It’s very hard to get the motivation to go to the gym, especially when you have the option to stay at home and munch on as much junk food as you like, but that wasn’t the case for me. Last summer I decided that I was going to make the gym a part of my daily routine. Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of the atmosphere that I was going to find the gym when I went ahead and bought a 2 months membership at the Chi-Wan Young Sport Center located at UPEI.

I was really excited for my first day at the gym because I didn’t know what to expect. However, at the same time, I felt like a lost child in a market because I had no idea what to do. The minute I walked through the double doors leading to the equipments area, I was overwhelmed by the stench of sweat and body odor that filled the enormous room. The sound of metal plates clashing together was audible from a mile away and I got the feeling like I was in a busy factory full of machines working at top speed. Since I didn’t know where to start exercising, I decided to head for the treadmills to warm up, the machines roared in unity as the belts of the treadmill machines accelerated until they sounded like they were going to blow up. All the machines were occupied except for one spot beside a guy who had, according to his timer, been running for two and half hours. The guy was drenched in sweat from top to bottom, his originally grey shirt had turned a whole shade darker and his hair was so wet it looked like he had just walked out of the shower. When I looked at my machine, I noticed that the person before me had either forgotten to wipe the treadmill or had just not felt like it. Spots of sweat covered the screen and the handles, and the smell that was produced from the guy beside me caused everything that I had eaten that morning to run up to my mouth. I felt the vomit settling on my tongue and between my teeth, it tasted very bitter and it felt like someone had set my throat on fire, but I managed to swallow it and spare myself the embarrassment of throwing up all over the treadmill.

After I was done running, I decided to checkout out some of the fancy looking machines that were in the busiest part of the gym. The machines were fun to use but also because this was the area for people to chit chat about their lives. The gym was packed with people to the point where I felt like I was in barn full of sheep running around in all directions. I later learned that the gym was the busiest between twelve and four, and unluckily for me, I had gone at one o’clock; the worst hour of the day. Despite the huge amount of people that were at the gym, everyone knew where to go and nobody dared to interrupt anybody else. When my turn finally arrived at a bicep curling machine, I sat down quietly and started exercising my bicep. I soon felt a pair of eyes that were staring at me, waiting for me to finish so they could use the machine. Naturally, I felt very uncomfortable and decided to go try something else.
Half an hour through later, I decided to drink some water to refresh my thirst, the water tasted heavenly as it trickled down my throat. Now it was time to check out the last section of the gym; free weights. This is the section were you bring your weights and use them the way you wish. As I walked towards the weight stand, I heard a loud bang that shook the whole gym like an earthquake. When I looked to the direction of the sound, I saw a huge muscular man standing over a weight bar that weighed over a thousand pounds and it was dead lifts he was practising. Not too far into my exercise, I realized that this was the area were the big guys hangout, every one of them had biceps the size of a basketball and they looked very intimidating and very serious about getting their workout done. I quickly came to the conclusion that this was not the area for me to be exercising.

At the end of the day, I had to admit that I had a horrid experience during my first day at the gym and it didn't get any better after. When my membership finally expired, I decided that I wouldn't be working out in the gym again. Instead, I’d stay home and exercise in my own personal space where no one could intimidate me or make me throw up because of their sweat.