Dragon in the rainbow gym

With my new job post at Vancouver Downtown, I've changed my gym again. This time, I've selected a Downtown gym in the West End, with huge selection of weights, machines, aerobic classes, squash courts as well as boxing and martial arts areas. It is also the first gym I've joined where the significant majority of the gym members are gay.

It is not so much that the gym is a gay gym (even though the gym had significant presence in the latest Vancouver Gay Pride parade); it is simply located at the heart of the Vancouver's "Gayville" and therefore attracts lots of health-conscious males, even though there are quite a few female and straight members as well. For me, it is interesting glimpse at the way a minority group differs in the way of their gym etiquette and training routines.

Here is couple of observations:

There is much more hugging and kissing and smiling between men. Lots of the members are couples training together, so this is hardly surprising. It threw me off couple of times at first (I am more used to grunting and swearing males in my gyms), but now I find it quite heart-warming.

Spotters are much easier to find than in average gym, and people tend to be friendly, smiling, and always willing to help you out.

It is funny that it is the good-looking guys instead of the girls that turn the heads. I know this is kinda stating the obvious considering the clientele, but after training so many years in straight gyms, the culture shock is considerable.

Intensity of the training is perhaps somewhat lower than in most hardcore gyms I've been (as people tend to chat a bit more), but the gym members are far stricter with their diets, and it shows in the number of really ripped men around the gym. People also seem to stick to their training regimes rather than training on and off depending on whether it is the beach season or not.

Steroid use seems little bit more common here than in UK and Finland, which is hardly surprising considering the ease of acquisition. On the other hand, the gym clientele seems to favor different drugs than Europeans -and it might be that the gays don't want all that acne that is the side product of the stronger 'roids. Also, the mass building drugs seem to be rarer than those that cut fat. Again, this might be a side effect of the preference of the users.

All in all, I like my new gym.

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