Calm

2:30 p.m. My favorite time to go to the gym, less people and more machines open. I discovered that going during the day when people usually have work is the best time to workout, a much calmer environment to focus on your workout.


First things first, locker room. I see one woman sitting on one of the benches. Mrs. Smith, who is wearing a purple workout top and athletic capris. She is looking through her locker, it seems as if she is done working out for the day. Another woman in the next isle, Ms. White has just arrived, putting her clothes into a locker and gathering her headphones along with her water bottle. She exits toward the door.


I walk out of the locker room and take a detour towards the white card membership area, a place for special members who get extra access to the gym's additional services. Some of these include a tanning booth, massage chairs and beds, and even a barber shop. I assume the shop is only for men as I look in there and only men are getting cuts.


I look into the mini barber shop and see a woman with a pixie haircut cutting John's hair, they socialize while another man waits in the chair across from him. Another worker wearing a black apron type cover sweeps up hair on the ground, also talking to the three in the room. Pixie and John catch up on details of the Yankee game, while the man sitting across talks highly to them about Derek Jeter. Sweeper leaves the room I assume to throw away the excess hair left on the ground.


I continue to walk and notice the tanning rooms are both empty. While looking inside, a young girl around my age walks passed me and into the hydro massage rooms further down. She was not dressed to work out, as she was in jeans and a plain black shirt with converse. I assume she only went for the massage. But hey, if you have free access to these units you might as well take advantage of it. I walk to the next room over and noticed that she laid down in the dark to start her massage. I was tempted to do the same, but I told myself I had to withhold until after my workout.


As I was walking back to the machine area, I notice that there was less people on the tread mills, so I decided to start there. I see four women, and two men on the others. Two younger women are running, quite fast. Kathy, wearing all black is running at a steady pace, then goes into a faster run for about ten seconds then goes back down to a jog. The other two middle-aged women are walking at an incline. The two men are also walking at an incline, higher than the women and also a little bit faster pace. I look around to the arm machines, and notice two elderly women who seem to be workout partners; both wearing tan skirts siting next to each other. They talk to each other while one does their reps, then switch. A calm day at the gym I must say.