Feature Editorial By Jon Meade

"I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think its hell."--Harry S. Truman

"The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it."--Woodrow Wilson

Is going to the gym social or serious, or both?    Part I

     As much as modern gyms have evolved with high tech and elaborate contraptions to help people get in shape, it still hasn't changed much over the years in one major regard: People. Members. While the silent majority actually go to the gym to workout (their perception, that is), a louder and somewhat more boisterous number go to the gym for a host of other reasons besides working out, pushing their thoughtless indiscretions on unsuspecting others. And because of population growth and sheer (increased) volume, more people are going to gyms to get in shape than ever before, inducing this select minority to effectively, shall we say, cause grinding gym gridlock.

    Excuse me, but in my humble opinion, I think a gym is first and foremost a health-oriented sanctuary to workout, get in shape, and tax and challenge your body for wellness and growth. To me, a good analogy may well be going to a restaurant to enjoy a good meal. If you went there just to sit and socialize, without ordering the very food the restaurant offered, chances are the establishment would ask you to vacate the premises. Even with social interaction, eating is the primary objective at a dining table, despite whatever else personally goes on.

Copyright © 2003 Jon Meade/Boomerbodybuilding. All rights reserved.

    "Let's do lunch," as the Hollywood crowd likes to exchange, is very much a business and social "thing", but the participants always leave with their calorie quotas filled. When you think about it, despite both conversation and eating sharing the bill--they may not leave with an agreement or personal advancement, per se--but they usually always leave with their appetites being satisfied.

    That's how it should usually be at the gym: workout primary, social interaction secondary. You should also usually leave the gym with your workout being fulfilled. This is where my restaurant analogy stops because when members socialize in the gym it can greatly hinder other people's workout. After all, you don't share the same fork and table in a restaurant as you do the same equipment and floor space in a gym.

    With the normal interactions of people in a public place like a gym, social niceties and relationships are bound to occur in passing, and even on-going and long-term. But to just use a gym as a personal revolving door to meet others, and join in on group gatherings, rap sessions and platforms for political discourse, is plain inappropriate. It usually--if conducted as a primary activity--does not advance or contribute to the working and sweating environment which is the gym's original and stated intention. I'm not referring to normal pleasantries and cordial manners, which most gyms could use much more of, but rather ill-timed, inconsiderate behavior that's counterproductive to a working, productive and positive atmosphere of achievement and self-improvement--for all.

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And gym management often seems to turn a deaf ear and blind eye to the problem, failing first to recognize the grinding gym gridlock and secondly to take any action to solve the situation and "unjam" it. It's not hard to understand why you can often hear humblings of: "Does this gym ever really care about anything other than signing up new members and constantly pitching to secure more lucrative personal training gigs?

 A body can wonder?

     Next issue and update, I'll dig deeper into this social or serious gym question and dissect it from A to Zip-for-brains. 'Nuff said for now. Despite the frustrations dealing with the challenge--as motivational leader Tony Robbins would call it--ya gotta laugh. And laughing, even if it's just inside, is a good workout for the soul. So, I'll try and embellish my stories with as much good-natured humor as I can muster. After all, we all do want to raise our fitness levels at the gym, don't we, not our blood pressures.

    Final thought: "Human nature will not change."--Abraham Lincoln

    Right, Abe, and neither has the basic gym rat and all his variations. He just evolves amidst modern times.

    FITBIT: Granted this initital issue of Bodybytes is short, but I feel it at least packs a little punch! Small systematic steps may take longer, but no matter how small, each step gets you closer to that desired stage of success.