paper while running, though.

What is he doing??

stretching?

― gabbneb, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:11 (eighteen years ago)

oops "you are AT the pool". he was not the pool.

― Ronan, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:11 (eighteen years ago)

Then he stood about three feet away, just enough for the bungee to stretch, and moved his foot back and forth, about three inches each time, for about 30 seconds, and stopped!

actually, that sounds like Pilates. It get's hard but it's all about stretching and creating long, lean muscles.

― dan selzer, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:12 (eighteen years ago)

All right, it just seems strange that he needs to be at this dank gym in order to do this.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:17 (eighteen years ago)

it also sounds like it might be a physical therapy routine.

― lauren, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:17 (eighteen years ago)

In line with Ronan's post about odd locker room behavior . . .

My gym has a counter with hairdryers attached to it. I once saw a recently showered middle aged woman use one of the dryers on her completely au natural and rather massive bush. She did this with one leg propped up on the couter so as to allow for better aim. You could see everything. EVERYTHING! It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THAT? WHY?

― ENBB, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:22 (eighteen years ago)

Okay, other women showering naked wouldn't freak me out necessarily, but the BLOW-DRYER THING, LIKE WO.

― Laurel, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:24 (eighteen years ago)

Wow.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:25 (eighteen years ago)

seen but not believed at my gym: blow-dryer used on bald head and naked hairy butt (not the same guy)

― m coleman, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:25 (eighteen years ago)

I sweat loads on the treadmill as well - it is worse when I am cooling down and suddenly I realise I have become odourous :( Perhaps it is the fact I have been wearing quite a heavy cotton t-shirt. It's not very pleasant and quite embarassing.

― Sarah, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:26 (eighteen years ago)

xpost ARGH blow drying of er, "bits" has never happened at my gym and dere jeebus never let it happen!

― Sarah, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:27 (eighteen years ago)

At the Boston Y (across from Northeastern University) they very kindly had a small exercise room adjacent to the men's locker room in the basement, apparently for those older guys who couldn't brave a walk up to the first floor

mine has one of these too! wtf? why is there a second gym in the locker room? i guess maybe yes, it is for the older dudes who want to have a club gym free of the 20 and 30-somethings?

― gabbneb, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:30 (eighteen years ago)

Ronan, what do you do once it's time to get out of the shower? Do you do some kind of towel-over-shorts, take-off-shorts, put-on-underwear, take-off-towel move?

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:34 (eighteen years ago)

No I walk over to my clothes and bag and just drop the towel and get ready! It's different when changing, this is a communal shower with 5 taps, not very big by any means...and as I said, why take off your shorts to use it? Wash your penis in your own home dude...

― Ronan, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

Your anti-nudity stance saddens me, Ronan.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:39 (eighteen years ago)

So, I have made the decision to run the Race For Life this September

excellent, i'm doing the revlon run/walk for women in may. i'll probably do more "brisk walking" than running, but i really enjoy these sorts of things and of course good cause etc.

― get bent, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:14 (eighteen years ago)

no one should be so freaked out about nudity. unless the nudity is an inch away from you and unwelcomed, i guess. the xtreme blow drying of bush with leg up is a bit hilarious though, whoa

i've been going to the gym every morning lately except for sat/sun, and it is good, mostly b/c it makes me leave the house and see the world and not be a crazy person. i do alt days of weights + high-intensity cardio, longer cardio, yoga. i would swim but am so allergic to that pool :( this is countered by gym having a lot of morning sunlight :)

cannot wait for bike-riding season

― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:20 (eighteen years ago)

"see the world"? Do they have CNN on the TVs there or something?

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:23 (eighteen years ago)

To top this off he also had his 3 kids showering naked with him. I mean, wouldn't you think people are less inclined to behave this way nowadays?


Go to Japan. It's completely normal to bathe naked together with your kids/others. Me? I don't see anything particularly wrong with it. Just differences in culture and I'm comfortable to show my naked body to my child.

― nathalie, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:23 (eighteen years ago)

frankly, in my days of public pool-going i was shocked that anyone used the showers, naked or not. they were so disgusting! i'd just pull my hair back, throw some old clothes on, and try to get home as quickly as possible for a bath.

― lauren, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:27 (eighteen years ago)

But would you be happy with a whole bunch of strange men seeing your child naked, is what I think Ronan is getting at?

― ailsa, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:29 (eighteen years ago)

I hate the communal changing areas of our gym. Everyone else is so fit and toned and struts around drying themselves off in their underwear looking stunning and I'm wobbling away trying to get changed under an over-sized towel like a ten-year-old on the beach.

― ailsa, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:30 (eighteen years ago)

i never shower at the gym. when i'm done working out i just wanna get the hell out of there. i always peek into the other girls' lockers and see that they've got a whole extra set of toiletries in there (shampoo, hair brush, deodorant, et al) solely for gym use. my m.o. is to pack a gym bag with whatever couple of things will make me look/feel/smell the least gross, and shower at home later in comfort and privacy and my own personal tile gunk.

― get bent, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:34 (eighteen years ago)

to be fair, we share a locker room with the girls' swim team and i can totally understand them not wanting to stink like chlorine all day.

― get bent, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:37 (eighteen years ago)

Oh it's not so bad really! I think it is funny that the fit people have to face the sight of me happily waddling around and larffing at their fake tanned tummies. Less fake tan people, really! And no-one is really paying much attention anyway - or more realisitcally, if they DO it's only for two seconds whilst they are rushing to get changed themselves.

Not showering after the gym is gross unless you live really nearby! And for me it's a definite, I love having a shower afterwards. Of course, nice posh gym is CLEAN which is more than I can say for student gym.

I have seperate shampoo, hairbrush, deoderant etc for gym...

― Sarah, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:37 (eighteen years ago)

worth a clarification...this changing room/shower is only for the pool section...if it was a gym I could understand more...you're sweating and dirty maybe. but having just swam in the pool I still don't get why he'd take off the trunks.

and yeah, also a bit strange in this day and age that he'd want other people seeing his kids naked. maybe he's to be praised for not being paranoid...but I don't think so, I actually think he probably thought "ah now I don't have to bathe them on bath night"

― Ronan, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:38 (eighteen years ago)

BUT THAT'S BRILLIANT! EVERYBODY IN THE POOL!

― Laurel, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:39 (eighteen years ago)

Not showering after the gym is gross unless you live really nearby!

ha, i do!

― get bent, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:40 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I have separate shampoo and shower gel and everything for the gym too. The showers are much better than my shower at home too. But my shower at home is not filled with toned fit women (much to my husband's disappointment, yes). At least we have separate shower cubicles, even though the locker and changing area is communal.

I've no idea what goes on in the men's bit.

― ailsa, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

my gym also has individual shower stalls, which i admit i prefer for having a proper shower in, as that takes time and i wouldn't want it to be, like, a show - but i usually just have a quick rinse, soap and rinse again, so no big deal - i'm pretty pro acceptance of nakedness, but this will come as no surprise prob. but obv everyone has dif levels of privacy. and dif gyms have dif energies about them - my gym is pretty calm and accepting.

"see the world"? Do they have CNN on the TVs there or something?

haha, they do have cbc newsworld! what i mean though is, uh, leaving my apartment (b/c i work at home mostly - it is sometimes not to easy to get out during daytime hrs, esp in winter)

― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

I ran into a co-worker of mine in the locker last night, we had a chat as he was shaving. I don't have a problem with it, but I can't picture bringing a razor + shaving cream to the gym and shaving at 8 pm. Do you have to shave just cause you took a shower? Can't it wait until the morning? Maybe he's one of those "shower at night" dudes, so it was his only chance.

― Jordan, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

see, i love all these individual quotidien weird things that people do b/c it just means that most people are in fact weird even if they don't notice it - shaving dude is probably thinking he's all normal and kind of freaked out by, like, guy in the corner who's spending a lot of time drying his ears, and that guy can't deal with the guy who's blowing his nose in the shower. not saying some of these things aren't gross, but it's pretty fascinating to see how public and private cross over.

― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:48 (eighteen years ago)

the gym is, kind of by definition, a pretty gross, base, weird place

― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

but at the same time, not

― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:50 (eighteen years ago)

elderly conversational drones

i'm looking forward to this period in life

― deej, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:54 (eighteen years ago)

some of the cardio machines at my gym will tell you how many watts of energy you've generated -- it sucks that this can't be siphoned off into some kind of alternative fuel/electricity source.

― get bent, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:54 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, we were in the locker room, not a locker. That would be pretty weird.

― Jordan, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:54 (eighteen years ago)

i miss having a posh gym with a really nice shower/changing/locker area. my current gym has really, really good equipment and an amazing array of classes but a very small locker room and not particularly nice showers.

― lauren, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:57 (eighteen years ago)

i think this is part of why it would be neat to marry a genius engineer who somehow has free time for hobbies - so i say things like this and then he makes it so (whereas i would read some books and internets, try some things, electroshock myself, have a tantrum). the energy could, at the very least, run a radio, for sure.
xpost to jb

― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

Maybe next time I go I'll try sticking a radio up my butt.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 17:07 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, speaking of which...

GYM MUSIC. DESTROYYYYYYYYYYY

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 17:07 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, oh! Destroy TVs which show 2 news channels, one 'extreme sports' channel and the other one has mid-afternoon MTV Base which gets shitter by the day.

SEARCH however going to the gym when something is on wot you want to watch which is inevitably the Simpsons or a Friends repeat if you go to the gym early enough but then you have to time it very carefully so you aren't stuck on treadmill for EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND ARGHHHHH.

― Sarah, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 17:09 (eighteen years ago)

i heard donnie iris' "ah leah" at the gym last week!

― get bent, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 17:11 (eighteen years ago)

"I got love for you, if you were born in tha EIGH-TEES, tha EIGH-TEES"

Visions of a giant, silver six-shooter appearing in my hand from nowhere, blasting the speakers off the wall in a shower of deafening sparks, a shocked room, one final bit of speaker clangs to the floor, I press the button on the machine and start running again, with a radio in my butt

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 17:13 (eighteen years ago)

That was beautiful, Tracer.

― Andi Mags, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 19:43 (eighteen years ago)

there is a type of man who refuses to use a towel to dry himself: at my gym, there is a certain class of guys in their late 30s to early 50s with thinning, brushed back hair, burly chests, maybe 10 pounds overweight, always checking their blackberry in between reps, decent-sized cocks who like to stand in the middle of the lockerroom and dry their entire bodies with hairdryers. i swear to god it takes them 15 minutes, and there's this very particular grimace/face of total contentment when they blowdry their taint. it's totally their favorite part of the day, you can tell.

my gym is incredibly posh -- i once overheard four older guys discussing the HEATED FLOORS that they had just had installed in their respective central park-overlooking apartments.

there is also a totally fit guy who has b-cup breasts. like straight-up titties. another man has no cock as far as i can tell -- just a scrotum that looks like a shriveled change purse. he spends a lot of time brushing his hair.

but probably the weirdest guy in the gym is this dude who never showers or changes. i wanted to befriend him for a while because i saw him everyday, and he and i had a similar weight-lifting routine. one day i was doing squats and my knees buckled and he helped me out, and so i thought maybe he could spot me in the future or something, but he totally avoids me now. he wears loafers everyday with black socks, green plaid shorts and a sweater. and i have realized that it's because he doesn't change clothes -- he just takes off his slacks, under which he has his plaid shorts, and heads in for his routine. i am also convinced that sometime in the late '70s, he killed a girl. maybe it was drunk driving or real murder, but he did it. call it a hunch. i've been tempted lately to walk up to him and said, "you thought no one knew, didn't you?" but then i realize that maybe i'm just pouting because he didn't want to be my friend. i guess it's up to the police to decide now.

― YGS, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 20:14 (eighteen years ago)

haha!

― Jordan, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 20:24 (eighteen years ago)

it's weird writing a post knowing that anthony e. will probably masturbate to it.

― YGS, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 20:36 (eighteen years ago)

But the fun is guessing which part he enjoys the most! (I say it's the scrotal change purse.)

― David R., Tuesday, 27 February 2007 20:45 (eighteen years ago)

do i go tonight? y/n. i need your final answers within the next 25 minutes.

― get bent, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 03:36 (eighteen years ago)

oh the hell with it, i'll go tomorrow morning.

― get bent, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 03:44 (eighteen years ago)

rrrobyn otm. get over being naked, people

― gbx, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 03:57 (eighteen years ago)

Well, it's more about getting over other people being naked, but yes.

― Laurel, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 04:09 (eighteen years ago)

i guess they don't really bother me

― gbx, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 04:24 (eighteen years ago)

i shower in my underpants like elmer fudd

― the sir weeze, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 04:39 (eighteen years ago)

i shower porky-pig style

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 10:51 (eighteen years ago)

I'm going at the end of the day and I'll be watching everyone around me w/all kinds of new insight!

― m coleman, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 11:27 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

man acquitted of assault on gym grunter

― mookieproof, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 17:49 (seventeen years ago)

oh man, they both sound so obnoxious.

today i ran 2 miles further than my previous longest run just because the area was so pretty. it is unfortunate that a gym isn't good enough, you don't get good weather and beautiful settings everywhere.

― Maria, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 18:10 (seventeen years ago)

one month passes...

guys i really don't like going to the gym. and i'm always wondering about these people who go to the gym alll the time. i mean surely there are other things to do

― Surmounter, Thursday, 3 July 2008 15:31 (seventeen years ago)

I've got a gym membership for the first time. It's on the college campus I work at, but its a new facility and isn't gross or anything. And I don't even have access to the VIP Locker Room ("The Rothwell Club"). There's a swimsuit water extraction machine in the locker room. This is something new to me. My biggest complaint is that the staff are all total assholes. And the disco lighting, incessant nu-rock (College!) and rows of TV's are pretty distracting. I try to go three times a week, but rarely make it that much. I get a pretty good staff discount.

― Trip Maker, Thursday, 3 July 2008 16:27 (seventeen years ago)

My university's gym is plagued by old men who never seem to do anything but stand around in the locker room naked.

― Dan I., Thursday, 3 July 2008 16:32 (seventeen years ago)

Oh somebody already mentioned that! I guess it's a universal thing.

― Dan I., Thursday, 3 July 2008 16:33 (seventeen years ago)

I had an argument with the staff in my pool last night!

Not really their fault but the place seems to treat actual swimmers like crap, guess we don't bring in enough cash.

― Jarlrmai, Friday, 4 July 2008 10:17 (seventeen years ago)

I get free membership to the public swimming pools at my adjoining gym, but it's so frustrating having to swim there. It's a fairly large indoor pool but they seem to only ever have one swimming lane open at a time. The rest of the pool is constantly being taken up by the muckabout crowd, the other half to teach three kids how to swim. And on top of this a full grown man was being taught how to swim with buoyancy aids and everything IN THE FUCKING SWIMMING LANE. So there's all these people competently crawling past this poor bloke who's floating in the water and being condescended to by his instructor while everyone swears at him to get out the way.

― the next grozart, Friday, 4 July 2008 11:07 (seventeen years ago)

My pool have over the last 3 months

Extended lessons to 7:30PM eating into swimmers times
Not put any lanes in on the days they claim lanes are available
Take lanes out whenever they feel
Removed all time tables for the pool and not replaced them so you can't complain about what they do because "we have no time tables"
Putting lanes in for the Scouts who start at 8 at 7:45 dumping them infront of me.

So fuck you, Park Pool Ormskirk.

― Jarlrmai, Friday, 4 July 2008 11:38 (seventeen years ago)

"And on top of this a full grown man was being taught how to swim with buoyancy aids and everything IN THE FUCKING SWIMMING LANE"

my pool also do this, I have no idea how it's arranged I see no list of prices for individual lessons my guess is the instructors get the clients and as they know the pool staff they get a cheeky lane in for it.

― Jarlrmai, Friday, 4 July 2008 11:49 (seventeen years ago)

six months pass...

So I kinda go to the gym on the reg now and I'm drinkin smoothies and I bought the gallon drum of whey powder and shit. What other steps are required to make this into a lifestyle choice, and how can I avoid them?

I want to be healthy, not one of those dudes that casually mentions muscle groups in conversation.

― HOOS GRAB IT INSTEENLY (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Sunday, 4 January 2009 17:18 (seventeen years ago)

Like should I just make sure I get a healthy weekly ration of cheetos and stoner metal or what

― HOOS GRAB IT INSTEENLY (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Sunday, 4 January 2009 21:39 (seventeen years ago)

bueller

― stop HOOSing a boring tuna (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:26 (seventeen years ago)

hoos, i think you may just have accept yourself as a dude with a healthy lifestyle and realize that exercise does not somehow turns you into a meathead?

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:33 (seventeen years ago)

I think taking the whey protein is a step too far.

― redmond, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:35 (seventeen years ago)

by what standard

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:35 (seventeen years ago)

Too much effort put into it, not to mention that it tastes awful if not prepared just right. Also, the consumption of whey generally results in the bulky look I usually associate with meatheads.

― redmond, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:37 (seventeen years ago)

yeah but HOOS isn't a meathead so wtf

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:39 (seventeen years ago)

He's worried about turning into one.

― redmond, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:40 (seventeen years ago)

that is some bizarro transitive property shit, just sayin

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:41 (seventeen years ago)

being healthy is great - it makes u feel good and gives u a fun little project to work on - just try not to talk abt it it too much

― jihad¯\㋡/¯ (ice cr?m), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:42 (seventeen years ago)

i would advise against tank tops and powerlifting belts

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:43 (seventeen years ago)

i could see hoos as a yoga dude tbh honest

― jihad¯\㋡/¯ (ice cr?m), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:46 (seventeen years ago)

yoga is great btw just to be clear

― jihad¯\㋡/¯ (ice cr?m), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:46 (seventeen years ago)

i need to get on this tbh

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:50 (seventeen years ago)

ya jho i take that as a compliment + thx but i have tried yoga but lack gr8 flexibility due to premature birth issues

― stop HOOSing a boring tuna (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:51 (seventeen years ago)

ive been good abt the exercise part for a while and now im trying to bring the eating healthy piece on board

― jihad¯\㋡/¯ (ice cr?m), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:52 (seventeen years ago)

lack gr8 flexibility due to premature birth issues

wait what is this now?

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:53 (seventeen years ago)

i was premie too, also not very flexible

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:54 (seventeen years ago)

u dont need great flexibility to do yoga - but obv i dont know yr particular physiological situation

― jihad¯\㋡/¯ (ice cr?m), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:54 (seventeen years ago)

yah elmo i was born 3 months premie. november due date, came out in august.

― stop HOOSing a boring tuna (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:55 (seventeen years ago)

I'm fine with most things but still have a minor limp and my right heel doesn't like being on the ground

― stop HOOSing a boring tuna (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 03:59 (seventeen years ago)

how is this related to flexibility? i have never thought of linking those in a causal relationship. i was 7 weeks premie, btw.

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 04:00 (seventeen years ago)

Well I say "flexibility" I mean mainly that I don't have the full range of leg motion I'd like.

― stop HOOSing a boring tuna (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 04:02 (seventeen years ago)

I've never taken a yoga class just followed along w/my gf's DVDs. I'm sure if I took a class any issues I might have would be corrected.

― stop HOOSing a boring tuna (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 04:03 (seventeen years ago)

ok -- i have some minor joint issues and i had hoped for a second you had uncovered their secret origin? but also maybe not.

― marlon brando baby tiger (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 04:07 (seventeen years ago)

I take whey protein and am not a meathead.

hoos turn to the 'your routine at the gym' thread for tips (currently posting via iphone so cannot c+p linx)

― Did you inverted dicks whinge about shit (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 04:11 (seventeen years ago)

three years pass...

i just joined a gym. now what do i do?

― kneel aurmstrong (harbl), Saturday, 7 July 2012 21:28 (thirteen years ago)

cancel membership

― am0n, Saturday, 7 July 2012 21:35 (thirteen years ago)

learn to ignore the stench of death

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 7 July 2012 21:35 (thirteen years ago)

gonna get sw0le

― kneel aurmstrong (harbl), Saturday, 7 July 2012 21:37 (thirteen years ago)

Rule #2: Don't wear tight clothes that show your package. Conversely, don't wear short shorts.
Feel like rocking the electric blue spandex unitard? The bike shorts without the bike? Think again. Girls don't want to get to know your package before they get to know you. Besides, those form-fitting get-ups are a little Mr. Universe creepy, and chances are you aren't Governor Schwarzenegger. On the other end of the spectrum, short shorts elicit the same reaction. Plus, there's fear of wardrobe malfunction on sitting down for bicep work. They call 'em Daisy Dukes for a reason; short shorts are for girls.
The Fix: Work out in loose fitting gym shorts or pants and a cool t-shirt or tank. If you're cut in just the right places, it's evident without the Lycra enhancement.

― buzza, Saturday, 7 July 2012 21:37 (thirteen years ago)

Certainly ASS TO ASS is a lot more tolerable than NUTS TO BUTTS as it sometimes gets when there's a traffic jam waiting for the showers in the morning at my gym!

― order some disorder, Sunday, March 30, 2003 9:02 PM

― am0n, Saturday, 7 July 2012 21:46 (thirteen years ago)

two months pass...

i love going to the gym. i am really strong now.

― horribl ecreature (harbl), Monday, 17 September 2012 01:22 (thirteen years ago)

post your PRs + shirtless pic

― dylannn, Monday, 17 September 2012 03:06 (thirteen years ago)

and a poorly shot video of you doing hang cleans

― dylannn, Monday, 17 September 2012 03:07 (thirteen years ago)

hee

― lag∞n, Monday, 17 September 2012 03:09 (thirteen years ago)


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