Early Morning Rush

Whoever goes to the gym at 6 a.m. must be pretty motivated, or just limited on time. I walked through the doors surprised by the fact there were more people there than during the afternoon hours. It was a whole new wave of people that I never encountered before. So these people must come very often in the morning. New faces, even the employees. I notice one worker that I see during the afternoon hours, so Harry must start his shift early.


As usual, I check in at the front desk and walk to the locker room. It was empty and silent. I walk to the bathroom. Empty. Time to hit the treadmill. I started to walk as a way to warm up my body. I looked around the room and the atmosphere was twice as quiet compared to any of the other times I went. It must be because it hasn't even reached 6:30 a.m. However the loudness of the music playing was just as loud as the afternoon times. It was at about a medium level, whereas the evening times when it plays at a much higher volume. The TV's played reruns of shows, since nothing but the news was on at that hour. Two women riding the bikes tuned into the TV's using headphones that they plugged into the machine.


Everyone in the room kept to themselves; quiet and focused on their workout. There was hardly any interaction between people, and more people wore headphones compared to the other times I went. I noticed a pattern concerning headphones whether the hours are early in the morning or late in the evening. People who are wearing headphones are limited to people interaction and conversation. Whereas people who do not wear headphones, often have interactions with people they know, workers, or even strangers.


While sitting at a machine, I observed two men that reached for the same machine simultaneously. Both not wearing headphones, open to interaction. Bob asked Bill if he would like to use the machine, Bill respectfully answered that he would just use the next one over until Bob finished using the machine. After that small interaction, the two men seemed to feel more comfortable and continued to talk. One conversation included different exercises Bob used and another conversation about football highlights; which was playing on the overhead TV.


As time went by, only about twenty minutes after I arrived, I noticed a decline in the amount of people that were working out. The atmosphere suddenly got mellow, about half of the people left. I assumed that they all had arrived earlier than I did, maybe before work. The energy in the room declined as more people left, less interaction. I'd say it was a quiet early morning for everyone.