Gyms are basically rage incubators. They're sweatboxes full of smelly, moist people running side-by-side to nowhere, and patrolling trainers who say "core" every other word, and weightlifters who make sure you know just how heavy those weights are by grunting with every rep louder than the Ke$ha song (the third one in an hour) that's blasting through the gym's sound-system like a thousand steel ball-bearings dropping on a field of garbage can lids. Gyms are the worst. Everyone who goes to the gym knows this because we subject ourselves to this hell voluntarily—which is why the only thing worse than going to the gym is complaining about going to the gym.
But now, thanks to the New York Times, there's a new gym-related worst. Now the only thing worse than complaining about going to the gym is reading an article about how people hate being at the gym.
“I hate working out more than just about anything,” said Ms. Podlodowski, who goes to the gym three or four times a week. “I’ll use anything I can to distract me — a book, a magazine, a friend to talk to. Without my distractions I’d never exercise at all.”
At the opposite extreme is Jonathan F. Katz, a psychologist in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., who runs ultramarathons — 50 miles or more — without even a music player.
“To really challenge yourself athletically or train for a big event, you need to focus on your form, your pacing, and that’s impossible if you’re watching a movie or chatting,” Dr. Katz said. “I’m always thinking about my next mile, my speed, my cadence.”