Expansion

Going to the gym on a Saturday is once again quiet. I notice this as I pull up to the gym and the parking lot is pretty much empty. I enter the building and notice it's the same weekend workers as the previous time. The two workers behind the counter talk about the schedule for the incoming tours that are scheduled for the day. They notice me and another waiting to be checked in and the girl walks over. She takes our number and I walk to the locker room.


It is once again empty. A woman is washing her hands in the sink area, but she was the only one.


I walk out and notice a worker just arriving, still in her jacket and not yet in uniform. I could tell she was a worker because she opened up the “employees only” door and put her food in the microwave. She continued to wait for her food and stood in the doorway looking at her phone. Another employee had just arrived, greeting the other while putting down her purse. She turned on the barbershop light and put her apron on. It must be opening up for the day.


I walked out towards the gym and notice that the remodeling that has been going on had been complete. It has been expanded into the building next to the gym, therefore room for more machines and new equipment. This expansion made the gym seem more empty than it ever has been. Where the dumbbells and bars used to be (a.k.a the heavy lifter station), has now been moved into the new section. Since all of the younger guys are usually at that section, there are hardly any of them in the main gym. Unless they are in the leg section, of course.


I look over to the treadmills, and there are only two women occupying them. And they are on opposite sides of the room. Both women are walking and have headphones in. There is a lot more room in the arm machines since the expansion. There are two elderly women sitting at the machines, and three older men at the wired benches. One man with white hair rests after his sets, looking outside at the traffic. He is not wearing headphones, so he looks up at the TV and glances around the room. The next man is standing up, listening to music as he pulls down on the bar. The last man is cleaning off his bench with the sanitizer and paper towel. He also glances around the room looking for the next machine to use, but now talking on the phone. He talks into his headphones, notifying the other person he is at the gym and won't be “back” unitl later. Where ever “back” is.


I glance and notice just a few others on the other side of they gym, but not many. Coming on Saturdays is not such a bad idea. The atmosphere was quiet and somewhat peaceful, compared to the weekdays.