Secret Selfish Gym Trick

As many of you know, I am a gym junkie. It is my me-time and I rarely make the exception to miss it. So 5 or 6 days a week I can be found at one of the various 24-Hour Fitness clubs working out. For the most part I enjoy working out in a gym setting; especially in the classes. I love the competitive nature that comes alive in me, refusing to let the person next to me out-perform me. The gym I work out at the most is right by my work too, so you can't beat the convenience.

Of course there are drawbacks to the gym also. There is seasonal nuance of the "New Year Resolutioners". And as much as I would like to, you aren't allowed to walk up to strangers and deodorize them. There are always going to be the annoying guys at the gym who seem to think that an appropriate time to hit on you is while you are in a dead sprint on the treadmill, and as a trainer one of my hugest pet peeves is watching people compromise their form to lift a heavier weight.

However annoying the above may be to me, it is nothing compared to how I feel about the locker room. The locker room at my gym is stuffy, small, and overcrowded (or at least it is around 7:30 a.m. when I am trying to shower and get ready in an efficient manner). The lockers are stacked two high with a small bench at the base that are connected in sort of a half rectangle which goes around the edge of the locker room (make sense?).

One of the annoying things is contesting for space on the bench. People pull their stuff out of their locker and then spread it out all over the bench in front of the other lockers, rather than keeping it confined to just their "designated area" if you will. For a long time I have politely asked people to move their stuff so that I can get into my locker (which isn't so awkward except either when (A) they are naked, or (B) you are). But no more... I have found a solution.

See the problem was always that people spread out in front of the lockers next to theirs, so I realized that if I use more than one locker, then I am not only reserving more bench space, but increasing my chances that I will be able to get into my locker without the hassle. I started out by using two lockers, but now I have realized that three (or four) really work best. AND I am more organized now... change of clothes in one locker, shower stuff in another, empty gym bag in another, and (if necessary) dirty clothes in the fourth.

So yes... I am a greedy locker monger and I am proud of it. I love how people have to give me my space and that I am uninterrupted while I am getting ready. Judge all you want but that is my secret selfish gym trick to surviving the locker room.