Gym Social Hour

In the 82nd Airborne Division, we do physical training every morning from 6:30 to 8:00 am. Most people spend this workout time jogging down the street. I like to do as many workouts as possible outside, but I have to do my Olympic and power lifting workouts in the gym. The gym is usually fairly empty, except for rainy days.

Today was a rainy day. I HATE rainy days. Rainy days bring everyone inside to the gym. So today the gym was overcrowded with a bunch of people who use the gym as a social gathering, and not a training center. They spend an hour standing around in groups talking about god knows what. Every once in a while they may knock out a "super intense" set of concentration curls or something equally worthless. They take up space, air, and equipment that serious lifters could be using.

The worst thing about social lifters is that they try to distract you. They come over and try to start a conversation with you. I don't talk when I'm working out. I don't do anything that will take my focus away from the exercise. I used to complete my set and then talk to the person so they would stop bugging me, but that took away my concentration and my next set would suffer. Now I just avoid the whole conversation. I avoid it by looking very angry. Every time I work out in a public gym I put on the angriest face I can muster. The angrier people think you are, the less likely they are to come over and talk to you. If the angry face doesn't deter gym pests, then I resort to the "stare of death." My wife can attest to my exceptional ability to tell someone to go away with a single look.

Sure...People call me anti-social in the gym. Sure...people think I ignore them. They're right. I am anti-social in the gym, but while I'm pushing myself during each and every set they are standing there talking. Five years from now I'll be bigger, stronger, and faster. They'll still be talking.