The ~special~ characters you will most certainly encounter in any gym across the country. And if you haven't spotted one? There's a good chance you are one.
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Credit: The Glow
1. The guy made of solid muscle.
He can curl a dumbbell the size of the guy next to him, and you're afraid to get in his way because he just might turn green and rip his shirt off. Watching his muscles move is equally terrifying and fascinating.
2. The guy in jeans.
The forever-mystifying practice of working out in jeans. There's no way it can be comfortable (or even doable), yet there's always that oneguy who wears them every workout, without fail.
3. The shameless selfie photographer.
This offender could be a guy or a girl—and you might be one. There's something about sneaking a selfie every once in a while (after all, it can seriously motivate your weight loss!) but when the only muscle sore from your workout is the arm you painstakingly extended to get the perfect selfie angle, you know there's a problem.
4. The creep.
You can see him stop what he's doing on the bench to watch you squat. And then he just happens to stand behind you during your cool-down stretch. Disturbing.
5. The cardio bunny.
She hops from treadmill to elliptical to stair climber every. single. day. She works up a serious sweat but stays totally clear of the free weights. You can tell which stage of her cardio-crazy workout she's on, because you can see her bobbing ponytail from across the gym
6. The grunter.
This guy has his music bumpin' and isn't shy about letting the entire gym know how hard that last deadlift was. Other forms of this noise-polluting gym-goer can include the singer/rapper (who lets everyone know exactly what is on his playlist with his out-of-tune a cappellasing-along).
7. The weirdly sexual exerciser.
Glute thrusts are a killer workout and totally worth the awkward stares. (Really, if you want to build a booty, it's one of the best moves.) But there's always that one guy or girl that adds a little lip-licking, moaning, and come-hither eyes to every somewhat sexual move they do. Seriously, people, you don't need to thrust your hips that much.
8. The napper.
You can find them curled up on the stretching mat with their iPhone, or doing never-ending Savasana. If they're really feeling motivated, you might catch them foam roll for a few minutes before they relax into their usual "stretching" sequence of doing absolutely nothing.
9. The person getting a thumb workout.
They've been standing on the elliptical for 10 minutes, motionless, playing on their phone. After a while, you see them taking eternally long rest periods between sets, playing on their phone. You bump into them in the locker room and they're sitting on the bench, playing on their phone.
10. The girl who's an absolute beast.
She makes all the guys look wimpy, and makes squatting twice her body weight look like a breeze. Unlike the creep (see number 5^), when people stare at her it's in genuine admiration. Keep killin' it, girl.
By Lauren Mazzo