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"We're not meat heads!"

Picture the scene - you're in a large room, filled with machines. These machines don't make anything, they don't churn anything out, and they don't fix anything. The room is full of particularly large men, usually bald, with big belts on and short sleeved tops. There are constant grunts coming from these men. No, this isn't a set for a porn film, this is a gym, and the machines are used for working out. And chances are, this is your idea of hell. But not for me, for me, this is just another day.

OK, how much of your life do you dedicate to NOT going to the gym? That much? Wow. Well that's as much as I dedicate my life TO going to the gym. How often do you consider going to the gym? That's as much as I consider NOT going to the gym. How much- Well, you get the idea.

Every time I've seen a photo of someone from these forums, they've been geeks. Nerdy weaklings, often with glasses. And you all seem to be quite good in school/college, which is usually an indication that you're nearly all kids who would rather sit at your computer or do homework than go to the gym. That, my friends, usually means you're rather skinny, and your view of the gym is that it's full of big sweaty blokes who have a shared IQ of a glass of water. Well, yes, fair enough, that is true of a lot of gym goers. But the rest of us? We're just like you... albeit stronger

You see, back in the day, I too, was a geek. Well, not your stereotypical Saved By The Bell geek, but I sure as heck wasn't built like Mr Universe, and even the fat kids could beat me in an arm wrestle. I'd see all the big kids who worked out at home getting loads of attention from the lasses, and let's just say it didn't put me in the best of moods. So when I was 16, I arranged with my mate (one of the kids who the lasses loved) to work out around his house one day. It was hard, and I do mean hard. But it wasn't so hard that I wanted to give up. In fact, the workout was nice and painless... compared to the next day, when the soreness kicks in. I was having a meal and I couldn't even hold up my bottle of Big Bud, that's how much my arms hurt.

But, I kept at it. I learnt that my school had a small gym, so I started going after school. Soon I was there every single weekday. I was at the gym so much I didn't even have time to do my homework (not that I would've done it anyway) After a while I actually had something to flex, and the beer belly that had started to develop was being turned into a washboard.

Now, two years on, I have weights at home, I go to Birtley gym once or twice a week with my mates, and soon I'm getting a punch bag in my garage so I can keep up my boxing abilities. And it's all good. Now I can get into arm wrestling competitions without the shame of being beaten in a matter of seconds. I can shift heavy objects around no problem. I can even hit a punch bag and make it move, instead of my fist just bouncing off. I've had lasses admire my pac and arms, and, most importantly, I've got a lot more self confidence. Gone are the days where I was to be terrified of every radgie who stopped me in the street. I'm not saying I can take on entire gangs of people, but I'd do much better in a fight now than I would have a few years ago.

Isn't all this worth going to the gym and getting a bit sweaty, feeling a little sore in the arms and legs the next day, and the pitiful cost of like £2 a trip? And let's not forget, the immense sense of achievement. When you have a look in the mirror, and see you actually have shoulders, you have biceps, you have a nice six pac coming in, there's nothing quite like it. You've worked hard and you've been rewarded. Just the other day I was shifting this big heavy chair around the house, and I realised how much difficulty I used to have moving it just a year ago. Yesterday I was lifting it up over my head with ease.

So don't write off the gym as pointless and a place where you go and just get hot and sweaty, and certainly don't write off the people who use it as meat head jocks. Because we're not like that. I'm still a geek at heart, I still like playing games on my computer, I still like Star Wars, and I still enjoy just messing around on the internet. But the difference is, I don’t look like a geek anymore. I'm fit, I'm healthy, I've got strength, I've got stamina and I've got a half decent looking body.

So give it a try, it may seem hard at first, but once you get into it, the gym will become part of your social life. And the rewards are great

Stryke wrote:
> Maybe, but I'm probably faster than you. And more intelligent.

-------

You assume too much

I used to work-out, but after a couple of weeks I started to notice that I was lob-sided, so I quit and took up smoking.

I used to go to the gym while I was at university for one reason: I didn't want to get fat.

I was drinking alot and eating unheathily, and I didn't want to put weight on. It was easier to go down the gym than it was to change my eating.drinking habbits.

So me an a couple of mates would go for a couple of hours two or three times a week. When I'm back to uni in September, I'll go again as I'll be drinking a lot more than I am now.

No I just go swimming a couple of times a week, again, for the simple reason that I don't want to get fat. And I actually enjoy it now. It's great to just do something physical for an hour. I can leave my brain at home and just get on with it.

So, I'm not vain. I just do exercise so that I can eat and drink whatver I want without putting on weight. And if that's vain, then so be it, but I don't look at it like that.

This is all getting very European in here.

Good on those that wish to "buff up", hope it works out for you.
Over in the next room, I shall be leading the group in a substained workout of smoking, drinking tea and watching "Ocean Girl"

I don't go to a Gym (most don't allow under 16s where I live, especially in the weight training areas) but over the past couple of years I've done lots at home. Just the normal stuff, sit-ups, press-ups, lifting weights etc. and it has made a difference. I'm hardly Mr Muscle Man but it's cool to see in the mirror that I look good.

It's not really being vain, I mean, there's nothing wrong with being proud of your body.

*flexes*

I can lift heavy stuff.
I can also smash through walls and catch evildoers, but I have to be really mad to do that - and when I come to, my clothes are ripped and I have no recollection of hulking out.

My spine hurts.

MoJoJoJo wrote:

> No, not really, but I'm probably harder than you

--

Maybe, but I'm probably faster than you. And more intelligent.

Pass the baby oil, brother ; )


argh!

Stryke wrote:
> Yes, yes, I'm sure you're rock hard. Idiot.

No, not really, but I'm probably harder than you

"weights are for idiots who think they rule because they can lumber about"

Lumber about? Sigh, this is exactly why I wrote the original post. People like you with misconceptions of the gym and the people who use them


"But i enjoy the post-workout feeling, relaxed, and having acheived something"

Exactly. Just finished some weights earlier tonight, felt knackered, but I know it's all good (man, I've been watching too much American TV, I keep saying that)

And, I do have to agree, working out can make you quite vain. It's just weird when you've grown up looking in the mirror and seeing a rather skinny little kid, then suddenly seeing something you can be proud of

*flexes*