The 4 Strangest Encounters I Had at the Gym Yesterday

Let me just preface this by saying that I haven't been to the Y to work out in awhile. Instead, we've been able to use the nice, peaceful weight room at Kenney, where there is never a wait for a machine and the people are never terrifying. But yesterday, I went to the Y after school and, boy, did I ever have a wake-up call. Between the huge men pumping and pumping iron to the tiny boys trying to bulk up, I ran into some pretty interesting people while trying to work out.

4. The Dancing Man - At the Y, they tend to blare very fast, motivational music in the weight room at high volumes. For the most part, people tend to ignore this, but not the man I ran into. During the song S & M (by Rihanna), this man was dancing around weight racks and the benches, waving his arms and doing incredibly uncomfortable hip thrusts. He was an older gentleman too, which made this experience all the weirder.

3. The Squat Hog - There is a lot of equipment at the Y, but at times it can be hard to work yourself in and share. There are two "squat stations," each equipped with a bar and the appropriate weights. These are usually the most popular, so I knew that I wouldn't get my turn there when I first arrived yesterday. I waited for about half an hour, but the same man was using the station. He would do a couple reps for a minute, then rest about five, leaving his weights and taking a casual stroll around the gym! I wanted to go and steal the station from him, but he left his multitudes of large weights on the bar, and I knew that I would embarrass myself if I tried to take them off. Finally, he took of his weights and left and I ran over to snatch the station before anyone else did. No sooner had I gotten there, he came back and asked if he could "work in" with me, because he still wasn't done!

2. The Arctic-Clad Observer - The squat station isn't the only machine at the Y that was occupied for awhile yesterday. I wanted to do my leg curls, so I went over the section with all the leg machines.  However, the machine wasn't empty. There was a middle-aged woman sitting on it, not lifting any weight. She was perched on the machine watching what everyone else around her was doing. Not only that, but she was also dressed for sub-zero temperatures in a large pair of sweatpants as well as a legitimate parka. I waited for awhile, but she just sat there with no intention of moving, so I moved on. I saw her get up and leave about five minutes later.

1. Cashin' Out - My personal favorite, however, was the main I bumped into at the overhead press. And by bumped, I mean accidentally tripped over his foot and then stuttered about 10 apologies because I was so terrified. He was about my height, but very wide, with a beard to rival any of the Robertson's (from Duck Dynasty). Instead of a camouflage shirt, however, he wore a very large black tee shirt with the word CASH  spelled out in huge, capital letters. If that wasn't enough, underneath there was a large picture of a sneering man flipping off the camera (or whatever people dared to check out this shirt). All I could wonder was, where did he ever find a shirt like that and why did he decide to wear it to a place full of children?

And there we have it, my picture of the Y on a school afternoon. My recommendation? If you want to work out, go at night. Do you have any weird gym encounters?