The longer I’ve been going to the gym regularly, the more I’ve started to pick up on patterns of attendance amongst gym patrons.
Also, yes, this is yet another random post about my reflections on going to the gym that I’m using as a crutch on a night where I didn’t know what else to write about and happened to come up with a vague idea while actually at the gym. Figured I’d lampshade this post now and get it out-of-the-way.
Also also, yes, I’ve said ‘gym’ five times at this point, less than 100 words in.
It’s just going to be that kind of post.
Shattered fourth wall aside, let’s get into business patterns like I established up top.
For the most part I’ve noticed the same kind of thing repeatedly. During the week, particularly Mondays and Tuesdays, a lot more folks are at the gym later in the afternoon than earlier in the day — though I admittedly haven’t gone super early in the morning to check that timeframe.
But then on the weekends, and Fridays to some extent, it’s empty at night during the same periods that are booming during the week.
Though on the surface level this difference seems a little bizarre, it actually makes a lot of sense when you think about general work week scheduling.
During the week, anyone who doesn’t get up before the sun rises to work out as a wake-up maneuver is stuck in work or school for hours on end during the day. Thus they have to go to the gym at night.
Hell I’m personally a victim of long day scheduling even this semester. My Tuesdays and Wednesdays have me out from 11:00 a.m. to at least 7:00 p.m., not encompassing the drive home. Even on my shorter Mondays and Thursdays I’m not home until at least 3:00 p.m. or so.
The weekends, however, are different.
Nobody wants to necessarily go to the gym over the weekends. Those are the free days where people spend time with their families, go out to do chores or whatever they might want/have to do when not stuck in true obligations.
So unless you’re a real gym nut, or trying to keep yourself honest and get better like me, why would you go on the weekends?
To be fair I don’t even really go until late at night on the weekends despite having most of my days open because I just get lazy. I spent time with my family, I play video games, etc.
That’s how I wind up in the gym at 7:00 p.m. with a relatively small slice of gym goers, from my experience.
It winds up being a funny experience to me because I stare around at the odd collection of vaguely goth-looking girls on the exercise bikes, somewhat heavy gentlemen doing squats between the rows of machines, old folks meandering on treadmills with their walkers set next to the apparatus and so many others thinking…
What are you all doing here on a Saturday night?
Which of course leads me to the inevitable conclusions that I, too, am at the gym on a Saturday night alongside all of them. Dealing with the newly ordered machines, avoiding the construction in the bathrooms and just sweating away. To whatever ends they might be aiming for.
I do sort of wish I could just walk up and ask for their stories without it being bizarre or creepy. Perhaps I will one day if I want to do a story about that for some outlet I land in.
But for now, imagining little headcanons for each of them is plenty fun.
Plus there’s something vaguely unifying about the thought, even if most of my time is spent tunnel visioned on the routine I’ve set up for myself while listening to podcasts or watching videos.
Even if today all I found myself thinking about was whether they noticed my brand new haircut or not.
I’m more than aware that slipping this photo in for the sake of confirming the existence of my new doo (which I feel the need to confirm for some reason) will make it appear as a featured image on social media, thus confusing everyone about the purpose of this post and making it seem as though I’m using myself as a weird bit of clickbait.
But uhh… Guess that’s just how it goes.
Good thing I’m the only one that worries myself over things like this, right?
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