Conversations with Your Fitness Equipment and What Do You Say?

[ETFnerd]

In the last year or so I've probably spent over 500hrs on treadmills. I have a special relationship with my treadmill. Her name is Suzy and I ride her like an animal. Like all relationships, we have our ups and downs. We cry and laugh together, persevere through thick and thin... I feel her pain when she's off slightly... in the end, she kicks my a$$ and rewards me with better health and a trim appearance. I love my Suzy but she's a harsh taskmaster that is unforgiving of slip ups in my fitness regimen that includes exercise, diet, rest, sleep, stress, injury, etc.

Last night, I was cursing her for making me suffer through a tough week of workouts through an injury that I had inflicted on myself, but I really should be thanking her for all the things she's done for me. She was instrumental in my return to health, and provided the means to efficiently achieve my goals. Ours is a loving relationship fraught with rocky moments. She holds my sweat and tears in every crack and provides entertainment through a video monitor with cable tv hookup, flexibility and constancy every day. She's always there waiting for me when I need her.

She is not all things. She does not simulate the outdoors, different running surfaces, produce fresh air, nor works the muscles necessary to run sharp curves. But she does what she does do extremely well, and tonight, when I see her again, I'm going to take time to give her a hug and let her know how much I appreciate her.

I share with her my frustrations, dreams and ask that she helps me get there. She usually says: "not so fast, you have to pay the toll in sweat and tears to get what you want". Like Joe Cortez says but really isn't, she's tough but she's fair. There are no freebies with Suzy.

Similar relationships are enjoyed with my pullup bar (or more accurately handles) and punching bag.

Do you have a special relationship with your fitness equipment and do you talk to him/her? What do you say, and what response do you get in return?

[bigm141414]

My barbells and I have a special relationship. We like each other and smile everytime we see each other.

The 12 sided plates on the other hand are my sworn enemy and I make fun of them and their mother when ever I get a chance....

[Hermione Gainser]

Love your post, ETF! So funny! And so true.

I regularly talk to the barbell.. try to use my womanly charms to convince it to do as I want. I have similar discussions with my body.. but mostly the barbell. I pet it a little, too. It's kind of a sick relationship. Or maybe not? I don't know.

[ShieldofSteve]

If you have every heard of a prayer wheel, I took the same concept and turned my boxing and MMA gloves in to them. They have prayers covering them and when I am being humbled in the gym they help give me strength. These are they same that I say during meditations and when I am acting out of character. I am not a real gym talker other than my usual hello again, I do not keep a personal relationship with too many things at the gym.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Oh yeah, the barbell in the squat rack is mine. I frequently call it a B!tch, mfer, and all sorts of way worse things. I tell it that it aint no heavy weight, it's light as a feather, and it's going to be my b!tch. It's really somewhat comical the crap I say to it in my head while I'm standing in front of it getting ready to unrack.

[Lachy]

Yeah, me and the barbell have a bit of a competition to see who can beat the other. After the final set of heavy squats, I'll often mutter "I win!".

And if the bar wins it's "Next time, Gadget, next time!".

[spezzy]

I frequently joke that the barbell and me are having a love affair, but in reality, that's not true.

We're not even friends.

It wants to sit still, and I want it to move.

And every time I see it, I walk up to it and tell it it's going to do what it doesn't want to do whether it likes it or not.

It knows this and tries its hardest to prevent me from moving it.

I cover it in chalk, sweat, and often times blood.

It knocks me over, pulls me down, scrapes my skin and leaves me bruised.

ok, so maybe we are friends. in, you know, a sick and twisted way

I love this video:

http://vimeo.com/15259815

[weirdquark]

And if the bar wins it's "Next time, Gadget, next time!".

Me too.

[scott82962]

My bars, plates and racks are perfection. They 100% of the time do their jobs perfectly. They're silent witnesses to my achievements and my failures. They don't judge me. They seem to like my taste in music. They don't laugh at me when I dance.

But I've never talked to them. Hmmm.

[Jon156]

I sometimes stroke the weight disks in a futile attempt to better their mood.

Didn't help on my 165Kg deadlift p.r. attempt last week though :-(

[starmadepath]

Over the summer, I got engaged to my new bicycle and the rowing machine at the gym (having never used one prior to summer). My human partner was pretty devastated when he found out. Fortunately for him, I could never decide which piece of equipment to run off with to Vegas, and since moving, the bicycle and I have had some uncomfortable distance (which I'm changing now, but it's going to be some time before it learns to trust me again, I suspect). So the human still has a chance.

All that aside, I do talk to my runs. I actually started a blog specifically for talking to my runs and then, of course, promptly stopped running. Now that I'm running again, I'll probably get back on that as I found it pretty therapeutic to process through a lot of the things I think about while running and the run itself in text.

[Atalan]

I'm just getting to know my pull-up bar. I like her. I think she likes me. I'm going to see where this goes.

[oystergirl]

I gotta kick ass gymboss timer and we have a very sadistic relationship. he is always trying to beat me, and I am always trying to beat him! Yep, definitely a love hate relationship! EFT Loved your post...you are so intuitive!

[Damy]

I'm just getting to know my pull-up bar. I like her. I think she likes me. I'm going to see where this goes.

Really? I hope you have more luck with your bar than I have with mine (her name is bar...bara). It's really... it's a sad thing. Just a sad thing. For some reason I'm not able to, you know, satisfy her. I mean... I give my best. Okay, I'm lacking a bit experience. But I try to do it slow and to last as long as possible... I'm very romantic too, I hold her close the whole time. But no matter what I do, she is not impressed. She isn't even moaning. I'm the only one. She's just... there. Hanging in. Quite. Judging. And it hurts. It hurts in my abs, in my arms, in my hands... She doesn't even talk to me. Not once. But maybe that's for the better. I'm sure the first thing she would say is "Not now, I have a headache." I should part from her, but I love her so much.

Pff. Bars. They are all the same!

What are we talking about here again?

[Lachy]

lol, Damy.

[Hermione Gainser]

lol, Damy.

Right! Such a way with words hahahahahahhaa