No Non-Sense In The Weight Room Part I of II

When I was single I was always annoyed at couples showing an extraordinary amount of affection in public (PDA). It was more upsetting depending on the location of the PDA (e.g., church, college campus, etc.). I used to have a saying for this, “You don’t eat filet mignon in front of the homeless.” There are certain social sensibilities, which need to be adhered to by all people- much like not counting your money in front of the poor or eating your filet mignon in front of the homeless- and PDA is one of them.

But on this particular day, there was some PDA at a place where PDA should never be allowed, the weight room. Here’s the scene: a guy while working out was stopped abruptly by his girlfriend in order to “talk.” You know that look girls give when they need to talk. That’s right, she gave it to him. The dude stops and they proceeded to talk in the hallway right between the weight room and the cardio room. My personal workout consisted of me having to go back on forth between rooms in order to keep my motivation constant. Passing the couple by several times I almost lost my lunch a few times.

You might be thinking at this point, “Why do you have a problem with this since you’re married now?” First let me begin by saying that just because you’re married doesn’t mean you stop being sensitive to your surroundings. Second, I didn’t like watching other couples act like horny teenagers in front of me when I was single, so I’m not going to do it to other people. Finally, just because you can eat filet mignon doesn’t mean you should eat it in front of homeless people.

There’s another layer of disapproval I have with this situation and it’s on two fronts. The first being, “Dude, you’re in a weight room! Hit the d*** weights!” When a guy stops in the middle of his work out just to snuggle with his girl in the hallway, what does that say about him? Some people may think it was sensitive of him to be attentive to his girl. I say it’s enabling her (more on this in a minute). The dude looked like a total sap. The situation wasn’t urgent. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t a death in the family, a dog wasn’t killed, and no terrorist attack on the campus. Apparently, she just needed to “talk” and then snuggle.

If I were his friend I would call him out and let him know he looked like a total sap. Affection and weights don’t mix. Also, consider your surroundings. There might be single people struggling with their singleness who don’t need to see that stuff (I wanted to use another S-word but my editor [wife] wouldn’t let me). I certainly don’t want to see that stuff and I’M MARRIED. What a tool! As a man, you need to know when to handle your business in the weight room.

The second front goes to the girl. Ladies, if you ever feel the need to stop your man from working out only because you need to cuddle just know that you come across extremely needy and insecure. Couldn’t it wait until after he finishes working out? Why the immediate need?

Let me make it clear that I’m all for conversations within the weight room as long as it remains secondary. If people go there for the purpose of socializing then there is something wrong with that. Do people go to the library to clubbing? No. Then why go to the weight room with your girlfriend to snuggle or to be a social butterfly and get no work done? Do people show up to a business meeting in shorts and a T-shirt? Do people have AA meetings in a bar? This makes zero sense to me but sadly I see it all too often. In addition, it is perfectly fine to show your woman some affection in public (within reason) just as long as it's not in the weight room.

Click here for part II.