A boo at my gym

Stepping into my gym was a step back in time… it reminded me of the gym my swim club trained at, in high school.

There are no spin bikes (this made me sad as I’d developed a bit of addiction to spinning). It turns out that the bikes in this gym have all had their chords cut and they don’t actually work. The ajummas just enjoy riding aimlessly while they watch their dramas.

No one here seems to spot each other on free weights like the bench press either. There have been a couple times when I thought I would witness someone drop the bar on their chest. I seem to be the only one concerned so I’m trying to let go of the old lifeguard voice in my head.

The other thing that makes me nervous is the number of people misusing the treadmill. There are some that enjoy walking and running backwards but my favorite, by far, are those who chose to shoot themselves off the back of the treadmill without stopping the machine. Again, I am the only person who seems to think this behavior is unsafe.

For everyone’s enjoyment there are old school fat jiggling belt machines and some weird, wooden knobby massager. There’s also some platform that you stand on and just twist yourself back and forth.

Upon entering the gym, you can rent a towel (or two or three because they only use hand towels, for everything) or you can rent some gym strip. I sweat in my own clothes but the towels smell faintly of bleach and laundry detergent so I do grab a couple of those on my way in. Drop the money in the lucky purple pig!

Belt massager…I have not tried because I think I wouldn’t be able to stop laughing.

…and the weird, wooden knobby massager.

The platform that people just stand on and twist back and forth. It doesn’t look like it does much but it’s one of the most popular things.