Why Are So Many Going to the Gym These Days?**

My name is Howard, and for 48 years, I have been using gyms. Back in the day—say, the late 70s and early 80s—if you went to a gym, you would hardly see five people in there. If there was anyone in there with you, it was a friendly environment. It was such a relaxing place; you didn’t have to be concerned if someone was using the equipment you wanted. I’m sorry, but I wish those days were back. But today, the environment in the gym is different. It’s so busy some days that you have to queue to use particular equipment. At times, I’ve even heard some guys get into fights due to being impatient with waiting to use a specific piece of equipment. So, I ask myself: why are so many using the gym these days? Why are gyms so packed? Sometimes you can’t even move. Well, one reason is that there is a lot of advertising and campaigning now. There was no gym advertising back at that time—well, not to my knowledge. There are also personal trainers in the gym these days; 40 years ago, they were unheard of. Well, not in the gyms I went to.

Gym has now also turned, to some extent, into a social club where most people spend the majority of their time gossiping rather than exercising. Many females of all ages are also coming to the gym. That all started from around the mid-90s, I suppose. I remember my first monthly direct debit was taken from my bank around 1993 or 1994, and maybe from that time onward, entry-level gyms were starting to fill up. Unfortunately, the fun was starting to diminish as far as I was concerned. The changing rooms were crowded, as were the showers and saunas. It was nice to meet good people in there, but the enjoyment was shrinking. The thing I mostly concentrated on was cardio. The treadmill is my first choice — 45 minutes to an hour. What I tend to do is vary the speed: start at, say, 4.0, then every minute or two increase it by 0.5, up to maybe 10 or 12, and then do it in reverse. After that, I’d spend about 20 minutes on what was popularly known as the Thigh Master. That was the warm-up session. Then come the weights — first up is abs: at least 100 reps using a low weight, then chest, maybe 10 sets of 5.