No Smiles at the Gym

Depressing! Yeah, downright depressing. I went to the Company fitness center today and seriously, I thought I took a wrong turn at the Gulag. The up side was that many people were there exercising after a hard day of work. But something was missing.

When I used to frequent a variety of work out facilities back in the day, the places were shakin with a friendly, happy vibe. We were workin it and this was a good thing. Whether it was someone you knew walking by to give you a nod, or someone else just glowing with motivation; you could just feel the energy.

But somewhere along the way, folks must have bought into the fact that working out still has "work" in it and therefore we don't dare become a catalyst of joy. That would be too unprofessional if not downright soft. We must put on our best "race face" and get down to business. Well, I am going to have to be the one who says, "screw that!"

Look, life is too short and we already spend a boatload of waking hours toiling for our pay. (I think that should be fun too by the way.) Exercise, in order for it to really become a habit, should be fun. And for it to be fun, you need to choose it to become fun.

From a communicative historical point of view here is what happened to bring us to the non-fun. We must understand this to move forward. First, there are people who strike up conversations with anyone at the gym. That's o.k. except that people want to get their workout in at a certain pace and rule number one is NOT to disrupt their workout. Catch people for quick conversation between sets or just a motivational comment, but never take more than their recovery period. If they are spotting someone else, they are officially busy so stick to the motivational comment of goodwill.

Second, the walkman was invented to nullify the annoying ones. People started plugging into their music and eliminating the possibility of having to talk to anyone. Great for eliminating the annoying ones, but too bad that it also eliminates all socializing at all. These were first very popular with pretty girls who got tired of being hit on by dorks. Hey, who could blame them.

So here's the thing, people go to the gym to get a workout. They have convinced themselves that they don't want to talk to anyone but that's b.s. for many. There are so many lonely people and the gym is a great place to casually meet some people with the same interest in health that you have. Aside from being respectful of people's privacy, I challenge you to get out there and at least be happy. Don't be afraid to say "hi" or "I didn't know treadmills did 20mph, dang", or something that makes the place a fun place to be even if just for that moment. People will smile in the future just when they see you coming. Isn't that great. Give it a try.

I think workouts are a great thing. But I just can't take another sullen day of pumping iron like I did today. I just can't do it. I'm going in tomorrow and I just might run down the bank of treadmills and high five the whole lot of them. I'll bet you a crispy new dollar bill that I'll get a smile out of at least 50% of those sweaty bastards. It should be a real hoot. Come on, join me, lets revolutionize this work out deal.

I'll see you at the gym.