Meat Market
Posted by : CP
Whether you like it or not, going to the gym can sometimes feel like going to the club. It has become a social establishment, a place to spend time with friends or even meet that special someone.
Much like a college library and local church, people aren’t just going to the gym for the purpose intended, they’re also going because there are a bunch of eligible, good looking, forward thinking people there.
People who religiously (pun intended) go to church, the library, or the gym are like-minded and surprisingly low in number. Around 20% of Americans are attending church regularly and less than 12% of students are spending more than 25 hours per week studying. More still, with only 18% of the American population going to the gym on a regular basis, your passion for health and wellness is shared by very few people.
And what better place to meet someone? Match.com has nothing on the gym! If you want to see someone’s true colors, watch them in the gym. Hard worker, lazy, attentive, humble, loud, shy, gaudy, efficient, talker, etc; you see it all. Plus, if they look halfway decent all red-faced and sweaty, then imagine what they look like put together.
Looking forward to seeing a pretty face can also motivate you to go to the gym more frequently. Don’t tell me you won’t grind out a few more reps if your gym crush happens to be walking by.
There is a community in the gym, the people you’re sweating on live and work in the same places you live and work. If you’re a regular, you get to know the other regulars. You randomly see them at the movies, on the train, and you go to the same grocery store and judge what’s in their basket. Humans are social animals; it’s only natural that we make friends and other connections. These are your friends, say hi!
But just like the library and church there is a time and a place for everything. You wouldn’t hit up the cutie in church in the middle of a sermon, you don’t mess with the dude studying in the cube during finals week, and you don’t approach the girl in “the zone” sweating her ass off with headphones on at the gym.
Just don’t force it. Let it be natural, don’t jump into a Zumba class just because of the chick in the red yoga pants. That also goes for signing up for personal training because of the hot trainer with the curly hair, ripped abs, and doey brown eyes. 
But if you’re getting the flirty eyes from Elliptical Girl, and you’re interested, give them back. If Andy Abdominals is always grabbing the spin bike next to yours, chat him up. Or wait until after class when your heart rate is pumping and your endorphins can put “beer balls” to shame.
Me, I’m a gym purist, I go to the gym to workout, not hang out – headphones on – in my own world. But I’m old school, a dying breed, slowly but surely adapting to the changing world around me. Compression shirts and sweat-proof makeup on are the new normal. Live with it.
The gym isn’t just a place for hardcore fitness enthusiasts anymore. People go to the gym to chat, they go to read the paper while riding the stationary bike, and couples go on gym dates (yes, this is a thing). So if Elliptical Girl wants to flirt with Andy Abdominals, don’t judge. What does it matter; as long as they’re not doing it in front of the machine you’re trying to use.
