Ali Abdullah

Professor Laura Knudson

UWRT 1101-06 AND -09
17 April 2016
Ethnography Report Stage 1
Thursday, April 14 I was getting prepared for my first workout at the
Life Time Fitness gym. Simultaneously, I was getting ready for one more hour
of making an observation to post it on my ethnography. On 8514 University
City Blvd, I went to the Life Time Fitness gym to work out and do my
observation. I chose to go on Thursday evening because many people work
out at this time. In my personal opinion, I think that many people work out
Thursdays evening because most of them feel free on Thursdays and also
the weekend is about to start when it is Thursday.
First of all, I have recognized that people who workout in the Life Time
Fitness gym are different in gender average. For example, the male
percentage would probably be around 65% and the female percentage would
be around 35%. It is estimated percentage though from what I have seen
around the gym. Secondly, I was looking at the sections where people work
out in. There are seven sections around the gym and each section has its
own function. Life Time Fitness gym is actually not only for lifting weights, it
is also for fulfilling other purposes such as If a person wants to get his
stamina perfectly, he can use the cardio machines. In addition, there are
boxing bags in the gym which can attract fighters to come and train in the

gym.
I went inside the gym and first thing I saw it in front of me was the
reception. The reception has small offices room and also it has outdoor
registering area. They allow you to register either in the small offices room or
in the opened area which they have small offices and it is much easier and
faster If you want to register in. In this opened area, there is a guy who make
sure If you swipe your card or not because it is illegal entering the gym while
you are not a register unless you want to try to work out as a visitor. The
second section was on my left hand when I entered immediately to the gym.
This section was something new to me actually and I have never seen it at
any gym before. It was a small room that is provided with toys and
entertainment equipments for children.
After passing the reception and the children room, I saw a section on
my right side full of weights machines. There are different types of machines
in this section such as leg, chest, arm and back machines. On the left side of
the machines section, there is a section for boxing bags and a large area
which is provided with some fitness equipment, like squatting machine and
free weights to help you get your stamina on point. However, when I kept
going inside, I saw a large area full of cardio machines such as ladders,
running machines, leg pushing machines and cross trainer machines.
This gym is an amazing place to do variety of activities, they have a
large room next to the cardio machines which you can do dancing or
practicing yoga. This room is considered as a separate section too for people

who are interested in dancing and yoga. Finally, in the end of the gym, there
was a regular area which is provided with free weights such as dumbbells
and it is well organized starting from the 5 pound dumbbells to the 100
pound dumbbells and beside these dumbbells, there are about 5 moveable
chairs which you can change the chair into different positions depending on
what you are working out on and next to these chairs I found the changing
room which has a body shower and bathrooms.
My observation was not only about the place and how many sections
does it contain from, it was also about observing peoples behavior, how they
react, feel and behave in the gym. The gym is mixed between males and
females as I mentioned before, most of them were men. I have recognized
that men work out and train in all the training sections such as cardio
section, free weights section and fitness area section. Most of the men were
working out in the free weights area. Some of them were working out in the
cardio section and the machine section. A few of them were working on the
boxing area and the fitness area. Finally, none of the men actually were
dancing or doing yoga.
On the other side, most of women were working out in the cardio
section. Furthermore, many of them were using the fitness area to work out
and do other training such as push ups and stretching. I didnt see a lot of
women working out in the free weights section but I saw a few of them were
boxing. However, there were a huge number of women who were dancing in
the area where people practice dancing and yoga.

However, I was looking at how people behave and act around the gym.
Most of men were working out in the free weights area to build muscles
because it looked like they felt motivated and enthusiastic when they look at
themselves in mirrors seeing how the muscle is pumped up and how their
veins are looking perfectly. I have seen that most of this type of men like to
show off in the gym and show their muscles around while wearing light shirts
and shorts. Several men were also working out in the cardio machines, most
of them tend to be fat honestly and it seems that they were looking forward
to lose some weight. According to what I saw, most of these men were
wearing heavy clothes, and the reason behind that is because they would
think If they wear heavy clothes, they will loose weight faster because they
sweat all the time while the weather is hot inside the gym. Furthermore,
some boxers were training hard for a purpose and some regular people were
boxing the bags in order to show their strength in that box.
In contrast, several women were working out in the cardio machines.
There were three types of them, first type is the type who wanted to loose
weight, wearing heavy clothes, concentrating in their goals and not paying
attention to anyone. Second type is who were in the middle of them, wearing
regular athlete clothes, listening to music while they were doing cardio,
chatting a little bit with some friends working out next to them and
concentrating at the same time in their training. Last type of women were
those who wearing attractive outfit, working out every where not only in
cardio section to get people attention, chatting almost half of their time and

showing off to men.

However, I would infer that some females would not feel comfortable
using the free weights considering it as a male property. Furthermore, they
would not feel comfortable working out in an area which is surrounded by
men. It is also about each ones goal, for example, I have figured out that
most women would like to get the skinny fit body rather than getting the
muscular body because they probably going to think that they would be
more acceptable and attractive to men while they have the Hollywood body.
In the opposite side, men would like to be as strong and muscular as they
could be because they feel powerful and attractive when they have the
perfect body that is designed with a six pack of abs.
DailyBurn website, one of the most popular fitness websites around the
global, says in its research The 20 Worst People at the Gym, according to
Trainers that there are more men who work out in free weights area more
than other areas. In addition, it agrees that women would workout for the
purpose of losing fat rather than building muscles which men concentrate
on. It also combats the show off concept at the gym which I mentioned
before. The gym should be welcoming and inclusive not a place where the
few super jacked people can show off their six-packs, says fitness coach JC
Deen of JCD fitness. He illustrates that it is not appropriate going to the gym
in order to show off because it is not all about showing off, but also
welcoming and inclusive.

Furthermore, the website is against showing off by its different kinds

such as dropping weights which they called it The Drama Queen unless you
are on an Olympic platform. At the end of a very heavy set [its] sometimes
unavoidable, says Sean Hyson, C.S.C.S., Training Director for Mens Fitness
magazine and author of The Truth About Strength Training. But if you see a
guy doing it repeatedly, hes either desperate for attention or very careless.
What he is trying to illustrate that you have to respect the polices of any gym
no matter what you feel around or about.
Finally, At DailyBurn they accept the concept of taking selfies as a way
to see the progression of the body whether by squeezing or flexing the gains.
Simultaneously, they dont accept it when it is not in the right time and the
right place to take the selfie in. For example, when a person is taking a selfie
while disturbing other people workout just only because he likes the lights in
a specific spot in the gym that show his muscles and gains perfectly, the
website is totally against that because it is a way of disturbing other people
work out.

Work Cited
Shakeshaft, Jordan. "The 20 Worst People at the Gym, According to
Trainers." Life by Daily Burn The 20 Worst People at the Gym According to
Trainers Comments. Daily Burn, 23 Oct. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.