Funeral Parlor Gym Time by Jess Casteel

Today is another beautiful day with much needed moisture in the air here on the central coast of California and as I awoke this morning and had my usual meal of fruit, sustainable carbs and a protein shake followed by my vitamins and some coffee I had a feeling that today was going to be lacking energy.Energy not from me but more so from the facility I train my clients from. As I strolled to the gym I felt comfortably at ease with the cold moist air and the smell of freshly wet asphalt. What a day to shove some iron and work with the best clients alive.

As I turn the corner and the parking lot becomes visible I am nearly disgusted at the obvious lack of vehicles. Could everyone have decided to walk or run to workout today?As I walk through the double doors it’s almost like a vacuum that sucks the excitement out of me. I enter the facility to country love songs and absolutely no one catching a session. The steel and iron is dead cold and most of it is lying in the position it was when I left for the weekend. It hits me dead between the eyes that not only does the environment we lift in affect our moods but also the mood of the people that surround us. It always amazes me how the people that don't workout and opt for Krispy Kreme doughnuts and McDonalds Big Macs just don't get it.

The one thing that bothers me the most when in a session with either a client or my own personal training sessions is when people who don't lift or understand gym protocol constantly try to converse with my clients or myself while we are in a session. This not only is nothing short of a distraction but is also very unsafe.Even when the headphones are in and there is a couple hundred pounds on the bar it never seems to be enough of a sign that the person under the bar is busy and needs to concentrate. I was recently performing suicide bar tosses which are basically a ballistic bench press where you literally toss the bar and catch it.

This is a highly dangerous movement requiring extreme concentration and after my set I noticed once again I was being talked to. On this specific occurrence I decided to act as if I didn't hear any of the conversation and closed my eyes while making it very obvious I was listening to my headphones. I happen to find over the last weekend that a few ladies I had the pleasure to talk with used to be members at my facility but couldn't get a good workout in due to the employees following them around from station to station talking and even when headphones where in plain view this seemed to not register.Anyone who spends countless hours in the gym slinging iron or even machine molly's have their own pet peeves that get under their skin in the gym. For some it’s the chatty Kathy to the Gorilla in the corner grunting and clanging the iron. The moral of this blog is as simple as leaving each person to their routine and understand that as easy or hard as the individuals workout may be they still require a degree of concentration and is also just gym etiquette.