The Lifters, The Workers, and The Haters.

When I had last left off I hinted at what I would be looking closer at, what I found was out of my knowledge as a routine gym goer. What I speak of is the females who attend the gym, the variety of women attending the gym was a lot higher than I had previously been aware of.  The women, like the men, have their own sub categories.  While working out with “Mr. O” he pointed out the girl that he had taken a liking to. For now, we will call her Ms. Lifts (Ms. L for short). Absolutely astonishing was the work ethic she had been showing. Ms. L seems to be into the “powerlifting” category, these people are usually shorter but can lift heavier weights than the fitness or bodybuilding patrons.

                I found that the women who attend the gym seem to branch out in their terms of fitness. While the men usually stick to weights, slight cardio, and callisthenic abdominal work outs women are seen all over the gym working their muscles in ways foreign to the men. This seems to have great effect on the development of their muscle and works with the natural dexterity women have been known to have.  I should also mention that the work the women put in is , in terms of ratios, the same as most of the men. This brings me to the next item I’ve noticed.

                While conducting research I have come to the realization of the many different categories there were in the gym. Originally I had believed that the categories were sorted in “Novice”, “intermediate”, and “experienced”. However my thoughts on these categories have changed.  While they still exist I believe that this is only the amount of experience an individual has in their choice of fitness. There are people who train for power lifting like Ms. L and for bodybuilding like Mr. O but I have yet to shed light on the rest of the patrons at the gym. In my time here I have seen people training for sports, for the military, for general fitness, and for a chance to improve their self-perception.  How I, a gym goer for two years, haven’t seen this is beyond my belief. This research has only excited me more as I dive deeper into gathering of ethnographic field notes.

                Before I end this I have found that there is a prejudice against groups in the gym. These range from thoughts of fitness that do not connect with each other to beliefs on how each other should go about each other’s routines. While I am enjoying the benefits of working with Mr. O I find that his methods attract a lot of anger towards him. The distaste shown to Mr. O for his style of fitness doesn’t slow him down. When asked about the problems Mr.O replies “Man, they’re just hatin cause they cause they don’t understand the grind I had to go through to get to where I am today. They don’t get that I didn’t get my size by sitting on the couch in my house slippers eating ‘bon bons’ and working out for 45 minutes every other day.” Mr.O is definitely a hard working individual as proven by his large muscles and crimson scholarship. Mr. O is, in my opinion, a breath of much needed determination to the fitness scene.