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03-25-2011, 04:24 PM
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#21
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Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 4,021
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When I belonged to the YMCA, I was social until some guy started talking to me and following me around from one piece of equipment to the next, trying to give me advice....uggh! After that I wore my ipod and stayed mostly in the women's section of the gym.
Now I don't go to the gym, I go to dance studio for a dance fitness class I'm hooked on. It is VERY social, and I love the friendships I am making there. We do lots of stuff outside of class together. In fact, we are all going out tonight for dinner. Women really do need their girl talk time!
__________________
simple girl
less stuff, more time
(55, married; Mr. Simple Girl, 59. FIRED 12/31/19!)
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03-25-2011, 04:25 PM
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#22
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Small town outside of Seattle
Posts: 444
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Now I did say I was anti-social but if someone actively engaged me in conversation I would recipricate. But I don't go out of my way to make that happen. I think now I have been there at this gym long enough that my pattern is pretty well established.
Frankly the few times I did have people talk to me was when I came back after breaking my hip. And then it was just more of 'how is the hip doing?' that sort of thing right before I started my workout or right after.
Afterwards or before I start my workout routine, I actually don't have a problem with talking, but if you try and engage me in the middle of the workout is when I think you would find me anti-social On the elliptical I push myself pretty hard so I doubt I could answer you.
I just find it such an interesting part of my social interactions as it is such a complete contrast to 'me'. I doubt anyone if you met me would ever think I could be that anti-social.
__________________
"There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way.” ~Christopher Morley
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03-25-2011, 04:35 PM
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#23
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Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,580
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Our HOA has an excellent gym which I use regularly. There are many opportunities to socialize in other parts of the clubhouse. In the gym, though, I'm not anti-social but I keep to myself.
A group of ladies uses the gym to socialize with occasional machine use, which I don't get. Normally I keep the tv on with no volume (3 LCDs for 6 ellipticals & treadmills) but they talk up a storm so when they're around I turn up the volume as much as I can stand (though I guess that makes me anti-social). They discuss botox and dating and there's only so much I can take. DW agrees - she says the place sounds like a henhouse when they're around.
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03-25-2011, 05:56 PM
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#24
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Los Angeles area
Posts: 1,708
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I am anti-social at the gym (as I am most everywhere else), too focused on the workout. I don't remember ever talking to anyone there, in the 28 years since I joined. I rarely even look up much. I find an MP3 player too distracting too. If someone is on a piece of equipment I want to use, I just exercise out of sequence, or skip that piece entirely.
__________________
learn, work, save, invest, fire
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03-25-2011, 06:26 PM
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#25
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 22,983
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I probably chat a little with 10 people a day. My gym is in the city, and mostly young people after work go there so they are not particularly chatty with me. I knew one Russian guy who had been center for the Trailblazers, we got pretty friendly but then I moved nearer to another gym. I would like to meet more older men, but they are sometimes not easy to meet, or necessarily all that easy to like once you have met them.
I enjoy talking to people often, and many other people also enjoy it, but of course many do not. Easy to tell usually before I would ever open my mouth who might like a little chit- chat and who likely would not.
Americans are kind of closed. Sometimes I see a young man and a young woman sitting on a bench, both buried in their I-phones or I pods or whatever piece of technology they are currently in love with.
Ha
__________________
"As a general rule, the more dangerous or inappropriate a conversation, the more interesting it is."-Scott Adams
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03-25-2011, 06:39 PM
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#26
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NC Triangle
Posts: 5,807
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Great topic. I do not use gyms except when traveling (sufficient equipment and time at home), and don't think them a particularly suitable place for socializing, since we all steenk after a half hour or so. But for those who are already FIRE'd: if you work out, do you prefer a gym membership or just work out at home and outside?
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03-25-2011, 07:08 PM
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#27
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,472
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steelyman
Great topic. I do not use gyms except when traveling (sufficient equipment and time at home), and don't think them a particularly suitable place for socializing, since we all steenk after a half hour or so. But for those who are already FIRE'd: if you work out, do you prefer a gym membership or just work out at home and outside?
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I'm retired, and I do all of those. We go to the gym three days a week for an hour, and I ride my recumbent bike at home in the evenings for a half hour.
When it is beautiful outside, of course we take advantage of it as well. My dear friend rides his trail bike in his neighborhood every afternoon when he can. However the weather is so changeable in New Orleans (and so hot in the summer) that it isn't always pleasant to exercise outside.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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03-25-2011, 07:21 PM
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#28
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NC Triangle
Posts: 5,807
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W2R
However the weather is so changeable in New Orleans (and so hot in the summer) that it isn't always pleasant to exercise outside.
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This is a big deal to me. I was offered a position in Baton Rouge a little while ago, but I knew I would be miserable in the difficult seasons, despite how much I like the area during the times I have visited (fall). Instead, I am hoping to move to the nearer south (I am currently in the midwest, which has its own issues, for sure...)
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03-25-2011, 07:38 PM
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#29
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,472
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steelyman
This is a big deal to me. I was offered a position in Baton Rouge a little while ago, but I knew I would be miserable in the difficult seasons, despite how much I like the area during the times I have visited (fall). Instead, I am hoping to move to the nearer south (I am currently in the midwest, which has its own issues, for sure...)
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If you can afford a gym and/or your own home gym, then you have the luxury of not having to be rained on or be concerned with the weather report, no matter where you are.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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03-25-2011, 07:40 PM
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#30
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NC Triangle
Posts: 5,807
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Truer words were never spoken. Good point.
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03-25-2011, 07:41 PM
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#31
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Small town outside of Seattle
Posts: 444
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Interesting. For me even though I am anti-social at the gym. I hate...no let me rephrase that..I loathe working out at home. I just don't do it. But if I get my butt up and TO the gym then I will exericise like a maniac. At home I find too many distractions. Maybe it is because if I go to the gym, and try and slink out early I would be too self conscious? Who knows, all I know is that I prefer the gym. I have tried to do it at home and I just can't find it in me to exercise. Ah..humans, ain't we interesting at how we justify things?
__________________
"There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way.” ~Christopher Morley
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03-25-2011, 07:50 PM
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#32
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,472
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Well, I just wait until the best TV show of the evening is on and then get on my snazzy new Schwinn recumbent bike with its comfy seat, nifty color console, and great programmed rides, and pedal like a maniac while I watch TV. That doesn't take much self discipline. It's kind of fun.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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03-25-2011, 07:51 PM
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#33
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NC Triangle
Posts: 5,807
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I might be fortunate in that I have a dedicated place at home to do this. I realize many do not. I do appreciate your attitude about it, though. Working out is a PITA, no matter where it is. But a beautiful spring or summer day helps, especially if you live in the frozen tundra.
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03-25-2011, 08:21 PM
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#34
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 605
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While I am working out, I almost always have my ipod/earbuds so that limits any socializing. I'd say more than half the people I see at the gym have on a headset or earbuds, although there are a few people who seem to go to socialize.
I try to be pleasant and smile and say hello to those I see on a regular basis, but I rarely have a conversation with any of them. I do, however, sometimes chat before or after my workout with some of the staff and a couple of friends who happen to belong to the same gym.
One thing I don't get are the people who just sit on the equipment having a conversation. It's never yet held me up, but I wouldn't hesitate to ask them to relinquish the equipment if they weren't using it.
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03-25-2011, 10:32 PM
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#35
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,487
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i have a gym membership but haven't been using it much lately since i have a pretty good treadmill, and a combination rowing machine/recumbent bike at home. I know I should do weight training but I really loathe doing it. When I do go to the gym, I will nod or say hello, but I never have a conversation. I prefer to keep to myself, do what I came to do, and get on my way.
All of that said, i have not used the treadmill or gone to the gym since the Japan earthquake and tsunami, as the government has asked us to save electricity. So I've just been running outside when the weather and temp is good enough to do so. I need to get back on the recumbent in the evening for 30 min or so. It does not use much power (just for the resistance magnets), but I think it will be a while before I get back on the treadmill.
R
__________________
Find Joy in the Journey...
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03-26-2011, 05:37 AM
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#36
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,200
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I work out at home. I have a Bowflex, some free weights and a treadmill. I also walk or ride (my fav form of exercise) outside weather permitting. I work out first thing in the AM, usually watch The Daily Show (DVR), local news/weather or natl news while I work out. I can make breakfast while still cooling down and then jump into my own shower after cooling down (as opposed to jumping in right after a workout at a gym).
I can't imagine paying for a gym membership - more money, more time, competing for equipment/lockers/showers, less hygenic, etc.
The local gyms I have been to seem to be about socializing, networking and showing off (see I work out!) first and foremost, not that the members don't indeed work out while there. For anyone who wants to work out and socialize, a gym membership would be nirvana.
YMMV
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No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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03-26-2011, 06:15 AM
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#37
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,543
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I have a bowflex, dumbbells and treadmill at home, so no socializing there. No socializing while hiking and biking, except on the Friday hikes with my BIL and his dog.
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03-26-2011, 08:40 AM
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#38
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Administrator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,050
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We decided this morning that we'll join the local gym here for the next 6 months while on holiday. Even though we plan to get in lots of walking, we don't want to neglect the rest of the muscle groups.
We had a look around the place and it is very small and was very quiet the day we went. Can't remember if there is an area to sit around and socialize, but it is on the same street as a couple of coffee shops so I don't expect to do much socializing in this particular gym.
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Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
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03-26-2011, 08:50 AM
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#39
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: West Tx
Posts: 1,392
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I'm so anti social at the gym, that I only work out at home with the equipment we have. I have no problem doing it at home, but can't get up the motivation to go to a gym around a bunch of people.
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03-26-2011, 08:58 AM
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#40
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gone traveling
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Eastern PA
Posts: 3,851
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack
I work out at home because I don't want to socialize during a workout.
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Same here; that's why I have a treadmill and Bowflex at home.
Also, it's easier to just hit the equipment when I want to (being retired) rather than getting in my car, especially on a cold, snowy winter morning.
Being an introvert and having my home gym works for me...
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