Going to the gym is supposed to be cathartic and stress relieving. Its supposed to be a way to maintain a healthy balanced lifestyle, promote happiness, and create clarity and serenity. These are all bogus concepts. Sure, the gym is SUPPOSED to do all the above, but everyone knows the gym experience is an awkward experience, and if you weren’t feeling uncomfortable before your workout, just know that things are going to get weird during it.
Here are 5 awkward experiences for ladies that frequently hit up the gym.
1. The Familiar Weights Guy: If you stick to a pretty routine workout schedule, you’ll find that every time you go to the gym, you’’ll keep seeing some of the other gym rats that keep to their lifting schedule. You see some buff dude’s face (and cute butt?) every day, you know what he lifts, you know his taste in music since its blaring through his headphones, so you think you know him, right? Wrong. You don’t know his name and he doesn’t know yours, and you consistently make awkward eye contact whenever you pass by each other on the way to the water fountain or during a set. It’s at that point where you strangely feel like you should say hi to each other or smile at him, but in reality its WAY too awkward, because he’s a stranger, not your friend.
2. The Nosey Runner: I don’t know what it is, but every time I step onto a treadmill and begin to run, the person on the treadmill next will look over at my treadmill screen and consistently peak at my pace, time, and distance. This is painfully awkward, and I almost feel like they’re cheating off my test or something. Are they judging my miles per hour? Are they laughing at my lack of incline? Do they think I’m not burning enough calories? (RUDE!) Whenever this awkwardness occurs I secretly want to shield my treadmill and tell the not-so-sneaky peaker to mind his or her own business, but that’s just too much effort, and to be honest, I’m peaking at their treadmill too.
3.    The Squat Stare: Squats are an exercise that everyone must do to maintain that super trendy big booty look happening, and it also helps build muscle which burns more fat than just cardio. It’s necessary, and it’s good for you, but its also super awkward. If you squat and you make eye-contact with someone else, it automatically feels weird. You feel like you are doing something scandalous, when really all your trying to do is burn some cals. Instead, all you can think about is “that guy is staring at my butt and this is weird.”
4.    The Lifter’s Grunt: Obviously the best way to lift weights is to lift heavy weights. You aren’t about to get super swol swinging around some 5-pounders. However, every now and then, when you begin to lift the heavier weights and you get to the end of your set, a small, awkward, sound of struggle slips from your lips and you cant even control it. you try twisting your face and grit your teeth but again, the noise of pain and suffering slips out again, and everyone can hear that your struggle is real.
5.    The Inefficient Sports Bra: Ladies, if you have boobs (which you do) you know that the twins make things for an awkward gym experience. Yes. We have tatas. Yes. They move when we run. Despite the uncomfortable constraining the sports bra (or the double sports bra) does, it cant guarantee pure immobility. So WHY, literally WHY do people STILL stare when it happens? Its nothing new. It’s extremely common, yet some how men AND women will stare. It makes things uncomfortable for any lady, because all we want to do is go to the gym without worrying about people staring at us. We want our “me” time, but instead we get “boob time with boob-watchers.” Definitely not ideal, and definitely awkward.
Ladies, I’m not saying that I’m going to stop going to the gym, but I do wish it could be a more enjoyable experience. Perhaps one day we will all be able to have our own personal trainers to come to our own homes, so we don’t have to worry about the awkwardness of the gym experience. But for now, we must gym on, and so the awkwardness remains. Â