Editor's Note: Each week, Amy examines a small group of students in order to understand the individual Dartmouth experience as part of a whole. This week, Amy talks with her friend Kat Carmody '09 about one of Dartmouth's alternative social spaces that's all the rage.
This week everyone's buzzing about alternative social spaces -- it's like some post-Green Key effort to show that not all socializing on campus revolves around beer and poor lighting. But there's one place where the clothing's still tight, everyone's drinking -- though it might be BYO -- the dudes are still flashing their guns and the beverage of choice is water. Plus, you never need to feel quasi-guilty about going.
Yeah, I'm talking about the gym. I know that The Mirror's already done a whole workout issue, and I don't want to run this thing into the ground. But there's one aspect that we've never covered: the gym as the ultimate social alternative to the basement.
I know that there must be some people who use the gym solely for health and athletic purposes -- but they are few and far between. Far more populous is the group that treats gym trips like social events, with the added benefit of calorie expenditure.
Although I believe that just about everyone uses the gym as a social venue to at least some extent, I realize that not everyone will own up to it. I therefore cornered Kat Carmody '09, a self-proclaimed gym socializer.
"Personally, I enjoy going to the gym because I see people I know ... but I don't have to talk to them," Kat said. "It's like stuffed animals in a little girl's bedroom. I just like having them around."
Kat obviously approaches the whole idea of gym socializing with more than a touch of ironic humor. But that doesn't mean she doesn't buy into it.
So, I asked Kat why she thought the gym has become such a hot hangout.
"The TV package on the elliptical machines is really horrendous. It's like seven channels, three of which are sports -- so I like to go at peak hours when you can people watch [instead of watching TV]."
Kat pointed out my preference for early morning gym trips.
"I tried to do that, but I feel like my brain needs something to look at," Kat said.
Apparently the rest of campus agrees. But what makes the gym different from all other social spaces? Probably the bizarre codes of behavior. There's a set of social codes as concrete as any other at work in the work-out hot spot. And these social mores are exactly what make the gym as legitimate an alternative social space as the now-extinct Lone Pine Tavern.
Kat listed several of the surprising do's and don'ts of gym etiquette.
"You're allowed to stare at people at the gym. You're generally not allowed to check people out for an hour at a time ... but at the gym, that's permissible," she said.
One thing that irks her, however, is when people occupy machines that they aren't taking full advantage of.
Kat offered this piece of friendly advice: "Don't use the ellipticals with the arms if you're not going to [actually] use the arms," she said vehemently.
I've often heard people complaining of others looking at their TVs while they are working out. I asked Kat where she stood on this issue. Kat said she doesn't take offense at this behavior, citing what she said was the worse behavior of tracking another's progress.
"When someone tries to beat [your speed or intensity] on your machine, that's much more bothersome than someone looking at your TV," she said.
And what constitutes completely unacceptable behavior?
Kat told me about her "worst gym experience ever."
"A guy I was hooking up with came and hugged me on the elliptical."
This experience apparently, was scarring. It also serves as a cautionary tale for the most important unwritten rule for gym socializing: look, but don't touch.
So what else do you need to know before hitting the gym -- socially, that is? "Bandanas," Kat said. "They've become part of gym fashion in the past year."
I asked Kat if there were any particularly adept gym socialites, what might be termed, perhaps, as Gym All-Stars.
"Gym All-Stars," Kat laughed, and paused. "[David] Jangro ['09]. He's my gymspiration."
Kat laughed again.
"Put that on the record."
