On gym culture

My first few weeks in college were exciting but unstable. Between meeting people of completely different backgrounds, checking my conduct in new social situations (never required in laid-back California) and carving out a new community for myself, I missed the sense of stability from home. Though learning to navigate a new social landscape was an important growing experience, I needed routine. I needed purpose. I needed a place where I could be my most primitive, honest self.

So I went to the gym. A good workout solves most of life’s problems.

The gym was refreshing after several weeks of culture shock. I had no pressure to talk to anyone, but I could if I wanted to. In the gym, it is easy to connect with others, since we all share a willingness to work hard and see ourselves grow. It’s as if we shed our social barriers when we put on our workout clothes. Unlike any clique or eating club, the gym is truly open to all.

The gym can and should be the most welcoming and positive place on campus.

Newcomers can find the gym intimidating, though. There are so many people in their prime doing muscleup burnouts, running five-minute miles, and squatting 200 pounds. Every person is very focused on his or her routine; you seem to be the only person who is lost. The gym is also filled with all sorts of weights, barbells, ellipticals and machines. Newcomers may not know where to start or how to do exercises correctly.

This discomfort evaporates when you just talk. Whenever I am confused about my exercise form or workout structure, I ask for other people’s help. No one has ever laughed at me for my lack of knowledge or my physique (which is lanky and markedly un-buff). The people I meet at the gym are positive: They accept their body types, but test their limits. They’re willing to help others do the same. Every technique I’ve learned (suck your stomach in when you plank) and habit I’ve cultivated (stretch deeply after leg day) has come from talking to people.

Sometimes the camaraderie comes to you. I have made some great friends from simply sharing equipment. We help each other move weights, spot each other to prevent injuries, and encourage each other: “Come on, last rep, Adrian. Push through!” Moreover, countless strangers have gone out of their way to tell me when I am doing an exercise wrong. Such actions are human caring at its finest, unblemished by ulterior motives.

Personal connections aside, there is something inherently positive about a place where people sweat, gasp, growl and scream. The gym is filled with an intensity that is inspiring. I want to work as hard as that guy sprinting on the treadmill, that girl digging deep to finish the last burpee. We find connections with people we don’t even know. We push ourselves more than we could alone.

The gym doesn’t just make you fit. It makes you better at life. A man named Charlie, who I met at my gym back at home, told me he used to be a loser in high school. He was lazy and had no aspirations. In the summer after his senior year, he decided to start working out. His routine gave him something to structure his daily life around. Moreover, it taught him to never be satisfied with what he had at the moment. He began setting goals.

Because of his dedication, he increased his vertical jump from 24 to 38 inches. He also went from living with his parents to attending to a state university to getting a job at Google.

We do not go the gym to compete. We go to become better people, to gain from each others’ successes, to help each other achieve, to be inspired by each others’ strength of will. There is no social awkwardness here: We all sympathize on the most primitive, natural level. Here, we learn, teach, suffer and grow.

We, the Princeton community, should make the gym the most open, positive place on campus. At a school where people join exclusive eating clubs, stick with their same old cliques and do the same activities in which they have always succeeded, our gym can come across as silent, intense and restricted.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

We need to change that closed atmosphere. For those of you who have never touched a dumbbell, who think you don’t have the right body type, who think you are not masculine enough, it doesn’t matter:Come to the gym. To succeed at the gym, you only need two things, both of which you can control: a desire to work hard and a willingness to ask for help. This is all backed by personal experience.

For those of you gym regulars: Think of all the mentors who saved you from pulling a muscle, gave you tips to stay healthy or simply inspired you to achieve your goals. Be that mentor. If you see a person piking when he does a pushup, correct his form. If someone is squatting for the first time, spot her.

And for everyone: Talk to strangers. Learn from each other, teach each other. Save the elitism for the eating clubs. At the gym, we should just all be fellow human beings.

Jonathan Lu is a freshman fromFremont, Calif. He can be reached at jhlu@princeton.edu.