Men fighting in the gym

[IceLace100]

Just went to my local Pure gym. I was running a 5k when an argument turned into a fight at the weights machines.

15-20 men in their teens 20s and 30s.

Squaring off, shouting, people pushing and shoving and escalating to punching, some people holding others back etc etc.

I alerted all the people in a world of their own with headphones on then left, along with the majority of other people, (ALL the women left).

Question 1:
Why oh why do some men utterly fail to behave themselves in public spaces??? What the actual fuck is wrong with them. I just don't get it.

I mean, I was just trying to quietly run my 5k ffs.

I'm so fucked off. Since lockdown eased, I have joined 2 gyms. First gym a man shot another man right outside the entrance of it. I turned up one day to police vans and tape. So I stopped my membership and moved to puregym. Now there has been a fight there- is nowhere safe from male violence?

Question 2:
Shall I move gyms AGAIN and inconvenience myself by travelling further because of male violence? On one hand why the fuck should I have to? On the other hard, I want to be safe.

For those of you thinking I should complain to pure gym, oh you worry, I have!

Sorry being nosey it's just quite obscure and you obviously know it back to front. Don't have to tell me obv!

Incidentally though I really think that not getting the fuck out when a bunch of men kick off in a brawl type situation is a really poor idea.

A gym is full of pretty dangerous things to use as weapons IE heavy weights. Things to swing which have heft.

When they get going where the action is at can move fast. And they have no interest about anything else. A person in the way can and will be shoved, whacked, kicked etc.. In that mood it's usually whack anyone who isn't with you.

Yes a gym and unlikely but possible one could have had knife. I mean you never do know.

And of course things get thrown about.

I've been in plenty of pubs where things have kicked off. I'm generally quite good at feeling when something is brewing and have got me and my friends out before it all went nuts. Sometimes you know you can tell it's a thing that their hearts aren't in it and ok fine. To be around a proper angry fight with a group of men is not a good place to be.

If you carried on running i mean potentially you wouldn't be able to see them.

And I mean if you're that hard/ reckless then surely you would at least watch? I mean it's quite interesting from a safe distance really. (As long as no one gets seriously hurt obv).

@Ijustreallywantacat

Ooh, look at you being so cool around group violence in a confined space. Arent you just AMAZING?

Not saying I'd have stayed as its obviously intimidating but I think the point she's making is that If two blokes are knocking lumps out of each other because one of them nicked the machine or whatever, they're unlikely to attack some random woman on the treadmill.

As for why it happened...testerone and hormone fuelled blokes put next to each other more likely yo become angry I guess. I doubt its an everyday occurance. I hope the staff were proactive and that the offenders were banned.

Yeah you're right I was wrong to be scared of a group of muscly men fighting near me in an enclosed space.

My fault really.

SILLY OLD ME

Incidentally though I really think that not getting the fuck out when a bunch of men kick off in a brawl type situation is a really poor idea.

Quite, I have seen too many fights where innocent bystanders get dragged into the fray because a few dick heads suffering from red most rage start swinging at anything that moves.

*mist

Aren't men awful?

Well that's a very open question!

Too many too often is certainly supported by both stats and general experience of men women girls boys.

But this is feminism and I'm sure evidence of man hating would be useful for someone!

Yeah you're right I was wrong to be scared of a group of muscly men fighting near me in an enclosed space.

Didn't say you were wrong at all, as I said I'd have fucked off too. I just like to think that it wouldn't put me off going back again. But I dont know i wasn't there. As I also said, I hope the gym dealt with it well and that you're feeling OK now.

Innocent bystanders do sometimes get accidentally hurt in brawls. Or dragged into legalities.

I’d have been scared of getting caught up in it too too and likely left.

Even what seems to be a small fight could have one push another, he falls and whacks his head on a metal machine and dies. Then you’re there all day giving statements and at court as witnesses as someone is dead. Scary.

It’s unlikely but it can happen.

"In my experience, when men are fighting each other, women are usually ignored."

Yes- ignored to the point where they are considered to be merely part of the furniture. If two brawling idiots staggered into OP and knocked her off the treadmill, splitting her head open and knocking her half conscious, they would no more care than if they'd knocked over a table in the pub, bust a leg off it and smashed all the glasses on it. Anyone willing to start brawling in a confined space with innocent bystanders about by definition does not give a fuck about other people's comfort or safety.

“Roid Rage” might be true in some cases, but budget gyms like Puregym are cheap, contract-free and easily accessible. They’re therefore more likely to attract younger men, many of whom haven’t yet gained the maturity or life experience to handle confrontation without resorting to aggression; they also attract men from lower socioeconomic backgrounds which, in large cities at least, often means that you live on a housing estate with strong gang allegiances and where being seen as a “road man” or “tough guy” is important for your own safety.

I don’t think we can neglect to look at the impact of toxic masculinity and how it means that men are ultimately also the victims of social stereotyping, and the need to conform to pressure. I suppose “toxic masculinity” is also therefore at least partially the answer to “why do (some) men behave like this?”

Enclosed space? Most Puregyms have the interior capacity of the Sahara desert. 😂

@NiceGerbil

That info about steroids is really interesting. Is it something you know about through work? Or friends at gym? I know fuck all about steroids so will take the word of someone who knows!

How do they get the blood work regularly, privately I assume? Given its illegal do they know what to check or are the docs relaxed knowing what it's for?

I can't imagine your bog standard youth/ man would be doing all that though tbh. Or know about all this cycles stuff.

How would a big standard 16yo boy come across it? What's the route iyswim. I always imagined other blokes in the gym?

Incidentally I very much doubt there's many people at all who think that of having a smoke, I mean it's been around for yonks now. My parents were in the generation where I suppose it became more commonplace. And they're nearly 80

My partner is on TRT for a problem with his free testosterone - i.e. the level that is bioavailable rather than total levels.

The NHS is frankly completely rubbish with TRT compared to most of Europe and certainly the US, so he’s had to do a lot of his own research. Was misdiagnosed as depression several times and then refused treatment because he was 0.3 nmol above the lab’s cutoff point, which was oddly a much lower cutoff point than all the medical associations recommend and indeed lower than all the other NHS trusts whose guidelines I managed to download.

As he would’ve been outside of the range within another few years, he thought why wait until then feeling crap. So he went private for a while. He’s now on the NHS but they don’t even check his estrogen which is one of the biggest complications (can hugely impact mood, water retention, and sex drive/ED). He just uses Medichecks and sends off a thumb prick sample.

Lots of the forums I’ve read have a crossover between genuine TRT patients and bodybuilders etc. I don’t know if you’re in the US, but owning/using steroids isn’t illegal here unless you’re distributing them. Perfectly ok to buy online and use as much as you want. Plenty of young guys absolutely understand how to use the them and it’s mainly the idiots that don’t do blood work or take time off that face problems (plenty of these guys around). There are loads of discussion sites with cycle templates etc and generally people advise against doing them until you understand what you’re doing and have reached a stage where natural gains are diminishing returns.

I remember reading a heart doctor saying that being on a cycle is perhaps equivalent to drinking ten shots of liquor a day. So not great for the heart, but if done for only a few months a year and countered by plenty of good nutrition and exercise the rest of the year most people will remain relatively ok. Contrary to what people think, evidence is leaning towards steroids permanently altering your muscular potential by kind of ‘raising the threshold’ beyond your natural limits. So even when you stop you can potentially have a higher muscle building capacity than before.

I’m into lifting weights and attend a focused powerlifting gym so I’ve met loads of people who use them. By and large, people who train hard tend to befairly dedicated and stable individuals, not the types likely to kick off down the pub. Not least because most don’t drink. But overall I’d say that aggro guys are probably more likely to bodybuilders than join a book club. But it’s a complete stereotype that musclebound = aggressive.

For some perspective, professional strongmen will often go for as much as 15 years ‘on cycle’ taking significant doses. Most understand the risks, which is what I imagine Eddie Hall meant when he said he’d taken years off his life with his training.

By contrast, the average user is recommended to spend as much time off as on, so at most 2x three month cycles a year. There’s a huge difference and Joe Public doesn’t really understand this and thinks ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger’ when people mention steroids.

@ColorMagicBarbie

Enclosed space? Most Puregyms have the interior capacity of the Sahara desert. 😂

But they have doors that only let you go out one by one.

Really surprising the number of women saying they wouldn't be frightened by 15 men fighting very close to them.

It's fucking ridiculous actually.

Well, it's men who are going to get the "what're you looking at?" not women.

I'd be a bit uncomfortable but I'd probs not leave over some strangers having a punch up. What's it got to do with me?

@ColorMagicBarbie

Well, it's men who are going to get the "what're you looking at?" not women.

I'd be a bit uncomfortable but I'd probs not leave over some strangers having a punch up. What's it got to do with me?

Wow you're so brave.

Enclosed space? Most Puregyms have the interior capacity of the Sahara desert. 😂

Shame their changing rooms have the less space then a glove box.

Why oh why do some men utterly fail to behave themselves in public spaces??? What the actual fuck is wrong with them. I just don't get it

Because many of them are angry chavs. Though so are some women.

I would be asking them manager if they have all been given life bans from the club? If not I am taking my custom elsewhere.

Men were showing looking at porn together on their phones in my gym commenting on the women's breasts etc and saying how their girlfriends are stupid bitches for various reasons.

I get tired of the "not all men" attitude, it's very "all lives matter"

You just don't encounter cases on this scale where women are being sexually inappropriate or violent in public spaces and it making men feel scared or uncomfortable

Anyone thinking yeah I'd just carry on with the treadmill while a group of men started properly having a big punch up in the vicinity has either never been in the vicinity of a real fight in a room with plenty of great things to use as weapons/ throw about/ push over etc.

Up to you. I'm was way happier than most I know to take various risks and have a pretty feeble self preservation instinct. I would get out. Having been in these situations. They can get very very nasty. Who wants to be in a room where there could be a killing?. Life changing injuries?

Up to the individual of course.

The plan to carry on running and ignore it defies human nature though! Who wouldn't watch? It's not everyday you see a proper big brawl and not even to feel like at least watching is very odd!

@NiceGerbil

Anyone thinking yeah I'd just carry on with the treadmill while a group of men started properly having a big punch up in the vicinity has either never been in the vicinity of a real fight in a room with plenty of great things to use as weapons/ throw about/ push over etc.

Up to you. I'm was way happier than most I know to take various risks and have a pretty feeble self preservation instinct. I would get out. Having been in these situations. They can get very very nasty. Who wants to be in a room where there could be a killing?. Life changing injuries?

Up to the individual of course.

The plan to carry on running and ignore it defies human nature though! Who wouldn't watch? It's not everyday you see a proper big brawl and not even to feel like at least watching is very odd!

Quite the opposite. I've seen it kick off in loads of pubs and generally just keep sipping my drink.

Violence isn't usually random and a random bloke won't usually attack you just because he's having an argument with somebody else. I mean, if somebody gets murdered by their husband in your neighbourhood do you immediately start eyeing your own in case he also attacks you? Of course not, because it's not related to you.

Some women will take any opportunity to make an event about themselves, even if they're literally not involved.

I'd probably watch but I wouldn't be rushing out the door in terror.

I mean, if somebody gets murdered by their husband in your neighbourhood do you immediately start eyeing your own in case he also attacks you?

Some people would!
Personally, I would leave. But I wouldn't be scared and I wouldn't run.
I've been in pubs and beer gardens when there's been a fight between men.
Accidents happen, but they only intend to hurt each other.
Only time I've seen women hurt is when they've deliberately joined in.

@ColorMagicBarbie

I'd probably watch but I wouldn't be rushing out the door in terror.

Wow you're so so brave and wonderful.

If only we could all be like you