Rolling Stone magazine tossed out the baby with the bathwater in 1983 when they listed that health clubs were the daytime nightclub in their cover story: Looking for Mr. Goodbody. They were a great place for people in their early 20s to hook up with other people in their 20s. Men and women alike went to gyms to meet other men and women. They met them, they dated them and they really enjoyed themselves.
Gyms were also repositories for hard bodies looking for other hard bodies. Olivia Newton-John glorified this image in her song and subsequent video Physical. This is still a popular image that many people hold in their minds when they think about joining a gym. The problem you run into with this image is that it’s a turn off for some people who need to hit the gym most.
Truth Be Told
Gyms aren’t singles bars anymore. In fact, you’ll find most people at the gym are more interested in checking out their heart rates than they are the people who are on the equipment. If you’ve ever seen the movie Perfect staring John Travolta, never fear – you are not going to the gym to try and see who can pick you up or whom you can pick up.
People go to the gyms to get fit. You can work out on a machine right next to a hard body and there are no lascivious looks, no flirting and no sexual politics, In fact, between the televisions along the walls, the personal music systems and even magazines – most gym goers may be sharing the same physical space; but mentally they are a million miles away.
A third of most fitness club members are ages 35 to 54 and nearly another third is made up of those over the age of 55. This should hardly surprise anyone as the baby boomers make up one of the largest generations in the country and they are all over the age of 50 and getting older.
Health & Fitness are a Priority
More of us head to the gym because the doctors are sending us there, our waistlines are sending us there or articles like this are encouraging us to go. We are going to get healthy and to get fit. We are looking to rid ourselves of excess inches and not worried so much about how we look in a pair of leg warmers. Going to the gym isn’t the social club – it’s about a positive mental and physical space where you can be all you can be.
So don’t worry if you look like you should be on the cover of a fitness or fashion magazine. Don’t worry about others looking at you or judging you. The judgment most other gym goers are going to make when they see you at the gym is – hey – they are using the machine I want to use – do they have another one of those around here?