In the middle of the gym, you are tearing up the machine. You’re not just in the zone, you’re the definition of “I could do this all day long.” Flashes of your spring break bod flood your mind. Suddenly, nearby you see a man mount an elliptical ... Why is this happening? That’s not the order of events. There’s a glitch in the matrix! This world’s not real. WHAT IS GOING ON?
With the modern man avoiding the elliptical like the plague, an event such as this would be cause to question reality. Why do men avoid ellipticals and even condemn others for using them? And why do women turn a sideways glance when a guy appears next to them on an elliptical?
I had never used an elliptical and didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. A few years ago I suffered a knee injury that now flares up occasionally which forces me into different cardio. At the time, I was informed by my trainer that I should not be working my knee over with 5-mile runs every day and suggested I try the elliptical.
Upon his recommendation, I considered the stationary motion contraption. I treated it like a stallion, approaching it from the side with my hands up, palms out, ready to run if it lunged toward me. There might have even been some “it's okay” and “shhh” as I climbed aboard the rickety off-kilter machine. My legs began to move in some swift backwards motion, and I lost all of the poise and grace I had accumulated in my life up until that moment. With arms akimbo I forced my feet forward, one at a time, until the oblong strides became a more fluid motion. I was doing it, and before I knew it, I was ellipticaling my way to a 500-calorie burn.
In college fitness centers there seems to be a distinct hierarchy and list of dos and don'ts for every individual brave enough to enter the arena. The double standards are endless, and it makes about as much sense as that time Bic tried to make gendered “Just for Her” pens. Men are ostracized from certain cardio machines, women are banned from the weight room, and overweight or visibly out of shape people deal with blatant disgust and disrespect.
As an avid gym-goer, and what my friends might call a fitness fanatic, I struggled to grasp these concepts. All I see is people staring at the individual breaking the Stepford gym norm like “You can’t join the mathletes. It’s social suicide.” Working out and living a healthy lifestyle are for everyone. Do you think we all just magically start out with six packs? This isn’t Sparta, try the next portal. To be frank, it’s not exactly highbrow stuff.
While we can’t all have the confidence of Kevin G., we all push ourselves out the door and to the gym to work on ourselves. This is an individual process! Even when you’re working with a personal trainer or “gyming it” with friends, the physical exertion you put forth is about self improvement. A trainer supports you, friends support you, so why tear someone else down because they are trying to work on themselves? Whether you want to partake in gym activities outside your prescribed role or not, I challenge you to consider why this is the way it is. … Any ideas? What’s with the haterade?
People are continually frustrated when machines or weights or mat areas are full. I am as guilty as the next ponytail-wearing, spandex-clad, Lululemon fanatic. But maybe we should look at all of this a bit differently.
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Gyms are for maintaining a physique. Right? Right. Except “maintaining” makes it sound like you already have a body with which you’re comfortable, and you’re just making sure it doesn’t buy a La-Z-Boy and move to Florida. I don’t know about you, but I know very few people who are actually comfortable with their bodies. Actually, the disappointment or unhappiness works as motivation to get to the gym in the first place. And those three extra fajitas from Taco Tuesday don’t make it any easier.
While some are indeed maintaining their physique, it is hard to believe that they did not do anything to achieve it. They may play a sport or have been playing sports for their whole life. Here are my sincerest congratulations: Congratulations!!! They might have gone through some transformation already where they were overweight or uncomfortable and got to the gym and made healthy choices to become who they are now (physically). However, whether it is genetics or a commitment to lifelong fitness that was imparted to you at age 3, there are two people who get forgotten: The ones who have not started yet and the ones inhibited from getting to the point of socially acceptable fitness, which is its own beast altogether.
Believe it or not, not everyone was on a club soccer team fresh out of the womb, played lacrosse for most of their life or even went on random jogs with their parents. Fitness is not already a part of everyone’s life, and college is a perfectly normal time to start really caring about health in a way that demands going to a gym. So, take a hot second the next time a degrading or rude thought pops up in your head and recognize this finely-tuned concept — we can’t all be you.
Secondly, there are individuals whose bodies will not let them lose any more of their weight. While it may look like an obese girl jogging along on her way to some kind of perceived social victory, remember she could have a thyroid issue. Recognize that you don’t know the whole story. It seems like a dumb, obvious question but, wouldn’t you rather be supported than torn down? Don’t other individuals deserve the same?
What if, when you got to the gym, you were gawked at and made fun of? It would make the gym even less welcoming, don’t you think? You get the sense that people don’t want you there, like this place is not for you. Instead of being in the zone, amped, belting Miley in your one-person show at the Madison Square Garden in your mind, you’re trying not to make anyone look at you or make anyone upset.
If someone makes it to the gym, kudos! As anyone who works out would probably agree, there are days even when the most dedicated of us just don’t want to be there. So when someone makes it to their workout, whether they are a regular, a weekend warrior or it's their first time floundering around a bench press, they’re already taking the hardest step toward being fit and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Bobby Boucher had it right, quit sipping haterade and pick up some H20.
My last three tidbits:
1. Support your fellow gym rats. Nothing says “You can do this!” quite like someone standing next to you saying, “You can do this!”
2. Giving your all is a huge part of working out. Try to remember that not everyone’s “all” is the same. And that even if you feel your all isn’t much, it's better than not being there.
3. Being fit doesn’t mean you fit into a certain clothing size. I’ve been in spin classes, yoga classes, bar method and every other wacky grouping of sweat-ready humans and let me tell you, fit doesn’t always mean thin. Girls and guys twice my weight will whoop my ass six ways to Sunday and crank out more calories than I could dream.
TL;DR: Getting to the gym is hard enough as it is, don’t beat up on people because they are doing something out of the norm. Fitness is for everyone. Support healthy lifestyles!
