Tales From The Gym

When I went to the gym today I was suprised to see the parking lot was full since it is usually pretty empty on the weekends. After I walked in I found out that Centerpoint was hosting a weight lighting competition. I have never seen a weight lifting competition so I was curious and ended up discovering just why weight lifters walk around looking like they cant put their arms down, which I will get into a little later.

They were doing the competition at the basketball court which is a closed off area so I didnt watch them doing their lifts but they were all hanging out in the weight room so I got to see them warming up and getting ready. The first odd thing I encountered when I turned down the hallway was a large man standing up in a tight little shorts with another guy on his knees in front of him with his hand up his shorts. He looked like he was trying to get them to fit appropriately and was pulling them down while he pushed the skin up in them. I mumbled an excuse me and walked past them. When I got into the weight room I was bombarded by more meaty man in tight little outfits that looked like this:

Unfortunately most of them looked like the guy in the blue and not so muich like this guy:

But I digress.
So these little outfits have got to be one of the most ridiculous looking uniforms of any sport. If you are as ripped as the guy above then yes I approve but the funny thing about weight lifters is that they are not always very cut but just big and burly. In fact a lot of these guys just looked fat and had big ol beer guts, but they are quite strong so it is a strange dichotomy.

They arent shy either, treating the weight room like a locker room. I saw at least 5 guys in their tightie whities when they were changing. But again since they didnt look like the guy above, not something that could get me very excited. Then there was the guy that needed 3 people and 10 minutes to get his tight undershirt on - I am not exaggerating. I will call him rolly polly since he looked about 7 months pregnant. He managed to get the shirt on his arms and over his chest but it was not wanting to be stretched over his belly. One guy was pulling and yanking for 5 minutes to no avail. Then a female weightlifter came over to try to help and it still took another 5 minutes before was finally pulled down. That wasnt the funny part though. The funny part came when they got it on and he was literally unable to put his arms down. He was walking around like a zombie with his arms out in front and his shoulders hunched over. Thats when I noticed a few other people walking around like that too. The only explanation I could come up with is that tight clothes like that around the arms offer some support during the lifts. Perhaps they act like a splint would so it is harder to fail, I really dont know but it was extremely funny to see.

And to continue with my strange day at the gym, I was on a mat doing ab work when all of the sudden there was a pitt bull right in my face. I was completely thrown off since obviously I was not expecting to see a dog while I was at the gym, let alone a pit but there it was giving me a friendly hello! I guess it was one of the guys dogs and it ran in through an open door to check everything out. His owner called him back over and the lady who was on the machine next to me thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

I always find it interesting to observe groups of people in cultures I am not all that familair with. Sure I lift weights but these guys are hard core and comptition mode is something I know nothing about. There were guys and girls of all sizes, some looked athletic, others did not. I wish I could have stayed and watched a bit of the lifts but I was starving so I left. All in all though, an interesting day at the gym.