In our never ending quest to visit a gym, a quiet workout may become an exercise in futility.
Because you never know who your partner may be on the next Treadmill over.
Some people like me enjoy quiet. A lot of talk has me on edge, especially if I’m plugged into my earphones or engaged in a TV show. Some of these more sophisticated machines have screens built into them.
So, it’s not impossible to tune in your iPod and put the TV on mute. That way, you’re getting three different sources of pleasure at once. Some may call it multi-tasking. Go ahead and call it what you want, but it works for me.
Until I happen to encounter a talk-a-holic in the next machine over. With four balls going at once, one is bound to drop and I would hope the blabbermouth.
“Nice day we’re having,” he may say as an introduction.
“What?” I ask, removing my earphones. “You say something?”
“Nice day, isn’t it?” he repeats.
“Perfect,” I say, returning to my music.
“Been coming here long?” he continues.
Off come the buds once more and I know I’m in trouble with this guy.
“About 50 years,” I remind him. “I’m a racquetball player but no one showed up today. So I needed a workout.”
Before he could get another word in edgewise, I covered my ears again and took off to another machine. I hope he got the message.
I like people, don’t get me wrong. I like watching them from a distance. I find faces interesting. Often, I’ll play a mental game. Do I know that person? How old is that guy on the elliptical? What an interesting T-shirt: “I love sleeping. It’s like being dead without the commitment.”
As I always do when I stay at a hotel, off to the workout room I go for a 6 a.m. sweat. Gotta squeeze in the exercise before all the mundane protocol at the church convention I was attending. That way, I can also enjoy the three meals being offered without feeling guilty.
On most occasions, I’m the only one in the gym at that hour. People usually don’t enjoy the comfort of a hotel without sleeping a few extra winks. No one wants to punish a body at that hour.
Well, I was the second person in that room this particular dawn. Beating me to the punch was the bishop of my church. He had already been there a half hour.
Quite frankly, I did not recognize the man in his gym clothes—a contrast to the purple and red robe he usually dons with a large cross draped over his neck.
“Is that you, Bishop? I didn’t recognize you with your sweats. God bless you.”
“And God bless you, my son. I try to work out every day to keep the weight down. Being on the road and visiting different congregations can become a heavy burden. I do my thinking—and praying—on a Treadmill.”
Come to find out, he bikes his way to church during better weather and often works out in the comfort of his home. Hotels get him to the gym.
One day, I was giving a class on genocide education at Wilmington High School where I’ve known this instructor of five years. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever expected to find her in the same exercise room 20 miles away that same afternoon.
I hopped aboard the Treadmill and built myself up to a trot. Suddenly, we both turned to face each other and that’s where it got a little complicated.
“Where have I seen this woman before? She certainly looks familiar,” I pondered.
Her stare caught me a little off guard. Perhaps she was wondering the same thing. Then, finally…
“Tom? That you?”
Come to find out, we both lived in the same city, worked out at the YMCA, and had shared the same student body only hours before.
Okay, so I’m a gym rat. What’s wrong with that? I have a Treadmill at home but somehow being in the right atmosphere makes it a lot easier. Other workout enthusiasts tend to inspire one another.
On a cruise ship one afternoon, I didn’t want to anger my wife about a quick workout at sea and so escaped to the gym on the premise that I was going to the game room. Well, isn’t this a game room?
My daughter, on the other hand, had the same idea—a sweat before dinner—indiscreet as they come. Neither one of us expected to find the other powering the machines while our spouses were at poolside sipping umbrella drinks.
Best workout partner I ever had!
Tom Vartabedian
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