Fredericton — After years of denying it, women who work out are finally admitting that they actually really enjoy it when random men approach them at the gym.
“I love it when I’m really getting into a workout, I’m sweating profusely, listening to loud music with headphones, totally in the zone, and some guy comes up to ask me an unnecessary question, so I have to take out the headphones, put down the weights and ask him to repeat himself,” said Sara Illies, 27, at Fit4Less in Fredericton, N.B. “Who wouldn’t love it?”
Her friend Laura Davidson confessed the same.
“Yeah, personally I’m not annoyed at all when I’m using a machine I’ve used hundreds of times — and it’s clear that I know what I’m doing — and some guy sees through all that self-confidence and offers me advice on technique,” said Davidson. “It’s especially great when a man offers to build me a ‘custom routine’ and says he’s been ‘watching my form.’ Women love un-asked-for tips and tricks. I do, anyway — I can’t speak for anyone else.”
Carla Simmons, a runner and gym regular, said men always ask her to spot them, or offer their own spotting services.
“I guess men these days are becoming sensitive enough to women’s needs and desires to see through our whole ‘independence’ charade and just force awkward small-talk. Take this guy right here,” she said, gesturing toward the muscular, smelly gym-rat leering at her from less than two feet away. “He’s always here, ready to ‘help’ me by dripping his sweat on my head as I practise my benchpress. I love that he doesn’t take no for an answer.”
The gym-rat, Steve Wimbledon, claims he can always tell when a woman wants to talk to him.
“You just look for the ones who are giving off all the signals — wearing headphones, watching their form in the mirror, not even glancing toward me. That’s when I hit them with one of my classic pickup lines: ‘Some weather we’re having, eh?’ or ‘Do you come here often?’
“The great thing about a co-ed gym is that I don’t have to waste my time going out to bars on the weekend to meet girls,” he added. “They’re all right here and they’re all just begging for me to interrupt them in the middle of a set.”