# Joining a Gym Again . . . Grumble grumble grumble . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 22, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407 "2003-04-22T20:03:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bayonet1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bayonet1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bayonet1976)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/21 "2003-04-23T13:19:01Z")
I’ll chime in and recommend swimming. A 20-30 minute swim leaves me as pumped as an hour working out with weights, as exhausted and sweaty, yes you do sweat when swimming, as an hour of Pilates or some other cardio-strength workout. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/22 "2003-04-23T13:24:02Z")
Four of the women at my office go to this gym (right around the corner) so if I join, I’ll tag along with them till I get the swing of things. They offer 45-minute midday “upper body conditioning” and “abdominals” classes, which sound good—I walk _lots_, so get enough lower-body workout as it is. I really don’t mind getting old, I have no desire to get lifted and tucked. But I really _resent_ getting fat. Damn metabolism. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/23 "2003-04-23T13:25:04Z")
I actually love swimming, and joined another gym a few years ago because they had a pool—but it was like Coney Island on the 4th of July! Barely room to dip a toe in, let alone do laps. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/24 "2003-04-23T13:53:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by miamouse \* > \*\*I feel your pain, lady. I just joined a gym too. Curves for women. > > Its great, like gym for idiots, (of which I am one.) They have this circuit of ten alteranting machines and platforms, and a tape tells you to change stations every thrity seconds. Jog, machine, jog, machine. In a half hour you’re done. Not too expensive either. I think there’s one on 14th street and one in the 60s. \*\* I joined a Curves for Women just over a month ago. I’ve lost 8.5" and 10 lbs. It only takes a half hour a day, which is nice, and it’s a short (15 minute) walk from home, which is nice as well. Good luck, Eve. Have fun. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/25 "2003-04-23T13:55:01Z")
Just wanted to support your thoughts of lunchtime workouts. I run over lunch, for the same reasons. No desire/motivation to do so before or after work. Also breaks up the workday. As lousy as working out might be - it beats work! Moreover, if you are working out, you can’t be over at Sardi’s stuffing crumpets into your maw. You don’t need to starve yourself - just be aware of what you are eating. And if you pack your own lunch, you can control your intake better than buying from a restaurant. I also second (third?) the recommendation for some toning in addition to aerobic. It is not so much how much of you there is, but rather, what kind of shape you are in and how you carry yourself. Never underestimate the sexiness of a nicely toned shoulder or calf - especially in summer fashions. I think Kramer found it convenient to swim undisturbed in the East River … And I am sure I am not the only one around these parts who thinks that more of **Eve** is not necessarily a bad thing! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/26 "2003-04-23T13:58:48Z")
Darn - hit submit too soon. But the idea of a sweaty spandex-clad **Eve** has really gotten the creative juices flowing. Have you ever thought of yoga? Or how about dance, ballroom or other? ---
**Author:** ![Modian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Modian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Modian)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/27 "2003-04-23T14:05:17Z")
> [@](#): > > I am not aiming to look like Mrs. Terminator. First thing to do is get out of this mindset. So many women carry around the myth that if they so much as touch a weight, they will beef up and become burly. So they do a ton of aerobics, and little 5 lbers. Irks me to no end. It takes years and years and years and a LOT of work, plus steroids, to end up looking like a Mrs Terminator. Same for a guy. If you want to burn fat, build some muscle. Lots of studies on it. Muscle burns fat while at rest, so the more you have, the more you burn. An intense workout with weights will also raise your metabolism for far longer. A hour of cardio will raise it a couple hours, a hour of weightlifting will raise it for a couple days. There is a big size difference between a lb of muscle and a lb of fat. Don’t think if you replace fat with muscle you’ll stay the same size. Or that you will become beefed out with 20" guns. 🙂 Read this page, done by a woman in the gym. She also posts a lot in misc.fitness.weights. [http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html](http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html) Here’s an excerpt from Starting out - Lies in the gym: > [@](#): > > Weight training will make you huge and masculine. > > Probably the worst lie ever. People look at women bodybuilders and say, “Ohmigawd, they’re huge and if I lift anything heavy I’ll look like that too.” Nope. In general, women are not able to build monstrous muscle mass in the same manner as men, due to a number of physiological factors. It’s a rare woman that can become a competitive bodybuilder, and to get that big she has to combine genetics, extensive long-term training, strict diet, and supplementation (legal or otherwise). > > If you enjoy watching bodybuilding, have a look at the tested (natural, i.e. steroid free) shows versus the untested (anything goes) shows. You will notice a great difference in the builds of the women onstage. A natural female bodybuilder is lean, almost wiry, and certainly not the mythical monsters whom exercising women fear resembling (have a look at my reader letters page to see some examples). Also, women bodybuilders do not normally have the low levels of bodyfat that they do while in competition. Low bodyfat makes muscles stand out, and it changes the contours of the face, making jawlines and cheekbones prominent, which contributes to a rather unnatural look. Bodybuilders about to go on stage for a competition look quite odd, actually, due to dehydration, extremely low bodyfat, and deep tans. During the offseason, competitors’ bodyfat is higher, and in clothing, most wouldn’t stand out as unusual in any way. > > The average woman (that’s you) cannot achieve a masculine monster look simply through strength training. You’re not going to wake up after a workout and be huge. You don’t believe me? OK, then, try to get huge. Just try. And see how far you get. If you need more links, I can post them. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/28 "2003-04-23T14:16:13Z")
Yoga? Doesn’t that involve “inner peace” or “serenity” or some such crapola? Not for Baby, thank you. I’d _love_ to take a dance class, but I’d need a partner . . . Do they still teach the Castle Walk, or the Turkey Trot? As far as Curves for Women—feh! If I can’t entertain myself by looking at the cute boys in their skivvies working out, I am not going. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/29 "2003-04-23T14:19:35Z")
Hell, it’s hard for some _men_ to look all beefy even after using weights for years… It’s not like you get musclebound overnight-- or without noticing. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/30 "2003-04-23T14:25:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > **Four of the women at my office go to this gym (right around the corner)…** Which four? Seriously, if the four who join are all twentysomething twiglets, that gym has a seriously high Annoying Potential. [minirant] I’m looking into switch from NYSC because I just feel too damn old and crotchety. It’s really unpleasant to go to a gym that’s running three soundtracks simultaneously: one for the main floor, one for the aerobics class, and one for spinning (a sort of hyperactive bicycling), all of which you hear because the classroom soundproofing is nonexistant. Oh, and of course the instructors always yell, in really grating voices. I find the whole concept of aerobics utterly abhorrent anyway: who the hell wants to spend forty-five minutes _bouncing_? It’s aesthetically appalling. Really. Aerobics is what happens when you try to teach white people how to dance.[/minirant] Ginger’s been really raving about Curves, which sounds much nicer, although I’ll never find out firsthand. They seem to be everyone - maybe there’s one near you? In total agreement on mornings. Just ducky for those who can do it, and a complete nightmare for everyone else… ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/31 "2003-04-23T14:32:41Z")
I go in the mornings, after I get WeirdBrat off to school. Of course, I don’t work, so that’s got a lot to do with my schedule. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/32 "2003-04-23T14:36:51Z")
Check out [this](http://www.picubed.com/~violetflame/venicebeach.html) female bodybuilder. As you can see, she’s beefier than a model, but she’s by no means beefy. She’s doing some pretty hefty bicep curls in one of those shots, and yet she still looks very feminine. That’s what I want to look like when I lose all my weight. ---
**Author:** ![bayonet1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bayonet1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bayonet1976)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/33 "2003-04-23T14:49:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DeadlyAccurate \* > \*\*Check out [this](http://www.picubed.com/~violetflame/venicebeach.html) female bodybuilder. As you can see, she’s beefier than a model, but she’s by no means beefy. She’s doing some pretty hefty bicep curls in one of those shots, and yet she still looks very feminine. That’s what I want to look like when I lose all my weight. \*\* I don’t think, strictly speaking, she should be called a bodybuilder. As you pointed out she’s not beefy enough. She’s more along the lines of a Ms. Fitness, if that was a contest, rather than Ms. Olympia, which is a bodybuilding contest. And after all that, very nice indeed. ---
**Author:** ![elfoldo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@elfoldo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfoldo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/34 "2003-04-23T15:31:11Z")
I would say to learn more about calories. A pound of fat has about 3600 calories so to lose a pound of fat, you have to burn 3600 calories more than you’re talking in. A two mile walk will burn about 200 calories. So if you do that every day, it would take 18 days to burn an extra 3600 calories. That doesn’t mean you’ll lose a pound after 18 days. If you’re still eating more than you’re burning, you’ll continue to gain weight, although slower than if you were not walking. Also try to stay away from all beverages other than water. Sweet tasting drinks do not satisfy your hunger and may make you feel more hungry. Try snacking on fruits. An apple will have about 80 calories which is about the same as a cookie. But where you could easily eat 3-4 cookies at once, you would not be able to eat 3-4 apples. You will feel much fuller with just one apple. The most important thing is to do things that you can live with for the rest of your life. If you only do things for a short time and then go back to your old habits, all the weight will come back. And exercise regularly **even if you don’t feel in the mood.** Since you already enjoy walking, I would say to find a gym with a treadmill and maybe some TV’s to watch. Get a good walkman. Many gyms will broadcast the TV audio over the radio. Try to get your walking up to about 4 miles to double the amount of calories you’re using. I would recommend against weightlifting since that can get boring if you’re not really motivated to get stronger. A great motivator for your training might be to enter a 5K (3.1 miles) race. Many people walk and they can be lots of fun. Many websites list races in each city or call running stores around town for more info. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/35 "2003-04-23T16:05:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bayonet1976 \* > \*\*I don’t think, strictly speaking, she should be called a bodybuilder. As you pointed out she’s not beefy enough. She’s more along the lines of a Ms. Fitness, if that was a contest, rather than Ms. Olympia, which is a bodybuilding contest. > > And after all that, very nice indeed. \*\* With a little more definition, she’d have a shot in a steroid-free contest. A lot of the natural female bodybuilders aren’t much bigger than her, but they have a little less subcutaneous fat, which makes them look big. And yeah, she is nice. Girls who can move iron definitely do something for me. ---
**Author:** ![Zenham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a5b964/32.png) [@Zenham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenham)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/36 "2003-04-23T16:11:01Z")
Eve, do you by any chance have Ilsa, She-Wolf of the S.S.'s home number? If I can get her to ditch the Nazi crap, chicks in tight leather are hot. ::d&r:: ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/37 "2003-04-23T16:20:39Z")
You could join the SDMB bellydance squad, **Eve**. You don’t need a partner, it’s fun, and it’s great cardio and endurance training. Besides, it looks really good, no matter how old you are. Really. There was an enthusiastic 60 year old in one of my classes that could dance the younger ones into the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/38 "2003-04-23T17:30:22Z")
I’d join a club, but for the life of me, I can’t seem to locate the ash tray on those machines! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/39 "2003-04-23T18:04:49Z")
OK, went and joined up at lunch ($99 “security deposit;” $82/month). I have my first intro training session Friday. I’ll probably go MWF at lunchtime. They have a circuit of machines; running and rowing machines; and classes (sports training, which is like basic Army training only for NY office workers; and “club abs,” during which I can only assume they club you in the abs). I better lose 30 pounds _right away_. Like, in the first _ten minutes._ ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407/40 "2003-04-23T18:11:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*OK, went and joined up at lunch ($99 “security deposit;” $82/month). I have my first intro training session Friday. > > … > > I better lose 30 pounds _right away_. Like, in the first _ten minutes._ \*\* Judging from the price, I’d say you’re well on your way! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-gym-again-grumble-grumble-grumble/170407.md?page=1)