Grunting.....its just not for the gym anymore

[+ purplekow]

An article in the NY Times this weekend, details the explusion from his gym, of a man described as a dark haired muscular law enforcement officer, (can't get enough of them into my gym as far as I am concerned but that is another matter). His crime? According to him...grunting while lifting weights. According to the gym...his hostile reaction to being told he could not grunt when lifting weights. The gym chain, Planet Fitness as I recall, has a policy against dropping weights and grunting, ostensibly so not as to offend nearby people. The gym goes so far as to set off an alarm and shine a spot light on an offending grunter. The gym contends that grunting is demoralizing to the casual excercise afficianado and that if you exercise enough to grunt, perhaps you better take it to a different gym. So what is the word here? Is this a case the First Amendment supporters should take up? And if they can limit the right to grunt in a gym, how long is it before you can no longer grunt in a hotel room? the back seat of a car? a sauna?

I for one appreciate some good grunting. And as I hear less and less of it in the bedroom and more and more of it when I climb 4 flights of stairs, I vote to keep the grunting in the gym.

[Rick Munroe]

>And if they can limit the right to grunt in a gym,

>how long is it before you can no longer grunt in a hotel room?

>the back seat of a car? a sauna?

 

If they stop us from grunting in hotel rooms, then Derek and I will probably explode or something (I think it's physically impossible for us to have nice, "quiet" sex). As for the gym, Derek not only grunts, he growls "Fuck!" at the end of each (very heavy) set. I guess we won't be joining Planet Fitness if they come to Chelsea.

 

I think grunting should be allowed in gyms but they should ban perfume in the locker room and excessive self-love in the mirror. :o

[Guest zipperzone]

My guess would be that they don't want "the grunters" because they tend to be the serious bodybuilders who use their membership extensivly. The type of gym they run is probably geared to the people who THINK they want to shape up, but get bored with it very quickly and more or less stop going - thus allowing them to have room to sell more memberships.

 

I have a friend who is an instructer/trainer at a Vancouver gym, and he tells me that the gym's unwritten policy is to try and get new members to quit as soon as possible after joining. As they have signed a 1 year contract there is no $$$ refund.

 

If every member of a gym were to faithfully use his membership every day, or even 4 times a week, there would be no way the facilities could accomodate the crowd.

 

It's a sleazy business. How come so many of the fitness centers are owned by mob like creatures?

[LeeOz]

I go to the gym, and I do not mind the grunting as much as the banging of weights on the ground.

 

But what really peeves me are those people who think they own the gym, that they do not need to return the weights where they got them from.

 

GGGGGGgggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Luv2play]

I am definitely not a grunter at the gym! But I think guys should be able to grunt if they want/need to in doing their exercises. However, I can see some gyms not appreciating this as it does offend some tender souls.

 

I am conflicted about my own gym memebership. Every year I say to myself I should terminate it when the extension contract is mailed to me, since I am such a hit and miss attendee. Some months I don't show up at all. Then sometimes I get religion and go 3 times a week.

 

I have had gym memeberships for over 30 years now, but as I get older I have to admit I don't use them as much as I used to. However, as I approach 60 (oh God) I will say that going to the gym all those years has paid off as I have kept my weight around the same level over 30 years (within 10 pounds) and kept more or less fit. Now if I could just get off my ass today and go to the gym! :o

[+ purplekow]

Well if the thought of muscular sweaty men grunting doesnt get you to the gym, then you may need more incentive than nature can provide

[Louis]

I never grunted when I weight trained, and I was one of the stongest guys in town pound for pound.... and still carry that reputation. One does not have to grunt when they lift, and I never allowed any of the kids that I tought weight training to, to grunt. We had guys in town here that you could hear almost a block away from the sport complex... I would just laugh, when I heard them... and when it came time to bring home some medals from a weight lifting contest... I, the none grunter took home the medals.....I am not bragging, I am just giving an example that you do not have to grunt when you lift. It's all in the brain.

Louis.

[+ deej]

Control freaks are everywhere, and always looking for something to control. There's a town in Northern California that has proposed a smoking ban so strict that you wouldn't be able to smoke in your own home unless you lived in a single-family, detached home. There are bans on pit bulls (and other breeds of dogs).

 

All proponents of each ban have perfectly "moral and upstanding" arguments. What they don't realize is they are giving tacit approval to ANY arbitrary ban. Including when it affects them.

 

In George Bernard Shaw's play Caesar and Cleopatra, the Egyptian priests are explaining a custom to Caesar, much to the horror of his secretary (a Briton - whom GBS uses to satirize the attitudes of the British middle class).

 

Caesar, whose age and experience has given him a more cosmopolitan view, says to the Egyptian high priest:

 

"Forgive him, Theodosius, for he is a barbarian and, like all members of his race he thinks that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature."

 

We're becoming a country of barbarians.

[+ Charlie]

When Monica Seles was the number one tennis player in the world, she was noted for grunting loudly every time she hit the ball. The other players, who were, of course, regularly losing to her, began to complain that it was "distracting." The Wimbledon officials, being very proper, therefore told her that she would be penalized if she grunted during the match; she concentrated so hard on controlling her unladylike sounds that she lost the tournament final, and unfortunately never had another chance to win it.

 

I don't mind grunters at the gym--it gives me a good excuse to stare at the musclebuilders.