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Oh, How I Hate the Gym


I hate gyms. I really do. And I always have. My first time in a gym was on October 31st in 2003. Gold's Gym in Provo. I thought that if I just went in, maybe it would not be so bad, and I could convince myself to join. The second I walked in, I realized it was a mistake. No way was I going to stay in that place longer than I absolutely had to. But it was too late. One of the sleek bodybuilding employees had already eyed a potential new customer and I could not escape his claws. I don't remember the details of our conversation because all I could think was: "I wanna get out of here. How am I gonna get out of here? Let me out of here!"

Finally, I made it out. And I did not set foot into another gym for 7 years.

Let me digress here for a minute. As an exchange student in high school, my "sister" Andee and I had sleep overs every single night. I loved everything about our sleep overs except this one poster she had in her room. It was disgusting. To me.


The above picture does not really do it justice but it is the best I could find. Andee's guy (I have to admit) had a cuter face. But he also had his pants lower. Way lower. Oh, and they were unzipped. I think. It does not even matter... You get the idea. We had endless debates over this guy. She loved him. All our other girl friends loved him. I hated him. I am not into guys that are into themselves and into their muscles. It does not even look good. At all. Their body image is screaming: "I spend all my free time in a little cubicle looking at myself in the mirror."

I ended up marrying a skinny endurance runner who I can almost beat in arm wrestling. I like it that way. End of digression.

Actually,

End of post as well. The title was going to be "Oh, how I hate/love the gym" but I changed it. Because I can do that. It is my blog and I can do whatever I want with it. I love freedom!

So, my next post will just be titled "Oh, how I love the gym". Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I will just write about a totally different topic. Who knows?


Comments

Nate + Carlee said…
No, Sarah you LOVE the gym. You LOVE it. Deep down inside I know you do. I saw how much you LOVED spin. What could be better than riding a fake bike (that's nothing like a real bike) in a small dark room with no ventilation? Just be grateful you didn't get the guy that makes you get off your bike and do squats. Really. However, it IS nice for those of us that are too wimpy to bike outside when it gets cold. This post totally cracked me up though because I had the same experience when I went into that 9th East gym the first time too, and "thunder" as I affectionately called him told me that "hummus beans" were very nutritious. Hmmmm. Also, I have to agree that I find the skinny endurance runners more attractive as well. Bulging muscles gross me out. Wow that was LONG! Sorry. I should have just called you back like a good friend would...miss you!
kar jar said…
Yep, a fellow grad student asked if my wife would be able to beat me up if we got in a fist fight, so the closest we could get to that was an arm wrestle. For the record, "almost beat" still implies losing. I had more at stake, so I had more adrenaline flowing (whew!). In any case, I went and admired my muscles in front of the mirror for a couple hours afterwards. :)

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