I miss my old gym

19th of August 2017

Yesterday I was contemplating on why I don´t feel happy at my gym.

It is a very nice one. The facilities are nice. There is everything in this gym. A swimming pool. A room where you do the cardio and another one for the weight training. Everything is clean and the sun shines through the glass walls.

Why do I not feel like in heaven when I am in my gym. That was the feeling I had in the physiotherapy and in my old gymnasiums.

Since I came to Portugal I have attended 3 gyms. The first one was Korpus and my coach there was To. Just few months after I started he was in an motorcycle accident and lost his life. That was a horrible tragedy. I lost a friend.

I had to find a new gymnasium and I did. Some of the same people were there and I felt at home. After a while one of my friends from the old gym started Korpus again and I went there again. It was like coming home and I enjoyed every moment. Everyone was friendly and wonderful. Unfortunately this was a small gym and the owner was not making profit so he closed. That was a sad day for everyone but if you have a family to support you can not just enjoy your work, you have to make some profit as well.

Some weeks ago I met one of my sport pals in the supermarket. He gave me a big hug and kisses. He smiled and my heart warmed up. There was a dear friend. He asked how everything was. He was happy to see me and I was happy to see him. He is a young man and what we have in common is our friendship from the Korpos gymnasium. Whenever I see one of my friends from my other gyms there is always this happy feeling.

In the new gymnasium the feeling is different. Everyone is in their own world and you don´t step in there.

This gymnasium is based on personal training, or so it seems to me. The coaches and their customer have a nice friendly relationship, but they are inside their boxes and some of them, or rather most of them, don´t even bother to say good morning. The box is closed. Leave us alone, is the message they send out.

I was asked if I wanted a personal trainer when I began in this gymnasium. I did not. I just came from a long physiotherapy and had to promise to continue what we started there. I am happy to have made the decision not to have a personal trainer following me every step. What I have seen so far is that they would not understand how fragile my bones are.

Yesterday I was watching how they stretch their customers. My stomach crunched. They would break my body.

I have seen yoga classes and how they teach the beauty. I know they are all doing their wonderful things but I don´t want to be a part of it. There has been a pressure on me to attend the classes ! And ungrateful me, I don´t want to.

Why do I miss my old gym? Because I miss the friendly feeling. The comradeship where everyone is supporting everybody and being happy when there is a progress and motivating when there is a setback. This does not happen in my new gym. I am sure all the people are nice persons and they are doing what they are supposed to do. Would it change anything for the coaches just to say good morning? I don´t know and I am not expecting anything to change. I have to decide if I accept this is how it is, or if I just find another one, more friendly, perhaps not as fancy, but more human.

If I quit this gym would I ever visit just to say hello to the friendly people? I don´t think so. I have to say to be fair that the one who interviewed me at the beginning is friendly and the one who is available for everyone is there to help if I need help. It is the general feeling I am talking about. There are TVs everywhere and the coaches, some of them, are really interested in what is happening there and the phones are also interesting ! Wonderful. Why don´t they spare a good morning? Why don´t they shake hands with the men? Why, why why?

I go regularly to the physiotherapy to say hello. We laugh together. We share our thoughts and joy. Some of the long time patients are still there. There is compassion everywhere. We are interested in the progress and we share. That does not happen in my new gym but it was always in my old ones. What a pity.

Perhaps I am ungrateful. I may be, but this is my feeling today and I am sad.

Hulda Björnsdóttir