friday nighter
february 04, 2005
i've become one of those friday nighters at the gym. i'm either very hardcore / obsessed with working out or i'm just plain pathetic. maybe a bit of both? friday nights at the gym is a bit different than any other night. it's not only quieter but there's a certain stillness and peacefulness in the people who are working out. it's as if, we all have a silent mutual understanding of why the other person is there - the plain fact that we don't have any other place to go or people to see.
i've gotten back into my gym routine again. i haven't worked out this diligently since 2003 - when i used to go every single day during lunchtime. but it was really disheartening when i didn't lose any poundage and just remained the same (and then some) with all those weddings i was in that year. very effin' disappointing. i was looking back at those photos from the weddings and i literally cringe, make that go into convulsions when i see myself in those bridesmaids dresses.
can you believe it's taken me over a year to really get back into it regularly? perhaps it's the fear of being disappointed again. i gotta learn to let go and just live in the moment. can't always look back and fear. i have a tendency to do that and it's just not something good to have ongoing. and if i don't see any results, i know i'm going to start making excuses for myself.
ever since i started going back to the gym, i noticed that there are many many more people gymming these days. i didn't recall there being so many people working out after work before. where the hell did all these people come from? did it suddenly dawn on them that they need to get in shape? OR could it be that we're only into month 2 of the year and the new year's resolutions are still holding up?
on the weeknights - the gym is filled to the max with wall to wall people. the sheer number of people lifting weights and the testoserone they emit floods the entire room. when i'm on the life fitness machine, i have a good view of the weight lifting area. i'm surprised that the men grunting away (excessively loud i might add) aren't dragging their knuckles on the floor and that they aren't rolling around a square wheel.
i don't think there's anything that signifies masculinity more so than lifting weights at the gym. men are constantly comparing and contrasting - sizing one another up. the gym i go to is nearly 50% asian - which on a good night has lots of eye candy for me. [insert devilish laugh here] taking up 1/3 of the gym space, i'm sure the men who are lifting weights focus as much attention to those they think are watching them as on the weights themselves. afterall, don't women who sneak glances at a man working out make the guys work even that much harder to impress.
and then there are the women.
they fall in either of 2 caterogies: the ones who go there to work out and the ones who go there to prance around in front of the men. i'm sure you all know what i'm talking about here. the ladies who are there to work out, i completely identify with. we don't talk to others, we stay focused, we have our own music to listen to and we don't mess around. we also leave when our workout is over. the other group however arrive in pairs or groups and have their hair perfectly coiffed and their makeup applied to perfection. i watch them as they get onto some cardio machine and lifelessly eek out a so-called workout. they spend more time talking and laughing than dabbing sweat. maybe they don't have anything better to do with their time and want to go somewhere where they know men would ogle at them. whatever floats their boat i say but please step off the machine because you're embarassing the rest of us women who are really there to actually work out.
[author's note: i have no idea what the hell i just wrote but i didn't want to delete this entry. please excuse the randomness.]
