The Gym is great for people watching!!

These stories are hilarious! Thank you so much for sharing!

I'm sure I'm the one the folks are laughing at around my gym. Like when I jumped on an eliptical for the first time and kept pressing start, like 10 times, and it never started. Then I got off of it, quite miffed that I couldn't even get the machine to start that I'd already worked up my courage to attempt to use.... 15 seconds later a lady walked up to it, started walking on it (or gliding, whatever the term is) an all of a sudden, the freakin thing came to life. It lit up and everything. I shook my head and left the room, in search of a treadmill. LOL :embarassed:

I had a lady ask me how to start the bike the other day, I said pedal, lol, she felt very embarrassed!!

Cell Phone Guy: This old man WALKS on the treadmill the entire time I'm there, and he must be important cuz he's always on his phone. It drives me BANANAS. I don't know why, but it screws with my running mojo. The funny part is I sometimes overhear him saying things like "I can't, I'm on a treadmill!"

The Tattooed Cheetah: This gal I like. She's a runner with tattoos and looks like a cheetah: She's tall, and a lean, mean racing machine. She can carry 8 mph + forever. I aspire to be like her. I smile at her when I see her and always let her know how impressive she is to me.

One interesting 50ish fellow at my gym comes in with a silver sauna suit and yellow goggles (to keep the sweat out of his eyes) who slays himself on the lifecycle. He's real old school, warming up with calisthenics (jumping jacks and the like) and wearing his rolled towel around his neck while he works out. Nevertheless, the guy is fit as hell!

Mine isn't funny but today I saw the Hot dad and son. I saw a guy working out and he had his I think 11/12 year old son with him. The son kept wanting to be shown how to do the exercises so the dad would take a break and show him. The dad wasn't pushing the son do to anything but it looked like the son was trying to be like the dad. Later while I was in the cardio cinema they came in and got on the treadmills next to me. He showed his son how to work the machines and also told him to wipe the machines down. It was a nice moment of seeing a dad showing his son the ropes of a how to work out in a gym.

i use to go to the gym and there was a guy there who had a son and the guy would sit on the bench and lift his son up and down for awhile and then he would do pull ups while his son held his feet and pretended that he was lifting him...and then they would sit at the back ...and just sit there and stare at everyone and then eventually they would get up and swim...like they did that same routine everytime that i saw them!!

Now that's just cute. Made me smile just thinking of it.

I have to admit I'm a people watcher.

I don't go to a gym, but I go to a live Zumba class and my eyes are constantly roaming the class. I don't mean to laugh, and I don't ever laugh at loud, but I look at some of these people and it's funny. But we're all having a great time.

1. Okay...admission...I'm the white girl who can't "get" the sexy latin dance moves (YET)...and the "belly dancing kickboxer" to get in that extra hip move - I make it fun for myself what can I say and everyone laughs (with me, I hope!) LOL!!! I'm also the one who is sweating while still in "warm ups!" - - - I just recently got over the "ewww, I'm sweating" issue. Evidently you ARE supposed to be sweaty in the gym - who knew!!! ((laughing hard)))

As an instructor, I will tell you that I would love you in my class. My class is very dancy and it can take a while to catch on to all the moves. The best way to do is to just pick up what you can and keep moving -- doesn't matter if it's my stuff or not. But even more important, have fun. I would rather have a bunch of people that have no rhythm and can't get the steps but are yelling, laughing and having a good time than a room full of amazing steppers that are trying to show how talented they are but have no personality.

And I sweat like a crazy person after about 10 minutes of class, so don't worry about that one.

Melissa

Thanks, Melissa...on many levels!!! I will attend your class in spirit and bring the "fun moves" to you with a smile!!! Yes, I see many of "those" girls in class and the best is when the instructor calls "Sexy Look" for the Latin catwalk move with the exagerated hips and snappy knees. You have your "Wanna-Be-A-P****cat Doll-Girl" burning a "look" at herself while the next girl has a look of total surprise and shock! Oh, it's TOO FUNNY! It's sooooo not about perfection, but more about shaking and relaxing the body! Your comments were greatly appreciated! Turns out, my instructor even kicked her own butt (and sweated) as she told the class even she was hurting after last week's class! Well, the moves are the hardest part. I will take your advice. I guess I have a long way before going professional. Well, if they call looking for me on "So You Think You Can Dance" please let them know I humbly decline for this year. (((laughing))) They make it look deceptively simple!!!

PS. A little bit of exciting news to share: I've been noticing the soreness after workout classes and am proud to be dealing with it because I'm now down 5% BMI, lost 14 lbs, and have noticed I'm walking with better posture. Here's to my Inner Athlete... :flowerforyou:

My favorite/nightmare is the "Competition Man" and this one is true...

I'm jogging away at level 9 and he comes along on the machine next to mine but doing level 7. I saw him sneak at peak at my numbers and sees I'm on 9 so he ups his to 9.5.

Now that's fine and everything but when someone does that to me I just HAVE to increase mine! so I increase it to 10. It's like some little demon takes over me and I can't have this upstart one-bettering me :laugh:

He watches me out of the corner of his eye increase mine to 10 so he sort of casually goes to 11. Well gloves are off at that point, this has now become a "guns drawn at dawn" scenario, I just can't have this guy think he's cooler so, like in poker, I see his 11 and raise mine to 13... just to prove a point :laugh:

This went on until we were both running on level 16.5 and my heart rate monitor gave me a big boost for that workout hehe.

We had a good laugh about it after :laugh:

Simon...the librarian just came over and Shhhhhh!!!! me for laughing so hard!!!!

Cute posting about the favorite t-shirts.

I love this post! I workout at the gym on my college campus so there is a lot of very in shape guys who like to strut around with thier gallon of water in hand. One in particular likes to hang a 25 pound weight from his waist and walk around with it, dont ask me why but he does it everyday. There are two basketball girls who are very intimidating and very buff. There is also this 60 something year old guy who likes to do handstands in the middle of the gym and he will hold them for like 5 minutes, it is seriously amazing. I like to watch everyone at the gym, it not only entertains me but it's inspiring.

I've been noticing a woman who struts into the gym early every morning when I'm already well into my cardio routine for the day. She's always dressed to the nines...Sunday church hat kind of dressed. She walks in with her boyfriend/husband who is always wearing a light colored suit, and he literally escorts her to the ladies room. I have no idea where she works out because I've never bumped into her on the cardio equipment but I'm usually in the locker room as she's changing to leave. Instead of using a locker like everyone else, she takes up one of the dressing rooms with all her stuff. And I swear, I've packed less for a 2 week vacation than I see in that dressing room! She spends at least another 45-60 minutes after showering doing her hair and makeup. Meanwhile, the man who escorted her in has been waiting in the gym lobby all this time! They walk out arm in arm together. I can't tell if this guy is seriously possessive or if there's some surge of southern gentlemen/ladies making their way up north. It's so odd to me!

I'm from the south, and that's not normal around here. Maybe she doesn't actually work out. Maybe she just joined the gym to use the facilities. Weird.

Don't get me wrong, there was no intent to knock on the South! It just seemed like a kind of chivalry that doesn't exist in most places anymore but the South (at least I've heard). But really a kind of chivalry circa 1930.

Okay so let me start out by saying that I applaud anyone who gets the motivation to work out. Especially if you're not in the best shape...I know how hard it is to get the courage to go to the gym. :bigsmile:

However...the other day a late-20-something guy came in dressed in jean shorts (hanging way down low....get a belt please!) and TWO long fancy t-shirts, you know the thick cotton kind with the fancy logos, with fancy kicks that were untied. :noway: Anywho, he got on the treadmil next to me going 2.5 mph. I'm thinking, he's probably new to the gym world, good for him for making the effort. But then he starts yelling. Saying thing like "Lets do this!", "Bring it!", and "Is that all you got son?!" And a few other things that would need to be bleeped out. THEN he jogs, but he doesn't up the speed:huh: ...just brings his legs up faster to look like a jog.

What was he doing?!?!?!? All I know is that I think he was trying to impress the ladies around him. I just kept my earphones on and looked straight ahead trying to ignore him. But I kept seeing him out of the corny of my eye, turn around to look at me. Like he was waiting for a reaction. WEIRD!! :huh:

It was cracking up once I got to the locker room!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Awesome thread! Man I'm laughing hysterically! I love people watching too. When I joined my gym back in January I didn't want people "people watching" me. So I slunked into the cardio theatre each day and worked out in the dark. I would just ignore people but "competitive man" would always end up on the AMT machine next to me and try and one up me. So even trying to remain invisible I couldnt'. So I ended up going up to the upper level of the gym so I could start people watching LOL!

My favorite lady at my gym is "Grandma Barbie". She's seriously in her late 60's but comes in with this teased, 1/2 ponytail bleach blonde 6" high hair that goes down her back. Pink high heels. Spandex tight pants and fitted t-shirt. She walks to the ladies room, changes only into sneakers and heads out for the treadmill. Same treadmill every day. Suddenly 6 women congregate around her like she's a preacher or something. They hang on her every word. Every day. Seriously weird!

Ok so you know the "you can't be shirtless at the gym" rule? So this guy comes in and wears this tank top that has arm cut outs to his waist. So it basically just barely covers his front and back but when he runs, it shifts side to side so he mind as well be shirtless. It just cracks me up!

I'm going to have to observe again tomorrow and see what other good characters I can watch!

Once again, I am "that girl" in the gym...and enjoying it!!!! My trainer has me doing a move we call "THE SHERIFF"...Picture a western movie ((enter "western movie sound effects here)) - and a blowing tumbleweed...where the cowboy's dismounted after hours on his horse. He walks - legs stretched apart and deep into squats...hands on the "guns" and moving forward.

Okay...now bring it present day into the gym...there I am...doing "THE SHERIFF BACK IN TOWN" - doing "the sheriff walk" down the isle of the machines while everyone else is working out! We all laugh and I get the best workout. It's fun being silly!!! Then he switches and has me doing the extended "Sheriff" moves sideways.

If you can visualize it and you are smiling, it's what I'm doing.

Then, my other trainer had taken me into the basketball room to work on side squats down the side line of the court. I was doing them and a bunch of guys came in and obviously wanted to play basketball. She said, "I won't make you do it in front of them." I said, "If they were blessed with not needing to workout to have those bodies, they're lucky. They can wait for me to do 5 side squats." Funny how people get embarrassed for you. I wasn't and certainly didn't care. I was there to work my tail off and guys will look regardless of whether you are a skinny minnie or a plus girl. THAT'S JUST A FACT. :laugh:

The cardio machines at my gym are lined up along a window that overlooks the pool. Some evenings a mid-aged, slightly overweight man will swim laps.... in a thong. It's kind of horrific; you can't not look at it. But it's also funny to watch the other people on the cardio machines... you can see the moment on their faces when they spot him.