Observations of Gym Rats

Last night I went to the gym for the first time since last February or March. I went because it was cold out and more importantly I had a stiff neck and could barely turn my head to the left. I don’t feel safe riding my bike when I can’t keep track of what’s going on around me.

I spent 50 minutes on the stair machine. I’m not talking about the stair steppers that you can easily pretend to be working out but not really doing much. I use the machine that is basically a few steps of a down escalator. If you can’t keep up, you get farther from the controls and you could dropped on the floor. I would much rather do the old Manitou Incline. At least then I can see that I’ve gone somewhere and the surroundings are pretty.

The stair machines are along the wall so you can see most of the gym. I made some observations about the people there broken down by gender.

I’ll start with the 3 types of women I noticed.

1. Very Fit and Generally Good Looking. It appeared staying fit was very important to them. Maybe they were also doing it for looks.
2. Skinny but Didn’t Look Fit. I couldn’t decide if they were at the gym to do a minimal workout to keep from wasting away or if they were trying to burn calories so they would waste away.
3. Overweight and Not Fit. I figured they were there in an attempt to lose weight but they’ll probably lose motivation soon.

I also came up with a list of 3 types for men. For this list I spent a tiny fraction of the time I spent making observations for the types of women.

1. Generally Fit. They looked like they were fit from other activities or sports and were just trying to get some exercise on a cold day.
2. Serious Iron Pumpers. These guys don’t seem to care about anything but adding more muscle. They don’t mind a little fat either as long as it makes them bigger.
3. Fat and Out of Shape. I’m not sure why they were there other than to lose some weight or maybe not get injured with the start of ski season.

Unfortunately if someone else was making these observations, they’d probably put me in the 3rd group of men. I’ve gained back all the weight I lost training for RAAM and I really need to quit drinking so much sugar. My BMI is exactly 30 which is the boundary between being merely overweight and obese. Of course I don’t think it accounts for having much muscle.

Genetically I’d be good for the 2nd group. Even in high school when I was skinny compared to now, the guys at the local bike shop would always tell me I should be a body builder instead of a cyclist. I hate lifting weights and want to be outside so I never considered making the switch.

Right now my focus is to build my base fitness and reverse the slope of my weight. Normally December is when I get motivated for the following season and I’ve found myself thinking a lot more about cycling and working out the last couple weeks. I have a list of races in my head of races I’m interested in doing next year. I won’t be able to do them all but I have plenty of time to figure out which ones to do. Most of them are mountain bike races. Right now I just need to focus on getting in some consistent training.

Tags: fitness, gym, weight loss

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