the gym

With my cracked hip bone and 80 year old body telling me I need to stop running for awhile, I decided to join a gym. I settled on Gold's... mainly because they have a location just a few short skips away from my office. Getting myself motivated after I am already home from work is anything short of a miracle. So, I figured this would help with that problem....Hello best idea ever! I joined a little over a month ago, and I have very much enjoyed going. I bring my clothes to work, I don't have to worry about parking, and I can just walk down there whenever I am finished at the office.

For some reason (one I can't really figure out) I get shy at the gym. I feel out of place with all the weights, I tense up and I just want to keep to myself, work out, and then get out. The downtown location seems to be good for me. It's small and (depending on the time of day) not overly crowded. Everything is great... except for 1 small problem... the guys there are creepers!!

Example 1- I get to the gym around 10:30 on a random Saturday morning & it is almost empty... Perfect in my opinion! I get on the stair elliptical, turn up the iPod and get to work. About 30 minutes into it, this random dude who works there walks by, stops in front of me and starts talking to me. He introduces himself and says, “Hey. I would be happy to give you your free training session that you received when you signed up”, and then walked away. I figured okay, that’s odd, but, whatever. A few minutes later, he comes back with his card (cell phone on the back, of course). I say thanks, and figure that’s it. NOPE! He decides it would be a good idea to stand on the stair elliptical next to me (not work out- STAND) and say "I have some time to spare, so I figured I would talk to you." OH.MY.GOSH. By this time, I am sweating, breathing hard and in no mood to be polite to this guy who thinks this is okay. I take my head phones out and say "What?" So he STANDS on the machine and starts asking me random small talk questions. I try to be polite, but also try to give out a vibe that says “HELLO! I AM NOT INTERESTED. I am here to work out- not talk to random guys.” It didn’t work. He stayed for maybe 10-15 minutes. I ended up leaving the gym before I was finished. He annoyed me.

Example 2- This happened to a friend of mine. She was minding her own business, doing crunches on a bench. The bench is located kind of under the stairs. She had her iPod in. This rando comes up to her (while she is in the middle of her crunches) and says, "Looks like you are in the zone." First off- Way to go on the worst pick up line ever. So, she takes out her ear phones and says what? He repeats himself. Her response- oh, yeah, I guess so... He doesn't seem to get the hint. "You should put a poster of a guy on that wall so you have someone to stare at when you do crunches." Once again, I say OH.MY.GOSH. Seriously?! He then proceeds to tell her he wants a picture of Halle Berry to be taped everywhere in the gym, so he can stay motivated at all times. She did the awkward smile thing and put her music back in. He finally got the hint and walked away.

I could keep going but I think you get the picture. While the gym is a great place for me to go while I can't enjoy running around Town Lake, I do not appreciate the boys who attempt to pick up girls at the gym. Now, I am FULLY aware that I am not the only girl they hit on. In fact, I am 100% confident they hit on every girl in the place. So, please don't think I am walking around the gym thinking I am hot stuff... trust me... I am not. I asked a bunch of girlfriends their opinions and we are all in agreement- leave us alone! It's not attractive. It's not cool. It doesn't make us feel good about ourselves. Stop it. Leave girls alone at the gym! :)

**Please feel free to share any of your funny gym stories. I know I am not the only one who has them.**