HOLLA!!!!

On second thought, don't.  If there is one place that I think is inappropriate for cat-calling, it is the gym.  (I am choosing not to include workplaces, etc for the sake of this discussion.)  


Just the other day, I was crankin' away on the elliptical when over the sound of my iPod I could hear whistling and hooting as a girl walked into the gym.  Granted, she was beautiful.  And as a matter of fact, she was scantily clad.  BUT!  The gym has become a safe place for me and a number of my friends.  Don't forget, I have even written about the crazy things I wear to the gym before.  I get to go to the gym without makeup or a care.  I don't go there to feel like I am walking into a dance club.  You don't get to judge me here.  Besides, I do a bang-up job of judging myself already.


Granted, I can be sensitive to these situations because, truthfully, I am insecure about the way I look.  That may well be part of the problem.  However, I still don't think guys should be shouting across the gym to get the attention of a pretty girl.  At least be kind enough not to interrupt our workouts too.

After this incident, I couldn't help but think of the Planet Fitness commercial where a conceited guy struts up to a girl who is just trying to get her workout in.  Even though she looks bored, he persists to ask the gym loudly, "Hey, did somebody lose a washboard?  Because I found one over here.  I'm just joking, it's my abs."  And he lifts his shirt up by strings at the sides that operate his shirt like a set of cheap blinds.  I laughed at this commercial!  I LOVE it!  But part of the humor lies in the truth behind it.  The Stiffler look-alike in this commercial exists everywhere.  He's annoying and never gets the picture when you gently blow him off and go back to your workout.  Such is life.

Thankfully, the gym has gone back to being my safe place.  But sometimes when I hear someone, man OR woman, hooting at someone in the gym, I can't help but cringe.  Don't get me wrong, meeting people at the gym is just fine!  I am merely suggesting that you actually go up and introduce yourself.  Don't scream across the room or machine-stalk them for an hour.  Sorry dude, but that's just creepy.  And it has happened to me.

So, I say...  The gym is my place to sweat.  This is my place to get dirty and not care that my hair is all jacked up and my face is beet red, even though I am surrounded on all sides by mirrors and plate glass windows.  This is where no one cares that I haven't showered yet today.  They care that I showed up, if they notice me at all.  And that's just the way I like it.