Use of gyms

[kayyallup]

I'm doing a uni course and would appreciate it if you could help with my research.

 

I would like to know if people use gyms/fitness suites and if so if it is for health reasons or due to pressure from the media representations.

 

Could you please let me know your age group/region of the uk and what equipment you use.  If you are female would you be put off going to a gym due to the old image of them being for guys.

 

Thanks.

[lizzierose]

I've only ever been to a gym once and its because i won a free session for me and a friend. it was a ladies only gym and we went for a work out and i really quite enjoyed it. I'm quite slim but not very fit and i looked a bit scruffy and after the session which was supposed to entice us into joining we weren't invited to join and its the first time I ever really wanted to. I felt quite intimidated by the superfit (and a bit trendy) people there (customers and staff)

I've never really considered the gym as a specifically male place,  but I would much prefer to go to a ladies only gym just from self-consciousness, alhtough I've been rather put off that now as well.

hope this is helpful.I'm a 21 yr old student from leeds and the gym I tried was in the suburbs of newcastle

[Gemma1984]

i have recemtly joined up to the gym, my friend ( female ) joined as was offered to give two friends a free trial, i had my trial and then joined up for a year.

i dont consider the gym to be male orientated although i did feel a bit uncomfortable going in until i brought the 'right' clothing

but now i go freely on my own or with my friend depending on the days!

im going because i feel i want to lose weight and get fit, tis is for me not because f media pressure i have gained a few pounds since i have been with my boyfriend and dont feel comfortable with myself as i used to!

im 20 from oxfordshire by the way and when in the gym i use the treadmill, bikes, rowing machine, stepper machine, leg weights and arm weights, and the tummy crunch thing ( dont know the real name! )

[landie]

There's something about sharing the pleasure of vigorous exercising with others that you just don't get alone.

[evertonsue]

I've been going to the gym for a year now, i had been waiting for a decent gym to arrive in my home town Banbury for years and finally Bannatynes arrived on my doorstep. I use the gym for health reasons mainly, I try to do alot of cardiovascular work for my heart and some free weights to tone my physic a bit. I'm 31yrs old and frequently go on my own. My friend joined with me we pay �44 a month and she hasn't been seen at the gym since Oct last year! What a waste!!

[lethologica]

I would probably go to the gym if I could afford it.  My dad recently bought a cross trainer, so I try to use that every other day if not daily, just for health reasons I suppose - it bothers me that despite being an otherwise slim, healthy 19 year old I used to get out of breath relatively easily...

 

19yr old student in hampshire :)

[Impret-Sir]

I have been going to the gym twice a week for about 15 years. I would say my work outs are about 60% weights and 40% aerobics, (rowing and running). I have never really been aware of any "media pressure" to go, I go simply because I enjoy the sensation that the exercise gives me while I am doing it, plus I hope that I am gaining health benifits too. I still have the same waist measurement as I did 20 yrs ago, (32in) but have put on about 4 inches of muscle around my chest, (44in), and I am happy enough with that, plus my resting heart rate is about 60bpm, all of which I think is quite good for an average 40ish year old guy. I feel relaxed and less stressful after a work out too. My gym is very down to earth, with no body builder types, or super fit athletes, and I do prefer that environment to a more swish place, my wife and I go together, and that is an added factor, as its nice to have something to do together, and having a training partner is helpful when it gets a bit too much trouble, as it does from time to time. There are at least as many females in our gym as males, many of them are fitter than a lot of the guys! and dont seem at all fazed by sharing the equipment with us. I live in Wiltshire, by the way.

Hope that helps.

[teamcool]

Im 20 and i started the gym about 3 month ago. My reasons were not fitness or health based but purely cosmetic, to look good and feel good about myself. Yeahrs of drinking lager and eating fast food had taken its toll on me and i was embarrased to take my top off in front of other people as i had a gut, love handles and was moving toward the early stages of man boobs. check out this advert for a gym on www.skoopy.com which is popular with young males

http://www.skoopy.com/show2.php?id=1311&type=VID

[helster]

I have sporadic periods in which i go to the gym. It is always due to society's pressure to be slim. anyone who says otherwise is in denial and too caught up in that system to realise. x

[natty23]

23, hampshire.

i've always been pretty fit and slim with no problem controlling my weight but i still feel guilty and lazy if i don't go to the gym. once i've been for a session i feel great, like i've achieved something so thats why i keep going back.

i hate going when there are lots of men there, so i try to go during the day at weekends (uni gym so not  alot of people at weekends) 

[Impret-Sir]

helster, your talking rubbish. I am not "in denial", and dont care a jot about "societys pressure to be slim". I gave my reasons for attending a gym, and they are the only ones.