To be annoyed at all the january gym goers.

[Hannah4banana]

I know iabu so it's just a rant really.
It's great that people decide to get fit but I'm struggling to get into classes that I've been going to for over a year and its mobbed sane as last January.
I know it will all die down again by February. The gym booking system crashed today because there was so many people trying to access it!
Good luck to anyone starting a new e revise plan, I hope you manage to stick to it

myfavouritecolourispurple I LOVE being outside, all year round, sun or rain, daylight or dark. I do all my exercise outside, i run 3 or 4 times a week and have horses.

However, my DP runs 4 or 5 times a week, cycles at least once, but also goes to the gym everyday - he would never ever be as fit, strong & fast as he is without his gym membership - so there are perks to a gym membership too!

Swimming is a nightmare, there are two elderly women who swim at 'my' pool who go in a lane each, swim down the middle of the lane and leave an empty lane between them. They are very slow, chat the whole way and glare at anybody who swims down the empty lane. Why they go in the lane swimming session is beyond me. What with them and the chap who does butterfly as if he's trying to recreate to 2004 tsunami, it's a damn nuisance.

Ding you seriously can't see the sexism in women being asked to remove makeup in order to prove they're 'serious'? What about in any other scenario? What if you had to remove makeup before going into a meeting, to prove that you were just as 'serious' as the blokes in attendance? Jesus.
What a woman wears on her body or her face has no bearing on how 'serious' she is about what she's doing.

Likewise people who get on the treadmill to walk.

Are you really upset over people walking on the treadmills?

What with them and the chap who does butterfly as if he's trying to recreate to 2004 tsunami, it's a damn nuisance.

He should swim between the slow chatters.

What if you had to remove makeup before going into a meeting, to prove that you were just as 'serious' as the blokes in attendance?

Well, actually, I can think of a few corporate environment when you might not be asked directly to tone it down, but you will be kept out of the way of important clients and serious meetings. There are many jobs where you are expected to wear appropriate clothes and make up.

That has however nothing to do with the subject here. If you don't want to pay for a class that you disagree with, then.. just don't. People in real life are a lot less offended than the ones on this forum. I am not aware of anyone screaming and shouting that the instructor was "an asshole".

2017watchoutherewecome I must admit I have a bone to pick with the elderly. The ones at my gym hog the pool and have no respect for other users of the pool. They act as if the own the place. They are a bloody nucence. Although there is always a good chance of their number reducing post Dec.

dingdong re read my comment. I said do you do it in real life . HTH.

Ding I have no idea why you are so determined to defend the indefensible this bloke? Unless you were the instructor of course.

Maybe nobody objected because they were taken aback? Or embarrassed? Of just absolutely bloody speechless at the absurdity of what he'd asked.

I bet he's never done it since though because I bet there were complaints.

And I wouldn't have screamed. I would have refused to comply. And I would have reported him to the gym management

You are getting in a strop all by yourself here!

Not sure how what I said is a strop I just asked you a question. You're very defensive.

I in fact you've been on this thread for 7.5 hours now defending it!

I know how you feel Op. I actually quit my old gym because it pissed me off that over the holidays they'd run classes with rubbish substitute instructors and then unless I was really organised and booked early, I couldn't get in my favourite classes at the beginning of January. They'd also fill up in June as people prepared to bare all on the beach! Those fluctuations don't seem to happen in my new gym.

I wonder what the instructor would have done if someone had refused and carried on into the class anyway?

dingdongthewitchishere I must agree there is a certain expectance in some roles for people to dress and appear accordingly. I don't think many board rooms would welcome anyone dressed in a hawian shirt or wearing bright orange trousers. Generally a certain regulation on the appearance of everyone is expected in most fields. I would probably be more worried about sexism if you were being told to make sure you come in all dolled up. Our apperance doesnt affect of seriousness but it can affect the perseption of our profetionalism. Plus we wouldn't have a mumsnet or an activity to fill the free time if people were not easily offended on here. The message boards would be dull and not very populated; so be careful what you wish for.

What "professionalism" is needed in a gym class then?

And in fairness 1DAD I can't imagine you have to worry too much about sexism do you?

Now Best has hit on one of my peeves. When it comes to Xmas and other bank holidays I think I'd rather our gym cancel classes and put up up with the awash in the gym than waste time on some of the cover instructors they've had in. Like the spin instructer who spent 20minutes of a 45minute class chatting about himself

Ok, you would come with a face full of make up to make a point, pay for a membership you don't want. You would then sulk in a corner of the class for a couple of hours, be ignored by the instructors and the students, and never come back again.

1DAD2KIDS

You are absolutely right.

I do suspect some posters have a very distorted vision of what is really a bit of friendly banter before a class by some friendly and dedicated individuals. Posters seem to picture some kind of caricatural Rambo in a low paid job on a sudden power trip and hate crusade against women. In real life, no one gets offended, no one is throwing complaints everywhere, no one is making a sad face for the Daily Mail. If the classes are that busy, it means that the instructors are clearly doing something right. It's quite funny to see how some people are imagining a full movie about a couple of comments.

dingdong it doesn't mean they're doing something right, it just means none of the women being told to take their slap off has had the nerve to speak up and say 'no, actually, I won't. I'm faaaaaaahhhhhbulous'.

but why would these women keep coming back, and paying for the privilege if they did not like it?

It's one thing to not say something the first time, but why on earth would they come back again and again?

I walk uphill slowly on the treadmill. I also wear makeup. And designer gym clothes.

Because I spend good money on clothes that I spend a lot of time wearing, because I've come straight from work and because I'm stretching my muscles out after deadlifting double my bodyweight.

All stupid reasons to judge gym goers. 'Something is better than nothing' as they say.

So does he do it every week then ding? And the same women come back again and again to be belittled like that? Because if you say he does, and they do, I will be gobsmacked and believe you even less

Surely most gyms would close down without those who join for 12 months and stay for one?

BitOutOfPractice not a lot. It's rediduclous unless there is some kind of health and safety issues I am not aware of or some kind concern about makeup soiling the equipment (I have no idea of make ups preformance under sweaty conditions)?

But if you observed properly I was commenting on a statement about appearance standards in the corporate world made by dingdongthewitchishere. Which in turn was a reply to a comment likening the gym to the working world. I was mearly supporting the argument that often in the working everyone is expected to appear what is deemed "appropriate".

Also we are all affected by gender stereotypes and gender based barriers. Gender apartheid goes both ways. The world we live in often gender is still a thing and it limits people.