‘OAPS AND POSERS MAKE GOING TO THE GYM A PAIN’

I have a tight 45 minutes to get my workout done – almost impossible when the first group is around. The older members I see just wander aimlessly, clueless about what to do. They either hang out by the watercooler for 20 minutes, or on a piece of equipment for the same time (not using it – one thing they are not doing is working out).

Almost as frustrating are the posers – usually blokes in their 20s, with earrings and earbuds, wearing vests to show off the muscles they’ve honed in breaks from being on their mobile.

I nearly had a run-in with one. He spent all his “workout” in an argument on the phone with his girlfriend (while hogging the equipment, of course). But I thought better of it, as he was a pretty big bloke.

The young women I see are equally disinterested in fitness goals, arriving at the gym in full make-up before video recording themselves doing a plank, presumably to then post to social media.

In fact, many gyms value public sharing over private sweating, installing huge mirrors with hashtags across them that users are urged to use to post all about their visit while it’s happening.

I don’t see why these kinds of people go to the gym at all. They’re not achieving anything, as far as exercise is concerned, and they only make life worse for those of us who want to. Anonymous, as told to Charlotte Lytton