The gym can be an odd place for many ordinary people who just want to work out and lose weight or tone muscles. A certain dynamic goes on inside of gyms. It often takes months or years for that dynamic to form. Once it does, however, the gym slowly begins to form an ecosystem that might seem strange or even intimidating to many people. This is because there is some type of social hierarchy in most gyms. People are attempting to stay out of the way of others while also attempting to get something from the experience. A recent parody video expresses this awkward set of interactions perfectly.
A video called “Gym Wildlife” was recently posted poking fun at many of the most common stereotypes and tropes found in gyms all across the country. Exactly why so many people fall into those categories is a mystery. The video attempts to make the gym experience seem a little more absurd by stepping back and looking at things as if the narrator and viewers were not human beings. It takes the perspective of a wildlife documentary. The narrator is attempting to explain and justify the behaviors of people in the video from a psychological, biological or evolutionary viewpoint. It does so with just enough sarcasm and truth to be very funny.
The video starts with the lowest people on the social scale in gyms. These are people who show up casually without knowing much about gyms. The character is described as being someone who is at the gym to fulfill a New Year’s resolution to be healthier. The person enters equipped with all modern conveniences like a cell phone but commits a social faux pas by using a weight bench someone else was on previously.
This leads into a transition to different parts of the gym. The first is the free weights section. The video shows men lifting free weights and describes how it is an attempt to impress women in the gym. It goes into a hilarious segment about how the men are like peacocks and attempt to drive away the lesser folks and competition leaving only the women behind. It then shows a montage of sweaty men attempting to show their physical prowess to women trying to simply exercise with free weights. This ultimately leads to the women leaving the area against the intentions of the men.
The video goes on to describe women who are at the gym attempting to put on a display as well. It shows these women with a funny voiceover describing how they are working out with the sole intention of drawing the attention of the opposite gender. The image shows a man walking by admiring a woman who is working out. The man stops but is too nervous to say anything. The narrator informs viewers that the women working out in this way do not actually want to meet or talk to men. They simply want attention in the gym.
The video goes through a few other gym stereotypes. It talks about men who need to grunt loudly in order to attract attention to themselves. It talks about loners aggressively working out for no reason since the person does not want attention or interaction with others. It ends by showing the empty gym overnight. The narrator talks about how people of all types in the gym do not clean up afterwards. The video pans across sweat drenched equipment, gum on dumbbells and clothes left behind. It finally ends with a cleaner going through the gym. The person seems frustrated and finally lets out an explicative. The video ends quietly like any wildlife documentary.