Ethnography

Ethnography: Gym Rats

            Nowadays people have become obsessed with looking fit and being healthy. So subsequently more and more people are flocking to the gym to try and get in shape especially with summer around the corner for our section of the country. But there is a certain group of people that every gym has, gym rats. Now when I say gym rat I don’t mean it in a disrespectful manner, it’s just a term for the people that hit the gym every day rain, sleet and snow. It is easy to spot them; they’re the people most people want to look like. The gym I chose to observe is actually the gym I go to, Workout World. It is located in Fall River right below the Braga Bridge.

            In a normal week for me I usually go to the gym 2-3 times a week, but during spring break I went 5 days and just took it all in. During this week I didn’t lift with my friends like I normally do I chose to lift with the gym rats. They lift ridiculously more than me but they agreed to let me join them for the sake of my paper. I lifted with three different people that I would consider to be a gym. Before we started lifting each day I asked my new lifting partners a few questions. I asked each person how many times they get to the gym in a normal week. They each said barring any kind of freak accident they usually get to the gym 6-7 days a week with 7 being the ideal number. I also asked how long they have been lifting for. Two of the men said they had been lifting since they’re freshmen year in high school and the other said that he’d been lifting since he graduated high school. For a handle on how long they have ben lifting, the ages of the men are 28, 29, and 32.  So they have each been lifting for years. The final question I asked them was, what is the most annoying thing you’ve come across while lifting. The universal response was people taking a weight or machine before they were done. Each of the men expressed serious anger when talking about the thieves.  

            I realized after the three days of lifting with them it was hard to really observe their behavior. So for the other two days I went to the gym I didn’t lift with them. I lifted with my friends while taking notes on their behavior. From observing I saw that most of the time they lifted alone and were sort of in some kind of zone. All three lifted with head phones and never took them out the entire session.  They seemed sort of in a weight lifting trance. Also each of them had to lift in the mirror just watching themselves lift. On occasion they would take a minute or two to have a conversation with someone else but for the most part they were lone wolves. On the days I observed they lifted for an average of 3 hours give or take a few minutes. Each of the men also carried a back pack with them. When I asked them what was with the bag they replied that the bag was like a utility belt, it had all the stuff they needed, cloths to wipe sweat, water bottles, and protein products. On the way out I asked each of the men what was next after the gym. They each said that they would take a shower and relax for a bit before doing what they normally do at night.