My Fitness Club

I joined a fitness club a while back. I will now take a moment to tell you about the club as viewed through my eyes...

I'm not sure if the fitness club I joined is typical, but I'm not yet sixty years old and still I'm always the oldest guys in the place. Sometimes I'm the oldest guy in the joint by twenty years. I've been there when I know no one has yet reached his or her thirtieth birthday, that is, no one but me.

I would say that about two thirds of the guys in the place spend almost all their time in the weight lifting section of the club as opposed to the treadmills and elipticals. As for the women, I think it's just the opposite. I'd guess that two thirds do not bother with the weight lifting equipment but rather spend their time on the "cardio" equipment. That's where I am most of the time too, on the cardio equipment.

I've been a member at this fitness club for a while now and I've never seen anyone sweat profusely other than me. Not one person. I've seen a little dampness on a few tee shirts now and then, but never a shirt soaked in perspiration. That's what I end up with three times a week, a shirt drenched in sweat. That's what exercising is all about, an elevated pulse and the accompanying sweat, or so I was once led to believe. I think that since everyone is fairly young, there's a reluctance to look anything but well-groomed. Just a theory.

There are no fistfights, no shouts of anger at the fitness club, but neither is there an abundance of overt friendliness. I'm always saying amusing things (at least I think they're amusing) to the staff. There's a "before and after" set of photos on the wall. Examples of what the club can do, or so they want you to believe. One example of a "before" photo shows a chubby woman wearing thick glasses. The "after" photograph has her slim and without spectacles. One time I pointed to the two photos as I said to a young staff member, "I would expect exercise to take off some pounds, but who would have thought that it can improve a person's eyesight?" The staff member was totally unprepared for such banter. Impromptu conversation just doesn't happen at this place. The staffer looked at me for a few seconds, bewildered, before producing a modest chuckle.

I'm not sure whether a lack of personality is common among fitness club members, or whether it's the younger generation in general that no longer knows how to have casual interaction with strangers. I tend to think it has to do with fitness club people, but I'm not sure. More study is required.

I try to never go into the club's locker room. I might give the room a visit if it had changing stalls, but it doesn't. Just an open locker room. See, I don't like taking off my clothes in front of men. I've never gotten used to it. If I'd been in the Navy maybe I'd be alright with it, but I was never in any of the armed services. If I'd even been on the high school basketball team I might be able to manage male group nudity. But I never made the basketball team either.

Aside from the problem with the nudity, I also hate the idea of sitting on a surface that has been in contact with the bare butts of others. I don't like the thought of sitting on such a surface while I'm wearing pants. Sitting on a locker room bench with my own bare butt is an utterly abhorrent thought. Just visualizing it makes me cringe. Anyway, I change out of my shirt in the men's room, by the sinks. I even do that quickly, to tell you the truth.

Anyway, that's a peek into my fitness club, a peek through my eyes. If any of you fellow members happen to read this silly blog entry, you'll know who I am. I'm the guy on the treadmill who's actually sweating. Say hello if you want. Since no one ever says hello to anyone, it'll shock me, but pleasantly so.