Workout Stereotypes (and some ranting)

One of the most fun things about training (if there is anything fun about training) is the people watching. Whether it be at the gym or out on the bike path, people are so gosh darn fun (or funny) to watch. Whenever you go to a gym, regardless of which one, there are always those people you expect to see. There is the grunter. I have never really understood why people grunt when working out? Does it burn more calories? Does it make your muscles stronger? Or is it just to draw attention to yourself? I used to think grunting was just for weightlifters and tennis players, but I've also heard them on the treadmill as well.


There are also the Arnold wannabes. The funny part about them is that they spend more time looking in the mirror than actually working out. The Arnold's can be broken down into two subgroups: those who pump out out 20 reps with the worst form ever and those who have great form but can only do one rep at a time. Both subgroups, following their rep(s) proceed to circling the weight room for approximately 10 minutes, checking themselves out in every mirror along the way, before doing more rep(s). It is clear that these guys didn't get bulky by weightlifting alone, because they hardly do enough to be that big.

There are the people who look like they've never been to a gym before or they just prefer to run in jeans and a button up.

There are the underwearless, yoga pants wearing young women whose whole workout consists of repeating downward dog in the middle of the most congested part of the gym.

There is also the anorexic who is always on the elliptical regardless of when you go to the gym. Instead of taking their money and handing them a membership card, the gym should give them a food bag instead.

There are also stereotypical people on the bike path as well. However, because there is less room on the bike path than in the gym, they are generally more annoying than funny. There are the people who walk down the middle or on the wrong side of the path. There are the people that let their dogs run free on the bike path (if I didn't like dogs as much as I do, this world would easily be minus 5 dogs this month alone). There are the people who walk three people wide on a path that is only big enough for three people. There are the people who don't know their left from their right ("Passing on your left"...person moves over to their left, stops, turns around, and has a confused look on their face when you almost hit them). There are the people who enter the bike path and never look before entering *cue confused face as to why they were almost hit*. I particularly hate the runners and casual cyclists who think it is ok to move in front of cyclists on road bikes, wearing cycling jerseys, while waiting at a stop light and then take off when the light turns green like they are really going stay in front of us for more than five seconds. Really, you are more in the way than you are cool *cue confused face as to why they were hit*.

Ok, enough of the ranting. The real reason why I am even talking about this are the people that make me laugh while I'm running or biking. I saw one such person while running this morning. A young man was walking down the path with a baggy t-shirt on that said "Extreme Couture". In addition to the "couture" t-shirt, he was also wearing a fishing hat, baggy khaki shorts, white socks pulled half way up to his knees, and sneakers. I had a hard time determining what about his outfit was couture, let alone "extreme couture".

A couple of days ago, I saw for the first time in months my favorite two bike path runners. I saw them at least once a week last summer, but hadn't seen them in quite some time. They are a pair of middle aged housewives who look like twins. Not only is it funny that they look exactly alike, but they also dress alike. To add insult to injury, they always dress like they are going to an aerobics class in the 80's. My favorite outfit yet was the shiny gold Spandex complete with gold headband.

1 comments:

Bengi said...


Awe, you tease us with the description of shiny gold spandex and no pictures shot with a casually aimed cellphone or something? Tragic.



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