I used to be that person at the gym.
The one on the treadmill dressed in a ratty old t-shirt with holes in the sleeves and also along the hemline. The one heading to a Body Pump class wearing layers of cotton, rather than layers of lycra.
It was 2008, and I was developing an interest in exercise. But I was also working at a video store, and found it difficult to justify spending my incredibly hard-earned dollars (it was essentially slave labour – I had to alpabetise the DVDs every damn DAY) on things like t-shirts made out of sweat-wicking material.
While I could find it within myself to afford the gym (student prices, woo!), I couldn’t afford the wardrobe. And so my gym clothes consisted of…
– A pair of old cotton shorts with “HAWAII” printed across the bum, purchased in 2002 and two sizes two small
– A pair of dance pants, left over from after-school-activities days, with flares that wouldn’t have been out of place at a dress-up party
– One old school shirt, made of vaguely sweat-wicking material
– One extremely oversized NRL jersey, won in a raffle.
Oh, and was I ashamed. The gym was, and remains to be, a sea of either cute or at least relatively practical workout outfits, and I was extremely out of place.
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from the blokes perspective
the ones that stand out are the girls and ladies that wear the clothing that reveals all those cracks curves and crevices (front and back).
Some times it's a Woo hoo! other times it's an 'Arghh, look away look away!' kind of moment.
It's probably more women than i notice too, but they don't look any more comfortable.
Today I looked around at the gym and had an epiphany. Spandex is a form of ugly woven plastic. It is a long skinny string of petroleum by-product knitted into a hideous body sock. It is usually swathing someone with either a bulbous butt or a skillet butt. And when sometimes seen on a perfect butt, it tends to suggest by revealing essential physical mysteries, that the wearer is intellectually bland and superficial . Because it is expensive, gym wear is now widely regarded as a precious fashion item. It sucks up sweat at about $5 a square inch. It is what the Emperor would wear. Viva la cotton!