Export thread

A friend of mine posted this blog entry on her FB page this morning. It is geared toward women who are embarrassed or self-conscious about going to the gym, but I think it can apply to men, too. I'll be honest, I feel like it was written for me.

Dear New Girl at the Gym

That's really good advice. And yeah, totally relatable.

That's how I've always felt as a regular gym-goer: I'm not judging the fact that these people aren't as in good shape as others, perhaps even me. I'm impressed that they're there. That they're doing something about it instead of just staying at home. I'm impressed just because they're there. They're active, which is better than doing nothing. No one I know has ever judged a new person at the gym. Quite the opposite.

Logically, I know that no one is judging me for being there. I should be proud of me for going, too. But that little niggling voice in my head tells me the opposite. I always feel like I have a sign on my head that says "FAT LAZY ASS HAHAHA".

On the other hand, some of the people there totally ARE judging you and think you don't belong there. I had a former gym rat in one of my writing classes, and one of his pieces was all about how guilty he felt for that very reason and said that it was a pervasive attitude.

So, like any other place or time in life, some people are judging you, some people aren't. Either way, you can't control what other people think or do, so do what you need to do to make yourself healthy and happy.

How ironic people would think that way towards people actually going to work out.

This is absolutely how I feel at the gym: I am proud of you for getting here. Keep up the good work.

This is if I am at a point in my workout before I start losing rational thought. After that I start thinking: "My arms feel like bananas. B- A- N-A-N-A-S"

I admit, I judge some people at the gym, but never because of how they look or what they're wearing. It's the people next to me on the machines that insist on shouting their conversations, either on a cell phone or to a person next to them, You don't have to whisper, but if I have to hear every word of your conversation with my headphones on, you need to take it down a notch!

Wait, there are 3 women in my kick boxing class I judge, because they are the Mean Girls. The three of them always stand in front and snicker/comment on other people in the class, and it drives me insane because they are some of the worst people in the class! Everyone is just there to exercise and have a good time, so I don't understand why they have to act that way. In my head I refer to them as Flappy (girl can't do anything without looking boneless), T-Rex Arms (it's like her elbows are sewn to her ribcage) and Candle-Face Masturbator (okay, yes, a little judgy considering she regularly gets really bad plastic surgery/fillers in her face, but she never listens to the instructor about keeping her wrists straight and she always looks like she is pantomiming a gang bang). One of these days I really want to go off on them, saying, "You realize for every time you make a snide comment about someone else, you three are up front and center, and we can ALL see how much you guys SUCK at this class?!". Grrrr, tacky people tick me off....

The phrase "candle-face masturbator" will sustain me for the rest of the day. If I don't hear any other funny things, it will not matter.

There's a couple who started going to the gym here at New Years. He's a skinny but reasonably fit-looking guy, she's a bit thicker.

They've been coming consistently since New Years. He moves slowly for her, coaching her through her exercises. I see them looking at me when I'm stacking plates on the bar at the squat rack.

Gave them a thumbs up and a couple words of encouragement the other day. Think it made them feel better - she definitely seemed to have a pep in her step when she was doing her next round of incline push-ups. I look forward to the day when she's doing them at ground level, and I know she is too. I love watching them work - it keeps me motivated to improve.

Why for you care what gym hoods think of you?


Seriously, who gives a rip what the typical gym douche thinks? Put on your headphones and do your thang! Except if that thang is Crossfit. Nobody likes a Crossfitter.

In my experience, those who have been or are bigger are the ones that actually work out the hardest and smartest. The rest are either sitting around texting because they have natural physiques and really only need to do a minor work out, or the roid rage bunch who push themselves to the point of injury to show off.

It was that realization that made me more comfortable going to the gym. I'm gonna miss the free gym through school this summer.

Man, I've never seen crossfit stupidity at my gym, because I go to a real gym but if I did I don't think I could stop myself from angrily yelling at their teachers. When one of your God damn mascots is this:



Making light of an entirely preventable side effect of your god awful dangerous exercises then you deserve it. Fuck CrossFit.

Crossfit is as stupid as Creationism being taught in science class. FUCKING CROSS-CONTROVERSY.