When Did That Become a Bad Thing?

Two Thoughts for Tuesday










First thought for the Day...I have upon occasion been referred to as a "Gym Rat".  Frankly, among the things I have been called.... not so bad.  Until yesterday that is. In the past, I haven't been particularly offended by being called a gym rat and overall find gyms to be a pretty interesting place.
 I have gone to quite a few and while I  find each to have a slightly different atmosphere about them there are certainly some similarities as well.

Most gyms have some or all of these groups

The Serious Body Builders...They check themselves out in front of the mirror often, they hog the overhead cables and the Smith Machine, they aren't really ever rude because they don't notice anyone else in the room. (well unless it is one of the Beauty Queens) They usually wear muscle shirts and gym shorts, but they look so great you might not really be paying attention to their outfits.  Their upper arms are the size of a normal woman's thigh and sometimes sport a tattoo. The ones that compete (body building competitions) are completely hairless.  They have been waxed more than any hairy woman at a day spa.

The Beauty Queens ....This is pretty self explanatory, they are pretty, they always just wear sports bras (and they are spectacular, if you know what I mean) and spandex shorts.  Usually they are tan and their shoes look like they are brand new...always.


The "Used to be Beauty Queens and Football Heroes"...This is the older version of the Super Body Builders and Beauty Queens...Both the men and women still are good looking and fit. Now the women  no longer come in just sport bras and spandex but they are in matching warm up suits (sometimes velour).  The men, also have warm up suits with logos.  The Nike swoosh is abundant as well as the Addidas logo.  Their shoes still always look new.

The Coffee Clique minus the coffee...They are there to meet  their buds and have a chat fest. They usually surround  a piece of equipment.  They especially like the incline benches as it is sorta, kinda like sitting on a chaise lounge.

The "I've Let Myself Go and I am on a Mission" Group-  I have been in this group more than once myself, so I have great respect for this crowd. You can tell them by the fact they look like they are ready to die, but they keep on going.

The Fit and Feisty Group...They are there to workout, not socialize. They are in usually in very good shape physically but they invariably look like crap.  They crawled out of bed and made their way to the gym prior to cleaning up.  Their shoes look well used and their T-shirts say things like "I walked for the March of Dimes". (in other words whatever free Tee they could get their hands on)  Although this week I saw a woman that had a black Tee with large letters that said "Don't talk to Me" which I suspect wasn't a free one.

The Clueless Group..They are foreigners in gym land and are totally lost.  You can tell this group because they are using the equipment in some novel way that no one had discovered prior to their doing it that way. The great thing about this group is they reappear at some point in the Fit and Feisty group..well if they can stick with it long enough. 

The Trainers.. You can tell the trainer by looking at their rockin bodies and plus they will be with a client. They normally carry clipboards and they are usually (99 out of 100 times) fun and nice.

And last but not least The Older Crowd....There are usually a group of elderly people there for the sake of keeping active or sometimes rehab for injuries or illnesses.  I consider them the cute group.  Especially the older couples that walk the track together.  I love to see them.

(Note...what I consider the older crowd are the people in their late 70's and upward, the teenagers consider the 50+ year olds the older crowd.)

All of these groups that hit the gym every day or every other day could have been called a Gym Rat...until yesterday when things changed a bit.

This is Thought number TWO if you are making sure that I am on theme today.

Yesterday on the 5:00 news, there was a picture of a certain Congressman who was censored in the appropriate places with the big logo over him AND the words  Gym Rat  plastered over the bottom of the photo.    HEY, when did gym rat become another name for pervert with absolutely no self control??

Did the 5:00 news just disparage and the body builders, beauty queens, the ex-beauty queens and jocks,  the fit and feisty, the coffee clique, the clueless, the trainers, the older crowd and ME??

At my gym they have a thing called the lunk alarm:  Basically it is a huge button on the wall that you can push if someone is a jerk. It also, goes off by itself if someone drops a really heavy weight. This is what the Lunk Alarm looks like:

I am pushing the Lunk Alarm on anyone who feels the need to take crotch shot photography at their gym. 

Here is another kind of jerk at the gym.  Notice at the very beginning the lunk alarm is sounding already.

The Good for the Day...Usually the people are pretty nice at most gyms

The Bad for the Day...The butt heads that are rude, hog the equipment and have temper tantrums

The Weird for the Day...The guy in the video



Have you had any problems with rude people at the gym?  Or other kinds of problems with the gym?
Send a comment and you will lose all the weight you want or gain if need be. (promises, promises)






Come Join Top Sites Tuesday and be #1 on BlogDumps!
The purpose of this Meme is to encourage
Networking between bloggers to have fun while doing it!
Make sure to visit all the other participants and leave comments.
View More Top Sites Tuesday Participants on Technorati here.
See who Tweeted this Post!