I’ve been a member of four or five gyms over the past decade or so, everything from the local community centre with five pieces of equipment, some freeweights and an ancient standing bicycle to the commercial gym I now frequent. Up until now, though, I’ve managed to avoid the phenomenon of the locker room shower. Unfortunately, since I live in the suburbs and workout downtown before work, showering at the gym is an unavoidable necessity.
Ick.
It’s not that I have modesty issues. Heck, my parents were nudists after all. It’s just such a holy pain in the ass to be organized enough to remember to pack everything into my bag in the morning, decide what to bring into the little shower stall, shower, get dried off and dressed and out, all without forgetting something and being elbow to elbow with a bunch of other people. My inner diva is not impressed.
The very first day I worked out downtown, I forgot to bring my towel. It takes a really long time to dry yourself off using those brown paper towel squares made out of recycled cardboard. The second time, I forgot to bring fresh underwear. Sigh. The third time, I remembered everything – and then forgot my hair dryer in a locker when I left. Luckily, it was still there the next day when I went back for it.
The showers in the locker room are really quite unappetizing. Dank, airless, unpleasant. I went out after my first experience and bought myself some shower shoes for the first time in my life. (And don’t get me started on shower shoes. I can see why some people call flip-flops ‘thongs’ because the human body is just not designed to have hardware crammed into its cracks. Why women wear thongs on their feet or their asses is a complete mystery to me… I can’t see how they can get over being irritated by them long enough to concentate on putting one foot in front of the other, let alone being a productive contributor to society. But I digress.)
The showers are on a kind of a pump thingee. You press the button, and get X amount of time. In my case this morning, you get four seconds of water. Four seconds. Count with me now: one buttercup, two buttercup, three buttercup, four buttercup. That’s how much time I had before I had to press the button again. That’s not enough time to wash an armpit, let alone to rinse half a bottle of shampoo out of unruly, sweat-tangled curls. I think I worked up more of a sweat trying to keep the water flowing than I did on the eliptical trainer.
There are showers here in the building where I work, but I am not sure I am in any hurry to see any of my coworkers naked. Not sure, for that matter, to share so much of myself either. It’s one thing to publish my naked insides onto the Internet through blog for all the world to see, and I’m okay with being naked on the outside in front of strangers. But do I need to strip in front of people I might later ask for a job reference?
Are you modest or an exhibitionist?
I could give you a lesson on the angles that I can achieve holding a towel while pulling underwear on a wet body.
I’m a clean freak. Showers at home for me. Your parents were nudists?
Ick!! Ick!! Ick!!
I used to go to a gym next door to my work, I would then slip my sweaty body into the car (sometimes in a winter coat – ewwwwwww), just to drive 40 mins home to shower there.
I despise public showers, changerooms as a whole if we are going to get technical, and have yet to use one.
Ewwwwww, ewwwwwww, ewwwwwww.
Snack Mommy – modest in at least one respect
With 3 boys in the house and no daughters, I consider clothing optional. Might want to call before you stop by Sunday mornings 😀
Totally modest, bordering on the prudish. In my gym-going days, I would wait until there was almost no one in the locker room before getting changed. And then there are my issues with public bathrooms, showers included….
This leaves me in a tizzy. Notsomuch the images of parental nudity, the need for shower shoes or the thought of potentially sharing nudity with co-workers – it’s why would people voluntarily put themselves in these positions. I’m going to say nonononono – don’t make me shower with others. Ick on sharing, but also because they’re not great showers. How can you pay the right amount of attention to cleaning certain parts, as well as bend over to clean others comfortably? I say public showering is a sham. You just pretend to get clean so others don’t think you’re a sweaty betty.
I despise public changerooms. At the pool we go to they have a no shoes or flipflops policy but I hide my shower shoes outside with the lifeguard shoes. No way I’m walking through a changeroom in my bare feet. Ack.
I’m way too lazy to work out in a gym…lunch time walks are my way of getting exercise…
But on the thong issue…I always said the same thing…how on earth could something riding that sensitive crack in your body be comfortable…but you know what? I’ve been converted! The trick is this…the thinner the thong, the better. In fact the “flossy” ones fit so perfectly that it’s actually more comfortable than normal underwear.
Of course, this time of year, there’s always the option of not wearing underwear at all…and no one would ever know the difference!
Not modest, but like you I haaaaate all the organisation that goes with showering somewhere other than my own home.
And flip-flops? are jandals, not thongs. Hee.
How disappointing – you ladies are all wimps!!! You’ve seen one dimply ass, you’ve seen ’em all – you’ve seen one set of tits, you’ve seen them all – oops, no wait – except for Pamela of course.
I am an ex-athlete (swimmer) so changing in locker rooms is how I grew up. No biggie, really. I am not afraid to see anyone else nekkid, and don’t care if they see me. This has carried thru to today, when there are days I am the only woman in the entire chageroom at my gym (whenever I get my lazy ass there) not hiding behind the curtains. I may shout a warning ahead of time so they don’t get grossed out to the point of no return about my stretch marks, but if they wanna see – so be it. In fact, I am more interested in what you are going to wear and not what you look like underneath.
Although – I DO hear you on the ick factor and the need for shower shoes. I have a wart on the bottom of my foot that may very well be over 2 decades old from my days in too many public showers. Wear the shoes, don’t touch the walls and rest assured, you are clean.
I think the most important of all on this post is HOORAY FOR YOU Danigirl for getting to the gym. Period.