F1nite

Domesticating Physical Exercise

Gyms are interesting; they have domesticated physical exercise in the same way that humans domesticated dogs long ago. Instead of exercise being something done to achieve a goal, exercise is now done for the sake of exercising -- and in some respects, the exercise is 'artificial'. Instead of maybe reorganizing a room and lifting heavy objects and boxes here and there, people go to the gym to just lift weights. Instead of running around the block a few times or going up and down a set of stairs, people would rather do it inside their home and on an expensive machine.
And while I get that not everyone may have the luxury of exercising 'freely' in a sense -- perhaps you're working from home or need to be monitoring something so it makes sense you can't leave the house to go for a run -- or maybe you're training for precision and you need to go at an exact speed for an exact distance -- it just seems weird to me that people will go to some exercise station (which costs money usually) instead of going for the free alternatives.

Perhaps the gym has some sort of culture -- some sort of vibe that I won't understand until I'm actually in the gym. Maybe it's one of those third spaces that have been lost from us. But from an outsider's perspective, more and more (with social media) it seems like the average guy going to the gym wants nothing more than his exercise like a morning commuter their coffee -- they just want to go in, get their exercise, and leave and have minimal social contact with others.

Maybe go for a walk or run outside instead of inside next time.