Spandex Pants and Girlie Rants

Back in September I started going back to the gym after four months off living the summer life. I had moved home and this was the first time in two years that I wasn’t working out at the RAC (Ryerson’s on-campus gym). It was also the first time that I realized not only do you need to go to the gym to look cute, but you need to look cute to be at the gym.

Maybe it’s because everyone at the RAC is broke (they’re mostly students) or because students just care less, but my first couple of weeks at “a real gym” I felt like a kid who’d just moved from some out-of-touch nation.

The cut-off spandex pants from my dancing days were banished, “If you wear those to the gym you’re not coming with me,” warned my younger (and apparently very shallow) brother. Along with the pants he (and his gym-buddy friends) warned me that the basketball shirts and shorts I wore to practice in high-school weren’t good enough either, “This is the gym...not the court.” My only other option was the Speedo I used wear to swim practice. I figured that one out on my own.

At spinning class I was surrounded by spandex shorts and tiny tees in materials that looked so sophisticated I wondered if they would ride the bike for me. In yoga it was Lululemon pants and intricate tops so pretty they deserved to see more than the inside of a gym.

I was left with only one option: go shopping. Now usually those two words would have sparked excitement within me, flushing my cheeks with anticipation. This time I was left pale as a ghost.

When you haven’t been to the gym in a couple of months your reason for going back is usually because you gained a little more than a new hobby in your time off. So the thought of staring at yourself in a mirror isn’t too adrenaline pumping. I was going for the baggy-shirt-hide-the-belly look. Everything I was trying on was, well not hiding anything. Tight pants and even tighter tops was all I could find. I had to leave my comfort zone to feel more comfortable at the gym? It didn’t make much sense to me either.

I ended up with a couple pairs of (surprisingly comfortable) spandex pants and a few shirts that did less than flatter, but as my brother so kindly told me, “The tightness [of the clothes] will only motivate you to lose more weight.” At the time this statement pissed me right off. But now, after losing a couple and actually feeling confident in these clothes I’ve realized that it feels good to look good. And before you roll your eyes at the cliché of that sentence hear me out. I figure if I’m going to spend the time at the gym I might as well like the clothes I’m looking at in the mirror.

At first I judged all those other girls with their matching tracksuits and expensive sweatbands. Now it’s just the old men in bicycle shorts I need to figure out. With that you’ll have to excuse me for cutting this short. I have a class at the gym in an hour and I need to start picking an outfit.