I might ooze testosterone at the gym to keep the other testosterone-oozing guys on alert so they respect me (time, space, and all that), but it’s just posturing. If a newbie is around, and they are lost and are nice and well-mannered, they get help. Newbies are people, and that means they can be nice and easy-to-help, but it also means they can be rude. Being a newbie doesn’t mean being innocent.
Whenever you walk into a strange place, especially a gym (and mine is a modern, robust, bustling Y), just be humble and respectful. Don’t walk in like you own the place, try to pick up on whatever routines and courtesies are considered normal there, and work your way in. Every gym has it’s own quirks and things established by the gym regulars.
I run mid to late morning because that’s when it’s coolest here in the summertime. I’d go a little earlier but my wife goes first and we like to have someone at home in case of knee blowouts, dog bites and other disasters.
We’re retired so we can go whenever we like.
Ever since I switched to the Y, I have had no problem with crowds. I am a runner, and usually stick to the treadmills, but this Y has an indoor running track, suspended along the walls about 12 feet above the gym floor.
It turns out that few people actually use the track, so I often go there and run five or ten miles and only see two or three other people during the whole run. And it’s so much better than a treadmill—it’s real running
I was going to the old gym for several years, and the only thing I ever noticed in January was more people, but it was never crowded enough that I couldn’t get a machine.
I would prefer to work out in the morning, it really sets me up for the day, but it would mean getting up at 5am instead of 6:30 on those workdays when I work out, and I just am not that motivated. So on those days, I work out after work, say from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. Then home to dinner.
On the weekend, I usually end up going in the middle of the day. Because it’s the weekend and who wants to drag themselves down to the gym first thing in the morning?
Thanks for all the responses so far! It looks like I’m not the only one working out at odd hours. I wish the Y were open later - I could use my membership more then (though I’m going to join a weekend cycling class). It opens at 5:15 a.m., so I could theoretically go early, but by then I’ve probably only gotten about four or so hours of sleep, so I’m a bit wiped until mid-morning, which is when I try to work out (when my six-week old takes a nap). If I can’t do it then, I fit it in whenever I can after my husband’s home from work and everyone’s in bed. I don’t know what I’ll do when maternity leave ends - probably the same thing (get it in whenever possible) and, if I’m lucky, the baby will be sleeping more predictably so I won’t be as exhausted in the mornings.
For those who work out very early, do you do it primarily for convenience or because your body actually works better in the morning? My muscles tend to be more sluggish early in the morning - I actually sweat more and my legs feel like they’re full of lead - so unless I’m training for something and need to extra time, I avoid getting up that early.
For both reasons! Not that I show it. And also because so many of them are women who come in for 15 minutes, do a few sit ups and then leave again. What is the point of that?
If I’m not working I always aim to get there at 9amish…but never really seem to arrive until 12ish!
If I am working I prefer to go before work rather than after. I can never work out later than about 2pm or 3pm, I just don’t have the energy late on in the day. I really don’t understand how you guys can do anything late evening. I am ready for bed by that time!
One thing I really, really can’t do is go to the gym when it is dark. Regardless of it being early morning or evening. It is a psychological thing but I just don’t like it. Strange!
I feel stiff and sluggish early in the morning, too, but have run some 5Ks that started at 8:00 and found that about 5 minutes into my warmup everything is normal. I work out a little later to save that unpleasant 5 minutes!
I go to the gym at my apartment complex exactly 2 hours before I have to be at work. That’s 7 am this time of year and 6 am during the DST months. I try to get in a workout either Sat or Sun or both, usually around 8 am or so.
When I used to go to a regular gym, I hated the Resolutionary Army. Similar to how I hate going out on New Year’s Eve. Total amateur hour.
Heavens, yes! Though in my case, I’ve found that it takes about two months for the army to completely die out.
Lest anyone misunderstand, gym habitues typically don’t have a problem with newbies. They recognize that everyone has to start somewhere. The problem is that New Year’s resolutioners are seldom serious. If they were, then they wouldn’t be waiting until January to start working out.
What’s more, they all flood the gym AT THE SAME TIME. So you have a concentrated flood of people who take up valuable space and aren’t making a serious effort. It’s maddening, especially when you’re looking for a parking space or scrambling for elbow room in a cardio class.
Imagine: somebody like me joins a gym at the first of the year, and all they see is, “Yeah, she’s a fat resolutioner. She won’t last long.” When in fact, I have been working out since July, just not in a gym, and I used to be a lot fatter.
Oh well, I wouldn’t join a gym to make anybody else happy but me. So who cares what they think?
I would say my routine is dependent on convenience to my schedule and personal preference, rather than when my body is most warmed up and flexible.
During the school year, when I’m working, I get up at 5:10 and walk for 45 minutes before showering and getting ready for school. This time of year, that means I am walking in the dark – stars, moon and bundling up for some low temps (I live in Maine). Alternative #1 would be walking my treadmill, which I only do when it’s too icy to be safe outside. Alternative #2 is walking after work which I find all too easy to blow off. So mornings it is. During summer vacation, I bump the time back to 6:00, but still stick to the early morning as it is cool and quiet and lovely then.
For the past 10 years, my husband has left the house daily at 4:45 a.m. to be at his gym by 5:00 for spinning class (2X/week) or aerobics class (3X/week). He is so dedicated – on the rare occasion I find him still in bed at 5:10, I know he’s sick. He had gastric bypass surgery in 1999, lost a huge amount of weight, and his gym routine has helped him keep it off.
If the Resolutionary Army held ground and didn’t retreat and come back larger next January, there’d be less disdain for them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be the hallmark of fitness decisions: “Oh, why exercise and eat right now? I will start the new year out eating right and exercising. Mmmmm… Christmas food. Mmmmm… New Year’s Eve hors d’oeuvres!.”
Sure, I am being a bit tough right now, but very few, if any, of the Resolutionary Army are smart enough to defect.
When do you start getting healthy? RIGHT FRIGGING NOW, because if you can make it through December getting lean and mean, the prognosis is much better than fattening up and putting things off until you are bored, and ready to draw attention to your resolutions, because this time… yes this time… you are really going to do it!
I exercise right after work on weekdays and about 9 a.m. on weekends. Never join a gym in January. It’s likely to be twice as crowded and half as friendly as any other time of the year.
I have been a member at my club for over 25 years. There is a rhythm. After the first of the year the New Years resolution people join. The club gets really crowded until Feb. Then they slowly evaporate. Then in March the softball players come in and pump up for baseball season. Too little too late. Then they go. The gym gets empty in summer. Right now they have some successful youth tennis programs with tournaments. They are jamming the place. Parents and families are all over.
The racquetballers and paddleballers play year round. The free weight lifters stay too. The lifting machine users are less reliable.
Right. That’s why I said that they are “seldom” serious, as opposed to “never” serious. There are rare exceptions, and folks like you should be an inspiration to the rest.
When I see a newcomer at the gym, I don’t immediately assume that they’re going to quit soon. I know that if they’re part of the January crowd, then statistically speaking, they will probably peter out within a few weeks. I don’t make that assumption about individuals though, especially if they’re clearly working hard.
BTW, Juliana, you say that you’ve been working out since July. To my mind, this means that you are NOT a New Year’s resolutioner. Perhaps this explains why you’ve managed to stick it out for so long. Congratulations!
If only more people thought like you! On this board, we’ve had several discussions wherein people said, “Oh, I wouldn’t go to a gym because I wouldn’t want people to laugh at me for being fat!” Gym regulars can pretty much guarantee that those fears exist primarily in the heads of the prospective newbies.
