Social Situation- Cardinal Fitness

I chose to observe a social setting at my local health club, Cardinal Fitness in West Chicago.  I have been working out at this particular club for over six years now, since they first opened.  I was also an employee there until just recently, so I have had countless opportunities to observe some pretty interesting social situations.

The "place" that I chose to observe was the freeweight area of the gym.  I find this area of the gym most interesting because it seems like it's the only area of the gym where people (mostly young males) are actually trying to gain weight as opposed to lose weight- very different goals.  This place is always messy- the staff tries their best to keep it neat and organized.  They post signs all over the place reminding people to re-rack their weights.  But they simply can't keep up with the endless swarm of men (I am going to be sexist here because I rarely see women in this part of the gym) who forget pick up after themselves.

The "actors" in this place are the members of the gym.  The members all have their own fitness goals and are very focused on accomplishing them.  Most of the members in the freeweight area are trying to either gain weight or gain strength.  They are focused on their goals, but at the same time many of them are focused on something else: themselves.  They are constantly aware of the image they are putting out.  My observation focused on two young males who looked to be in their later high school years.  They both wore t-shirts with the sleeves cut off.  One of them was clearly playing the "teacher" role- he had a much more impressive physique and was lifting much heavier weight than his comrade.  He also chose to cut off a lot more than just his sleeves- his t-shirt was shredded into little more than just a poncho.  His hair was perfectly gelled and he looked like he had just climbed out of a tanning bed.  He looked like he put a lot of thought into his appearance for that day.

The "activities" in this place are weightlifting exercises.  What I found very interesting about these two young males is that they invented their own very elaborate exercises.  Instead of performing a decline bench press on the decline bench that was built for that purpose, they chose to drag dumbbells over to a makeshift decline bench and invent their own version of the exercise.  They also dragged another bench all the way to the cable pulleys in order to invent their own form of a flye exercise.  The mastermind behind these exercises was the boy with the gelled hair- he clearly wanted everyone to know that he had a plan in mind and he knew what he was doing.  Every so often I would catch him glancing up and down at himself in the mirror.

Overall, this was an interesting observation.  Honestly, I've seen much more interesting things take place in this gym.  I was actually disappointed that none of the usual characters were there on this particular day and I had to settle for these two.