So. This is me. Laying on the couch, feeling pretty proud of myself. I went to the gym today. My super amazing husband got me a membership for our anniversary this month. I've been dying to go, but as I've mentioned ad nauseum, I have back problems. So I quit exercising about 2 years ago when they first began. The back problems have more or less subsided, however the exercise has not resumed. Sure we did some biking and hiking this year, but I'm talking regularly scheduled body-toning, firming, sculpting, shaping, cardio-enhancing exercise. You know the kind of which I speak. The kind where you don't have to wait for the kids to catch up. The kind where you can put on your Ludacris and not worry you won't hear if a kid falls off the bike, or worse yet... off the mountain. Uninterrupted, unadulterated, self-serving exercise.OH how I love it!!!
However... there is something that needs discussing. I may be a weirdo, but I have serious issues with locker room exposure. My husband showers daily with other men. It doesn't phase any of them in the slightest. I find it completely bizarre. Let me clarify that by saying after they do PT, the cadre all shower in the same locker room. He doesn't just randomly shower with men for fun. Hmmm... This is going nowhere really fast. Back to the topic at hand...
The women's locker room. I like my body. I do. There are a few things I would tweak here or there, but over all, I'm very satisfied with things. But I do not want other people looking at me in my underwear, or worse yet, out of my underwear. But I have this theory that I am the only one on earth who feels that way. Or at least certainly the only one in the locker room. I have to go into the bathroom to change. Meanwhile, there is a literal smorgasbord of mostly unclothed women standing out in the locker area, just doing their thing. They don't seem concerned that their bodies aren't firm, their hooters hit their navels, or that their underwear is not at all cute.
Now before anyone goes and gets all insulted here, I'm not knocking body types. I'm just saying I don't want to see them. Any of them. And I cannot fathom why more people don't feel this way. What is wrong with a little privacy? Good for you!, people... at the gym, taking care of health and wellness! WOO! But why celebrate with near-nudity? WHY? Why is it socially acceptable to be naked around total strangers, or even people you know, just because you are in a locker room? If you were showering at home and a friend stopped by, you wouldn't invite them to join you. Or if you were changing clothes and a friend stopped by, you would likely say "HANG ON! I'LL BE RIGHT OUT!" rather than saying "Hey! I'm changing! Come on in and join me!"
Can we PLEASE apply these same principles to the locker room? Please? Is that asking too much?
22 comments:
I could not agree with you more!
Although it's been a while since I was in a gym locker room (I really need to get on that), but I could never understand the public nudity when I did go.
My thoughts often when something like: "I don't know you lady, please put your clothes on before you decide to blow-dry your hair!"
At our gym they send out a newsletter and asked people not to walk around unnecessarily nude. Go and change but don't be all over with it.
I am so with you on this. We have private rooms we can duck into, which I do.
Um, I have seen someone dry their hair in their undies...not pretty.
Also, I have noticed the BIGGEST change in my back, for the better since I started working out.
I just don't go in there. The locker room. I finally go to the gym and love it.
Sometimes it makes me feel better when I see the other naked people...but that's usually only after my senior citizens' water aerobics class.
The human body is a beautiful thing...but keep your beauty to yourself, please.
"their bodies aren't firm, their hooters hit their navels, or that their underwear is not at all cute" speak for yourself, my hooters don't hit my navel and my undies are totally cute :-)
Having said that, I'm not bothered by the naked women in the gym locker room.
The best yet.. is my sisters tale, of being in a steam room (another spot people feel it necessary to be completely and utterly, butt naked..) and some chick comes and flops herself down, legs apart.. and tampon string just a waggin. (Sorry.. I think I just crossed a line. You can politely ask me to stop commenting.)But I too, recently joined a gym (get a load of us.. are we officially 'cougars'?) and constantly find myself in disbelief and silent upset at the nakedness therein. I feel your pain.. and will sign any petition you get going.
I SOO agree! I am a bathroom-changer also.
I don't get how people just walk around like it is no big deal.
Eww.
I hear you. If there is no private area available, and I will admit it's a bit hard to juggle things in a bathroom stall, I don't see why people can't use their TOWEL to shield themselves a bit. Remember the teen years when during sleepovers you could easily shimy stuff off and on while still guarding yourself with the clothes you were getting out of? Show them how it's done.
Amen! I worked at the day care at our local gym for 10 years (as a 2nd job, to get a free membership) and there was this Mom who happened to be naked in the locker room just about every time one of her children needed their diaper changed. So I was FORCED to talk to her in all her nakedness and it could never just end with "okay, I'll be in to take care of that in a minute". She was very comfortable with all of it and wanted to chat for a while. Awkward!
Loved your perspective on the whole social acceptability aspect of it all and inviting friends in your room while you're changing at home! Funny!!
Oh & congrats on making it back to the gym! I am just coming back from foot surgery and it's nice to be back but hard to "start from scratch" so to speak. Good for you to go even though you already like your body. I enjoy working out, but am not so sure if I'd be there so regularly if I was just doing it for the health aspects of it, without hoping for some physical improvements at the same time! :)
Could you do some exercise for me please. Thank you in advance.
I don't like nudey at the gym, but for some reason I don't mind it at a spa.
You bring up very great points...you would never ask someone to come in to join you while you shower. I don't understand locker room behavior either.
Okay, first of all, I'm trying not to hate your perfect genetics that allow you to look that good without having exercised for two years. That, my friend, is so unfair.
Second, my biggest pet peeve with the nakedness is the women that stand at the mirror topless and do their make up. WHY? Is putting on a bra and t-shirt really that hard?
I'm so with you on this.
OH MAN! I CANNOT stand nudist locker rooms. The ladies LR isn't so bad at our gym but apparently, the mens LR is a full blown nekid fest. My husband hates going in there. They let it all hang out in the trunck and under the hood...creeepy! Way to go for hittin' the gym!!!
okay, being someone that encounters this daily (just minutes ago even)... I agree. I understand if I'm changing, and someone walks around the corner, I will turn around, etc... but don't walk up to while nakey and attempt a convo...
has anyone noticed that it's the older ladies that do this? 60+ They just don't care. Kinda have to admire their spirit... but that's where the admiration stops.
For the most part I really love my body, I've been blessed (considering). But I just about had a heart attack when some 'boys' in my young adult ward told me right before I entered the MTC, that I would have to take community showers with the rest of the sisters. I seriously almost decided against serving.
My husband is lucky I married him because he was one of the teasers.
I'm with Gab, seeing the senior water aerobics ladies strut their stuff around the locker room has scarred me for life. It isn't kind to do that to young impressionable girls.
I SO agree. Last week, no joke, there was a woman blow drying her hair in front of the mirror completely topless. No shirt, no bra. Seriously woman, at least put a bra on before you start doing your hair!!
I completely agree with you.
Not to change the subject or anything...(but I will anyway) one thing that bugs me about the gym was the germfest at my local place. I was always getting sick. I blamed my kids, but I was getting sick before my kids. Then I started watching people at the gym sneezing and coughing on the machines, weight benches and free weights. YUCK.
I am with you. Our gym has one little curtained dressing room and I use it every time.
I KNEW there was a reason I don't go to the gym. Thank you for reminding me.
Okay. SO. SO. Funny.
I am totally with you. I don't want to see people's naked bodies no matter what shape they're in. Ew. One time there was a fat, naked lady sitting on my gym bag several years ago. I literally had to ask her to move so I could get it. Did she stand up? NO. She lifted the flap. You know what I'm talking about.
From then on out, I am anti-gym locker room. I go and I don't visit that locker room unless it's an absolute emergency.
Another story: I have a friend who would always see the same lady naked and the lady was always bending over in her face. And my friend would run out and tell us she was afraid of going in there for fear of the 'brown eye'. I think you know what I mean. Ahem.
ICK!
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