When I go to the gym at the YMCA in Harlem, I always end with a two-mile run on the treadmill. This treadmill doesn’t have my name on it, but it might as well. I use the same machine every time I go, because it looks out over the street and I can people-watch instead of TV-watch.
Most days, as I complete my last rep of squats, the same guy I usually see on the treadmill before me is finishing up. We politely nod as he gets off and I get ready to get on. But this morning, a stranger was on my treadmill — and he didn’t know my and my fellow gym rat’s routine.
I may not have known who he was, but I know his kind. He’s one of the Gym Newbies, a treacherous group armed with get-fit resolutions who mob the gym every January.
But it wasn’t just the treadmill. In the locker room, people were waiting to take a shower. It was a short line, but in December there was no line.
On the main floor of the gym, where I knocked out a full-body workout circuit, the machines had been taken over by fresh meat who had no idea what they were doing — or not doing. The bench is meant for pressing weights, not for taking a phone call. And one guy failed to rack his weights when he was done with the dumbbells. I wanted to say something, but I figured he’d ask what I meant by “racking weights.” (Hello, newbies: The answer is “Returning the dumbbells to the rack.”)
Classes are no different. The boot-camp session I like was full. And so was the next one.
January! Newbies begone!
So I’m making my own resolution to skip the gym for the first month of the year. Instead I will work out from home, using my own weights (and racking it!) and a workout program, DailyBurn.com.
For cardio, I will skip rope (sorry, neighbors) and run.
And for more variety, I’ll head to Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem for its pull-up bars and benches.
By the time February rolls around, those newbies will be gone. I can get back to my regular routine, and my favorite treadmill will be open.