Other Things

Monday is the day.  Come hell or high water, I start running again.  For a week.  After that I'll be gone for a week, working at the state 4-H camp, which I do every summer.  I'm finding it is tough to blog about my running when I'm not actually doing any running, so I have to resort to talking about some of my other training activities.

I hate most of the people at the gym.  I don't often say that I hate someone or something, especially not complete strangers.  But for about 90% of the people who use the YMCA gym, I make an exception - I really just don't like them.  I have a variety of reasons for these feelings (not the least of which is a burning envy when I see someone on the treadmill while I am on the injured list).  How many of them are actually accomplishing what they joined the gym to do (get in shape, lose weight, gain muscle, etc.)?  Very few.  Probably less than a quarter.  If you've been doing something for an extended period of time, months or even years in some cases, without results, why wouldn't you do something different?  I'm all for patience and long term goals, but you should see some progress along the way, sometime, right?

I don't dislike them all.  There are some that I like very much, for one thing or another that I see them do.  Since I don't know them, I give them fun nicknames to pass the time while lifting, based on the things that I see them doing.  These nicknames change over time.  Right now, they're superheroes and TV/movie personalities:

Clark Kent/Superman - This guy is a freight train.  Every day, every exercise, he's lifting heavier than everyone else.  Lots of big guys will grunt and yell and celebrate when they complete a big lift.  He never does.  He just quietly continues to work hard and get bigger and stronger.  He's polite, humble, and never seems to be in the way like so many of the other big guys tend to be.

Lois Lane - A brunette that lifts weights rather than spending all of her time on the machines.  I call her this because she clearly has a thing for Superman, she's the only one who he ever really talks to at the gym.  It's like a soap opera on mute - for an hour a day, I watch this play out without any idea what the dialogue is.  I'm almost certain at some point, one or more of the three of us will leave the gym, or switch our workout time, or something to put an end to my fascination with these strangers.  At that point, I'll write the two of them a happy ending - which I will of course share with all of you.

The Fantastic 4:  The next 4 guys workout together when they're all at the Y around the same time.  While they're no more productive than anybody else, they are very courteous and friendly, and they're such an odd group to see assembled together.  They are:

Brad Garret - Tall, with dark curly hair, and just generally goofy looking.  He actually doesn't look that much like Brad Garret, but something about how he acts and looks reminds me of Brad Garrett.

Fat John C. Reilly - This guy looks exactly like John C. Reilly would look if his face were just a little fatter.  Too bad he doesn't sound like him as well, that would be pretty amusing.

The Godfather - He's in his 60s, about 5'3", 100 pounds - but much stronger than you'd ever expect someone his size and age to be.  He doesn't even look muscular.  He looks a little like he might have been a mobster at some point - dark Mediterranean skin complexion, wears button up shirts with an extra button open at the top outside of the gym, and always has a gold chain on - even when working out.  He doesn't say much.  I saw him bench press 185 pounds twice one day though, so whatever it is he's doing, it's working.

The Zohan - So he doesn't really look much like Adam Sandler (don't pretend like you don't know what shitty movie I'm talking about).  But his high, flopped over hair makes me think of that terrible abortion of a film (I also thought of him as Ace Ventura at one point).  He always wears sleeveless shirts, and has big biceps but nothing else. 

My manager also works out at the Y.  He's lost a lot of weight - after his 40th birthday, he started working out (both cardio and strength) and paying attention to his diet.  He's considerably healthier now.


Every coin has two sides.  There are some people at the gym (or categories of people) that I have a specific hatred for.

Ex-military guy - He's a big fat muscle guy who used to be in some branch of the military, he's in his 50s maybe.  I've overheard him talking to other soldiers (or ex-soldiers) who also use the gym.  He also happens to be a racist, from the things I've overheard him saying about Muslims.

Personal trainers - all of them, whether they are paid, or a husband giving his wife direction, or a friend trying to help out.  They impart their wisdom, gleaned from half-reading articles on sports sites and magazines, encourage us to do thing that they themselves don't understand the purpose of, and inspire us to laziness.  There were a couple of women lifting weights the other day, using weights light enough that they were conversing while exercising.  What's that supposed to do?


Thanks for listening to my rant.  I am eagerly looking forward to running again, so that I have something better to write about...