Tag Archives: Gym

Kind of people you see at a Thai Gym

A few months ago, I joined a gym. I was not getting any younger and thought I should take better care of my health. I started going 2 months ago, and thankfully am able to maintain discipline. In these 2 months, I had a chance to observe the other patrons and categorise them.

The Gym Bodybuilder

The bodybuilders are serious about working out. One look at their physique and it is clear that they have been working out for years. They don’t come to the gym to undertake in any kind of nonsense; they know exactly what they want to do, do it and leave. They hardly talk to anyone.

The No-Forms

Mostly men, the sole aim of these guys is to lift as much as possible. Form be damned. Looking at them, it is clear that they are lifting way beyond what they should. In fact some of them have movements which are borderline funny. Almost like dancing. Or like fits.

The Gym Grunters

These are mostly men and with each rep, they let out a savage grunt which can be heard well outside the gym. The surprising thing is that they grunt like this even when lifting lighter weights. The only reason I can think they do this is for attention. They want everyone to look at them while they are lifting, so end up sounding like cavemen. At the end of each set, they also throw their barbells/dumbbells with such force as to shake the floor.

The Social Media champs

These people spend more time on their phones than working out. Most of the time they are glued to their phones and in between their social media chores, manage to do a few sets. They also ask the trainers to take pictures & videos of them working out.

The Technical Guys

These guys calculate everything. They calculate exactly how much time it took for them to complete a set. Time their rest period to the second between sets. They also obsess over their heartbeat rates and select their weights according to it.

The Busybodies

These guys are always busy doing something. Between sets they are always fiddling with their weights continuously or doing some light exercises. They never sit still and always fidgeting around.

The Swole Ladies

These ladies are seriously ripped. They are the female versions of the gym bodybuilders. They are no nonsense and take their workouts very seriously.

The attention-seeking ladies

Mostly Thai women, who spend at least an hour getting ready for the gym. They all come in expensive cars and have personal trainers at their disposal. They spend less time working out and more time being massaged/fondled/chatted up by their trainers. Most of them are already in good shape so for them, the gym is just a social get together. I find them the most irritating.

The Gym clean freaks

Mostly Thai men and women, they use sanitisers to wipe the bench/seat before and after every exercise. Not only the benches, they also wipe the dumbbells/barbells/handles. They have accepted that no one except them will go to such lengths to maintain hygiene and are cool with it.

The Fatties

These people are morbidly obese. They confine themselves to the cardio section of the gym and rarely waddle into the weights section. They dress inappropriately as per their body shapes and are always dripping with sweat. Strangely, they don’t exercise too much. They move very slowly on their treadmills/bicycles/rowing machines; their exercises are very low intensity. However, they are in the gym for hours. When leaving, they always act as if they had a very intense workout and are beat. It doesn’t bother them that they have made no progress in months.

Worthless Life

Hello. My life has become worthless lately. Reasons:
1. I don’t go to the gym anymore. My usual excuses are that I go to office in the evenings and wake up in the afternoon so I can only go to gym in the afternoon. The problem is only very expensive gyms are open in the afternoon.
2. I don’t play the guitar anymore. The thing I prided upon doesn’t matter much anymore. It doesn’t matter that I could once play the whole opening leads for the “Hell freezes over” version of Hotel California. My excuse is that the fret board is bent and I can’t find a place to repair here
3. I eat junk food everyday. I eat at nirulas or some other fast food joint everyday. I also have atleast a litre of coke everyday. Weekends are special binge fests with more food and alcohol thrown in.
4. I still spend more than I earn. Though I use buxfer and it has controlled my spendings I still end up spending a lot of money.
I’m still a long way off from financial stability. My only consolation is that I don’t really need financial stability at this point of my life.
5. I don’t ride my bike anymore. In the summers its too hot to ride and in the winters its too cold. When sometimes I do ride my bike it feels so amazing I can’t describe in words. Lights failing, indicators rattling, battery almost dead its in a sorry state. I remember in college I thought I didn’t ever want to buy a car and always ride my bike.
Have I really changed and just trying to believe that I’m still the same and can be the same way still when it’s time to move on?

What I’ve been doing..

I am back in Kolkata. As usual, the city sucks big time. Got nothing to do, just sit at home and watch TV for hours, get a headache, have disprin, watch TV some more and then have disprin again. The weather is as humid as 6 months before. It sucks whereas Traffic is worse. Zee cafe is my favorite channel these days. Get lots of TV sitcoms like Friends, Full House(I love you michelle..), Seinfield, Caroline in the city etc. I have discovered that when couples go out in this city and visit some cafe or restaurant, they both sit on the same side of the table. Found that very wierd. Went out only once to watch a movie “Krrish”. Going to the gym in our society 5 times a week. After working out in a gym like Deshpande’s for so many months, I find it strange to workout in our colony gym which is Air Conditioned. Also, the gym has lacs of equipment for cardio but not enough for weight training. Also, the trainer is a creep whose only goal seems to be hitting on the chubby girls who workout for hours. According to him, every free weight exercise is bad for the body and damages the bones and has been banned. Also playing the guitar even though the strings are worn and I am too lazy to go out and search for new ones. The few friends I had here are busy with their girlfriends. Anyways, plan to celebrate Dad’s birthday on 10th and leave by 11th. Got a new motherboard for my PC. Can’t wait to get back to nagpur and get back on my bike. A car is OK but not the same as a bike.
Song of the day” Eye of the Tiger – Survivors”

How I was swept away

It’s 4.30 and there’s still one hour to gym. But as usual getting bored, I head out towards the hostel on my bike as the weather is very good. Little did I know that it was the calm before the storm. Halfway, the wind starts blowing so fast that one second, the wind behind me, I can’t feel a thing going at 70 kmph, the other second, it’s on my face and I have a hard time keeping my eyes open. I had a hard time keeping the bike straight(that too a bullet!!!) On top of that, all the dust on the road concentrated and blew straight at my face. It was like I was slapped hard or something. Spitting dust from my mouth and shielding my eyes with my hand from the storm, somehow reached the hostel just in time before the rain pours down heavily. Half an hour into the rain, it’s mayhem. Cannot see anything out of the window. The rain drops are moving almost horizontally. Rain blew halfway up the hostel corridor and drenched half of us. After the rain, it’s a scene of devastation. People riding on cylces lying on the road, trees fallen. As we ventured out, we could see roads blocked because of fallen trees. The ICICI atm was devastated from what I heard. Anyways, I hope that the fabulous weather continues and gives us relief from the 50 degrees scorching heat.