Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Its been a decade since I entered into the fitness industry as a professional.
So for fun, I thought Id make a return to a Public Gym. Im going to preface this
with the intent to share similarities, differences, Pro’s and Cons and just open the
discussion about stereotypes from both sides, presumptions and surprises.
So Day one….here we go.
I entered in this morning where I waited at the front desk to get signed up.
I was shown the differences in memberships and pricing. I told the guy I had
already seen the facility in the past so no need for a tour. I was just there to sign
up and get started working out.
Main differences in memberships between “basic” and “other” was you can bring
guests, options to use tanning bed (which i did), participant privileges in all the classes
they offered (HIIT, Cardio Club, Bootcamp, Pump, Yoga I believe).
I decided for the other, just in case I want to bring a friend or do a class.
I walked around once again familiarizing myself once again with the layout.
Obviously, there was cardio Equipment, weight machines, juice bar, free weight
section, and a “functional fitness” area with basketball court and some bumper
plates…. PRO
There were about 10-15 people in the facility total all in their 20-50’s, doing typical
things you’d see in a public gym. I decided I wanted to row for a warm up and hopped
on a C2 and just did 10 mins at easy pace. As I warmed up, I looked around at all the attendees and what they were doing. Everyone was very similar….Headphones in, no communication among each other, If the radio had not been playing music it would have been very quite. No smiles, laughter, or any interaction with anyone at all. This was strange for me…..
I decided to act accordingly. Patiently waiting for anyone to Just say “Hello”.
This would not happen the entire time I was there…. CON.
After warm up…what else would I do, but to start warming up with some
Olympic Lifting Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Did some stretching & hit Burgner Warm up. They had everything I needed
to do my workout of Snatching….wont get into the details of that to save time.
I finished warming up, threw on some bumper and began lifting.
I worked through my sets (not knowing if I was allowed to drop weights, so I didn’t).
Obviously… as I expected I got some weird looks from people at the dumbbell wracks
and cable machines. They probably have only seen Olympic lifting in the Olympics…
or on some type of Fail videos….CON
Taking time in between sets. I saw a “Goals” section on the wall. This is one area
where Ive learned just in the recent years that ALL GOALS ARE EQUAL. To many
times people want to discredit someone else’s goals because it wasn’t one of their own.
“Thats silly”….or….”Why would you want to do that”are expressions used by many toward
ones who have set goals but have failed to set any themselves, so to make THEMselves
more comfortable….they diminish other’s ambitions…
…has this ever happened to you?
Surprisingly, I had another gentlemen come in and to some functional movements as well
just down the way at the other end of the room…..PRO
Not everyone is just doing isolation movements….He did some barbell complex work along
with rowing and pull-ups. He was there for about 20 min and got more work done in that
short amount of time than most in the hour they spent on the treadmill watching TV or
their iPhone.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Speaking of…just a side not, There was a women who grabbed my attention as see
sat on one of the benches with a dumbbell resting there while she talked on her
phone for 30 minutes….FOR REAL!!! as she sat there.
It was very interesting on the actual amount of exercise that people put in
while actually at the gym.
I was discussing what if it was required that whatever work you did
you had to put it up on the board where everyone can see it.
Thats for another discussion later.
After I completed my workout I took full advantage of “premium” membership
and went tanning for 7 min…..PRO Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
I guess some of the biggest points are just what individuals are looking for
when deciding on a place to exercise at.
More to come later.