Gym – Don’t Make Me Go!

I hate going to the gym. That might be a little too strong, but I detest it. Detest might still be a little strong. I just plain don’t like it. It’s not that I think I shouldn’t exercise but I’d rather exercise at home. First, I don’t like that you have to get dressed, whereas I can wear my pajamas when working out at home, and when I’m really pumped I put on my compression pants and take the 10 or so steps into the little den that I turned into my exercise room. The idea of putting on clothes that match and looking good to go to the gym is mind boggling to me. Why can’t you just throw on whatever you have? But nooo… you have to plan an outfit, sometimes the night before. The gym becomes another “getting ready for work” task. How many of you shower before going to the gym? Well, my spouse takes a full shower with perfume. I find that to be ridiculous to go to the gym to get sweaty and you have to shower when you get home. I say that every time she goes to shower before the gym. I just wash the parts of my body that smell and I’m done with it. I don’t like having to leave my house early in the morning to beat the early morning crowd of people exercising before they go to work. I have joined many gyms in my lifetime, and when I walk in, there’s always someone (usually a woman) that’s made up with mascara, lipstick, and false eyelashes, whose hair looks like she just left the hairdresser. I wonder, if she looks like that to come to the gym, what does she look like going to work? That’s too much work for the gym. When I get past the fashion show at the gym, I trudge myself over to the treadmill, and about 10 minutes into my 30-minute routine, I feel somebody on the next machine taking sideways glances at the stats on my machine. I guess that’s why people put a towel over the part of the machine that shows your stats. When seeing your stats doesn’t work, the person on either side then tries to speed up their routine as if we were in a race. My spouse likes that secret competition with the person next to her. I like being home where it’s me; only me. Have you ever noticed that gyms keep their windows extra clean for the outside world to look in. You do realize that’s free advertising for them, letting people look at you pouring your heart out on the cardio machines. Then there’s women and men exercising in the same facility at the same time. I sometimes wonder, is it a place to get fit or is it a place to be social and meet your next significant other? I like being alone. Even when I wasn’t married, I still preferred being alone. I could not wrap my head that the gym as a place to meet my next date. The next thing I hate about the gym is because when people finish on a machine, how many of them actually wipe them down properly or at all? Most gyms have towels and solution to wipe down the machines readily available, but some people are in such a rush to get to the next exercise that forget about hygiene. Yuck! At least I know that at home it’s only my spouse and me using the equipment. These days, with all kinds of diseases, why can’t people be more responsible? When a person leaves a machine and doesn’t wipe it down, that means I can’t just continue my workout on the next machine, I have to wipe down the machine I’m using, plus the machine they used. Then the space allowed to workout in is usually so small because they have tried to cram every machine that they can into the gym that there’s nowhere to walk. I know that most gyms have a room for group exercising but then you have to find out when there won’t be a class so you can use the room. Now it’s no longer your schedule but theirs. Unless you are taking a class, you can do most exercises from home. There’s Peloton, which is cycling, and my favorite cycling is Virzoom, which allows you to play games or ride through different countries. When I exercise with Virzoom I enjoy cycling through Africa or somewhere in Paris. It makes the time fly by. Virzoom also has games. I really like the tank shooting games. I have weights and use Stealth, which is another piece of equipment that allows you to play games while you plank. I just bought a Dribble Up medicine ball. There’s an app that goes with the ball and you get timed exercises. The object is to stand about 6 feet from your phone screen and follow the trainer who shows you how to do each exercise. When you have the routine, then you move the ball to hit each circle using the form the trainer gave you. Have I spent a lot of money for exercise equipment, whereas I can go to the gym for $10.00 a month? Nope; I don’t think so, because my equipment will last longer because it’s only me using it. I don’t have to wait for a machine when it’s rush hour at the gym. I can just ease on down the hall 10 steps to a clean machine with no waiting line. I have now put it out there why I hate the gym. I only go when my spouse insists that I go with her. Why? I don’t know, maybe I’m so slow that I make her look good. Bravo to her, but please don’t make go with you to the gym!

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