# A day at the gym **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 17, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267 "2004-11-17T15:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/41 "2004-11-17T19:39:47Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > And, fuck you to people who WALK on treadmills. Some of us need them, and actually are trying to get our heart rates above 65. There’s an indoor track. Go walk there. I too was with you until here. Maybe the people who walk on the treadmills are doing so for the same that you run on one; their knees (or hips or ankles) can’t handle the impact of walking on the track or anywhere else. Treadmills provide a cushion unlike any solid walking surface. Plus, you have no clue what kind of aerobic output these folks are getting by walking. Some of them might also be cardiac patients who can’t run. The speed at which other gym members use the treadmills isn’t your business. Oh, and screw you for using gay as pejorative and attempting repeatedly to defend it. You’re not 8 and this isn’t a playground. Grow the hell up. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/42 "2004-11-17T19:42:37Z")
Ya know **Trunk** , between this thread and [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5506415&postcount=11) I’m beginning to really wonder about you. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/43 "2004-11-17T19:47:57Z")
You’re going to complain to a man who hung on a cross and shoplifted a set of keys from Hell becuase people are making fun of you for not changing your special shoes quickly enough to get to the treadmill in time? You are sooo coming down with a mysterious case of scrotal eczema. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/44 "2004-11-17T19:47:58Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > No fucking shit. But he told me to stay away from the gym, not stay out of the pit. > > All right, now I’m pissed. > > I didn’t think I’d have to do this, but I’m making a list and sending it to Jesus. > > Now on the list. . . > > Telemark > Lord Ashtar > Brutus > Tristan > Rufus > AugustWest > Bambi Hassenpfeffer (Especially. . .god was that a gay post.) > Cheesesteak (Lay off the shoes, dude. Lay off. The shoes.) > Telemark, again. (I heard you the first time. You don’t like people calling something gay. Got it.) > > When Jesus comes back for us, you’ll all be smote severely. > > Please note, there is a list. If you try to snipe a smote, you will be doubly smote. Sorry, dude. Jesus just left me a message and asked me to tell you to shut the fuck up. He’s busy. The downtrodden in the world take precedence over your paranoid schizophrenia and severe homophobia. Put me on the list. Watch the fun! Wanna get pissed off even more? I WALK on the treadmill AND I use the elliptical. I think I should be on the list twice. Ava ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/45 "2004-11-17T19:55:31Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > No fucking shit. But he told me to stay away from the gym, not stay out of the pit. > > All right, now I’m pissed. > > I didn’t think I’d have to do this, but I’m making a list and sending it to Jesus. > > Now on the list. . . > > Telemark > Lord Ashtar > Brutus > Tristan > Rufus > AugustWest > Bambi Hassenpfeffer (Especially. . .god was that a gay post.) > Cheesesteak (Lay off the shoes, dude. Lay off. The shoes.) > Telemark, again. (I heard you the first time. You don’t like people calling something gay. Got it.) > > When Jesus comes back for us, you’ll all be smote severely. > > Please note, there is a list. If you try to snipe a smote, you will be doubly smote. Missed this post earlier. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have been listed on _ **Trunk’s** Axis of Evil_. I’m honored. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/46 "2004-11-17T19:56:29Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > I have a helmet and a light. You can’t ride like I ride where I ride at the times I ride with just a helmet and light. You’ll die. Perhaps you should take a class on how to ride your bike so you are not such a danger to yourself an others. Riding on the right, using hand signals, making sure I’m appropriately visible and obeying traffic laws > [@](#): > > I’d rather ellip on the elliptical. I have to admit I have no idea what this means. > [@](#): > > Besides, I’M NOT THE FUCKING PROBLEM AT THE GYM. The gym would be better off without the people who snipe equipment. If you don’t calm down, you could give yourself a heart attack next time you’re at the gym which would really screw up the lines. > [@](#): > > What do you think I’m doing, walking around calling people gay for being on the elliptical. This is the fuckin’ pit, **Pow** , not real life. Sigh. You must feel like such a big man for 1) defending your territory and 2) using the anonymity of the internet to come across as a homophobic ass. Oh, one more thing you can make yourself feel better about: I enjoy wrestling. I find that using the [guard](http://www.amaa.net.au/amaa_gallery/3.jpg) is a good resting place/transition to other holds. Surely I’m much gayer than anyone who would use a low-impact exercise device. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/47 "2004-11-17T19:57:45Z")
Wow. _Severe_ homophobia… ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/48 "2004-11-17T20:19:59Z")
oooohhhh now. List, list and LIST! Fuck all if I’m gonna sit here and defend my actual position and feelings towards homosexuals, or if you think you got it nailed because I referred to one exercise from the gym with a joke from “Jay & Silent Bob” and then ran with it when you piped in. > [@Chairman Pow](#): > > Perhaps you should take a class on how to ride your bike so you are not such a danger to yourself an others. Riding on the right, using hand signals, making sure I’m appropriately visible and obeying traffic laws. Perhaps you should come take a ride with me from my house, in the middle of Baltimore, during rush hour, in the dark, on damp streets with no shoulders on hills where you either get run down or go 40 mph around corners. Please tell me just how well that hand signal and halogen light work at the intersection with a grand total of 11 lanes with cars stacked deep with their lights on in 4 directions. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/49 "2004-11-17T20:37:24Z")
If we could get away from the gay thing, I’d open this up to some more general gym complaints. . . Stop camping on the equipment. If I ask to work in, don’t say that you have “just one more set” and then continue to sit on the damn machine! Older guy in the International Male 1-piece? Don’t. Just don’t. Even 19-year-old guys with \<10% bodyfat would be hard pressed to pull that off and you just. . . can’t. The two really hot workout partners? Stop yelling! Yes, I know you two are all fired up to get pumped, but screaming after each rep like Richard Simmons at a shoe sale is annoying. Stop it. If you’re reading a magazine as you ride the stationary bike, you’re cheating yourself. Not my problem, just a heads up. Gym management, I pay $69.95/mo. to use your gym, and the markup for post-workout drinks is just plain greedy. Ugly, fat guy in the sauna? If you exerted the energy on the workout floor that you spend cruising for dick, you’d probably have a 32 in. waist by now. In any event, I have no interest in watching you whack it, so please stop abusing the poor wee thing and cover up. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/50 "2004-11-17T20:38:54Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Cheesesteak (Lay off the shoes, dude. Lay off. The shoes.) C’mon! They’re like a bright shiny beacon that says **MAKE FUN OF ME!** The number of potential jokes is astounding. Such as “Do you click your heels together 3 times when you’re done with your workout?” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/51 "2004-11-17T20:43:44Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > I’m at the gym yesterday. I get on the stationary bike for about 15 minutes. Now, I want to get on one of the treadmills to do a little running. > > (aside: I WOULD like to run on a track but I’ve had knee surgery and the treadmill is 8 billion times easier on my knee than a track is). > > […] > > And, fuck you to people who WALK on treadmills. Some of us need them, and actually are trying to get our heart rates above 65. There’s an indoor track. Go walk there. Sounds like someone needs to be hit by a clue-by-four. Okay, moron. How is “Waah! My knee hurts! I need to walk instead of run!” any different from “Waah! My knee hurts! I need to use a treadmill instead of running on the track!” Hmmm… It really isn’t. You’re both aware of the limits your body gives, and you fear that pushing those limits will really injure you. I ran cross country for 6 years. That means on uneven ground, up hills, over tree roots, through streams, on roads… you name it. Do I curse you for not being able to run on a fucking _track_? To me, running on a track is like running on a fucking _sponge_. But (here comes the obvious part) you and I have different bodies. Different limits. Different exercises we can reasonably do. So why, Idiot of all Idiots, do you curse those who can’t run, and need to walk instead? note: I do not mean to offend anyone by my use of “Waah!” ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/52 "2004-11-17T20:58:28Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > Stop camping on the equipment. If I ask to work in, don’t say that you have “just one more set” and then continue to sit on the damn machine! Yes! Here’s a hint. If I can do three sets at my weight station before you’ve started your second, you’re just wasting everyone’s time…and probably your own. And don’t act surprised when the weight room is packed to the rafter and someone asks to work in, either. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/53 "2004-11-17T20:59:50Z")
> [@](#): > > note: I do not mean to offend anyone by my use of “Waah!” Sure. Go ahead and make fun of the verbally-challenged, why don’t you. UrbanChic, who composed this post using her Waah! Translater 5000. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/54 "2004-11-17T21:03:20Z")
> [@Waverly](#): > > Side question to gay dopers: What unique exercises did you do in the '80s that defined the gay “'80’s style”? I belonged to gyms all through the '80s, but other than some odd goings on in the jacuzzi, I’ve never seen anything that looked like '80s style gay exercise. Unless it was that day that they were doing aerobics to Queen… Ah, they’re 1980’s style death gays. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/55 "2004-11-17T21:04:16Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > If you’re reading a magazine as you ride the stationary bike, you’re cheating yourself. Not my problem, just a heads up. Actually, I can read a magazine on the stationary bike _and_ have my RPMs where they should be _and_ be in my target heart rate zone. I can’t do it while on the treadmill or the elliptical or the stair climber or the horrible escalator thing (it’s funny to watch people on the escalator holding their weight up on their arms and reading) but for some reason, I can actually read on the bike while exercising. I found that out one day when I really didn’t feel like working out at all, but was willing to go through the motions of working out, so I brought a book with me and pedaled, and kept looking down and at the heart rate monitor and finding out “hey, that’s target! cool!” and then went back to reading. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/56 "2004-11-17T21:10:03Z")
Well, if you say so. It just seems to me that if there is no grunting and sweating involved, it’s not really exercise. But that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/57 "2004-11-17T21:14:20Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > Ugly, fat guy in the sauna? If you exerted the energy on the workout floor that you spend cruising for dick, you’d probably have a 32 in. waist by now. In any event, I have no interest in watching you whack it, so please stop abusing the poor wee thing and cover up. You have a guy who whacks off in the sauna? How is it his membership hasn’t been terminated yet? ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/58 "2004-11-17T21:18:25Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Rufus > > When Jesus comes back for us, you’ll all be smote severely. That shit is old news. 0030’s style. ;j ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/59 "2004-11-17T21:22:05Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > Well, if you say so. It just seems to me that if there is no grunting and sweating involved, it’s not really exercise. But that’s just me. I’m with **amarinth**. I can read while getting a good stationary bike workout. And I _definitely_ sweat. And my quads ache due to the resistanec. But the reason I’m able to keep going is that I take my mind off of how much I want to stop and rest. I’m done before I know it. What I want to know is, who grunts while they do cardio? **UrbanChic** , you saw right through me. I’m a verbal utterance elitist. I’m currently organizing a grassroots organization aiming to restrict the rights of those whose verbal utterances aren’t up to my high standard. But that’s for another thread. heh. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267/60 "2004-11-17T21:30:15Z")
hijack for brief love-fest \ Scarlett67! \ Haven’t seen you in ages! And I was just thinking of you the other day as I changed my email sig line to my favorite holiday quote: “If wishing for a return to “each holiday in its own good time” makes me a Grinch, well then pass the Who Hash. Harrumph” – Scarlett67 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-at-the-gym/275267.md?page=4)