I’ve been going to the same Y for 15 years, and I know the names of a few people. Don’t talk with them much beyond awkward "hey"s. I occasionally see people I know from work, but try to avoid chit-chat.
I’m a bit more talkative in the pool between sets… but last night I was ready to rip a new one for the girl who thwacked me with a kickboard on a flipturn to tell me something…
Until I learned what she wanted to tell me was “hey, that kid just threw up in the next lane.”
Ick. But sorta glad she was willing to be a bit more social.
Same here. On weekdays my wife and I go to the gym at different times (she still works; I’m retired). On weekends we drive to the gym together, head for the mens/womens locker rooms, and do our separate workouts. When one of us is done, we’ll walk over to wherever the other one is, wave, and head for the showers. We meet at the exit door after we’ve each showered. We socialize with each other plenty when we’re home - at the gym we’re working out.
I’m not nasty to other people or anything; I smile at everyone, and have been known to help little old ladies when they get confused by the machines (the younger ladies have plenty of folks willing to help them out, so I ignore them). I recognize some of the regulars who show up every day at the same time I do and even wave hi to a couple of them. But that’s about it. I have no idea what anyone’s name is or what they do outside of the gym.
Then again, I’m not all that social outside of the gym either.
I’ve been a regular at my gym for 2.5 years now, but the only names I know there are the ones I’ve overheard. I go in the early morning, so I think most of us are still just trying to wake up.
Pretty social. I do P90X at home, so I mainly use the gym for the pool, basketball court, and exercise bikes. I’m friends with a couple of the lifeguards, so I’ll chat with them some when I’m floating around the pool. Obviously not while I’m swimming laps. If anyone else in the pool is conversational, I’ll talk to them too. Earlier tonight there was a kid in there, about 5 or 6, whose mom was completely ignoring him and flirting with the lifeguard for pretty much the entire hour I was in the pool. He kept wanting me to throw the plastic rings around the pool for him so he could find them, so I spent most of my pool time tonight doing that instead of lap swimming. It was fun though.
I also know several other people who workout there, so I’ll talk to them if we’re in the cardio area together. And sometimes I’ll get involved in a pickup game if I’m on the basketball court. I don’t mind at all, since I’m usually faster and a better shot than most of the other people there, heheh.
Anti, unless my husband and I are taking the same class, then I chat with him. We don’t very often do that, though. Double anti if I am on the treadmill with my headphones on. I Am Running And You Don’t Exist!
I go to the gym for the specific purpose of working out. Being social just throws me off and makes my work out seem long and tedious. I find it best to just get lost in my thoughts or listen to music, it’s very good time to just reflect upon myself.
For me it’s a little bit of both. During the actual workout, I have my headphones in and I may nod or smile at the “regulars” that I recognize, but I’m usually breathing heavy, sweaty and not in any way prepared for an actual conversation. However, before and after my workout I’ve been known to be quite chatty with a number of people. I know the names of all the trainers / employees and will talk with them as I leave. For me that gives me more accountability as they will call me out if they haven’t seen me in a while. It keeps me on the workout path better than if I am going it alone.
Pretty anti-social. I’m always there in the morning. I’d rather listen to my podcast that talk at that time in the morning. I work a job where I have to talk to clients all day long, so I’m sure that is a factor.
Usually, I don’t chat people up at the gym. In recent years though, I started taking some of their cardio kickboxing and general aerobics classes. I wound up befriending a few of the regulars. Not many, mind you – just a few, mostly the ones who work hard and provide plenty of energy. (We have a lot of folks who basically just sleepwalk through the routines, and several of them do a lot of gabbing throughout the class. I’m decidedly less motivated to chat these folks up afterwards.)
When I’m weight training, I generally keep to myself. In particular, I tend to avoid the more loudmouthed or vulgar meatheads within the gym. However, a few of the more civilized folks have taken to chatting me up, presumably because they noticed that I’m one of the regulars. I’m pretty friendly to them in return.
Our gym has a pretty social element - there are one or two super-social members, and they have influenced us all, I think. I say hi to most people, acknowledge everyone else, have a brief chat to a few closer friends (usually the guys I share classes or the sauna with). I also get pointed out as “the guy who lost all the weight” (almost 30kg over 3 years). So sometimes people comment on or ask about how I did it. I don’t mind telling them or helping out. And for the regulars, we see each other 2 or 4 times a week. It is actually pretty regular contact, and if newbies find the gym a welcoming place they are more likely to stick around and make a go of it.
One of the regulars (and really social guys) has been away for over 4 months, and has just come back with a massive beard and long hair. In my saturday morning spin class, two recent joiners (who have worked really hard since they joined, so they do have my respect) were talking about the next class, and how some guy had been really annoying the previous week, correcting their form, telling them to work harder in a way that was intended to be encouraging but had got on their wick. I asked if the guy had a big beard, because I only knew one person at the gym that could be that annoying in such a short time. I was right, and 5 minutes later he rolled on and grabbed a spare spin bike to warm up for the boot camp class. I sniggered somewhat.
I’m pretty anti-social at gyms, too. If I can talk to you, I’m not working out, and if I’m not working out, I’m not sticking around. It’s not exactly the most comfortable place to hang out if you are overweight, especially when it’s a school’s gym.
I’ve really got to get out to the Baptist church that has a free gym, as I hear there are a lot less judgmental people there.
How the heck do you do this? I’ve seen some people with magazines on the treadmill, but it’s almost always People or Us or something, so I assumed they were just looking at the pictures.
As mentioned before, I don’t even socialize with my wife; we go our separate ways and meet up an hour later to go home.
There is one couple I frequently see who are never more than two feet apart from each other. And they talk to each other non-stop (the guy actually seems to be more of a chatterbox than the woman).
I even saw another couple once, both riding stationary bikes next to each other. They were holding hands!!
mmm
I have always wondered this as well. When I am working out cardio wise I am sweating so much that the magazine would be soaking wet fast. But I also push myself pretty hard on cardio machines. My typical elliptical routine is level 15 at about a 55-60 average rpm for 40 minutes with a 5 minute cool down, so reading is pretty much not going to happen.
MMM– I haven’t seen anyone holding hands, but I remember the maddest I have ever seen my wife was a couple of years ago. She was on the treadmill and these two women came on got on machines on either side of her–so she is in the middle. Then proceeded to talk loudly THROUGH her for the next half hour. When I saw her afterwards she still hadn’t cooled down! First they would lean forward and talk in front, or lean behind her and talk. She said it was so irritating. And you can only look straight ahead because if you look to the left that chick is looking past you to the right, and if you look right that chick is looking to her friend on the left. I am shocked she didn’t say anything, as my wife is far from shy about things like that. But for some reason she didn’t, I think she probably felt she would end up kiling them and getting us banned from the gym!