At the risk of sounding like a complete bitch, I am about to rant about men who foolishly try to pick up on women while at the gym. I have yet to find a woman who actually enjoys being hit on while she is trying to exercise, yet men continue to make attempts to ask women out in that setting. I have actually had men interrupt me in the middle of my set, motioned for me to take my earbuds out, then launched into very canned remarks such as, “You look like you work out a lot!”, “What do you do to get your body looking so good?”, etc. After a couple of questions, the bold query for my “digits” occurs, which always amazes me since the men clearly fail to read my complete lack of interest and moderate aggravation.

I am a relatively approachable person and enjoy talking to people, but NEVER at the gym. When I am at the gym, I am on a mission to work out like a warrior, move quickly from exercise to exercise, and leave quickly. I do NOT go to the gym to meet new people, and I REFUSE to allow a man’s efforts to hit on me to disrupt any of my workouts. My attitude at the gym is, get out of my way and let me work out! I have been weightlifting for more than 25 years and have NEVER been compelled to accept someone’s invitation for a date while at the gym.

No woman is going to look at your sweaty, smelly mess and think, oh yeah, I really want this guy to ask me out on a date. Not unless she has already harbored a crush on you and has been hoping that you would ask her out. In fact, I have actually been turned OFF by men I was attracted to when I had to stand next to them while they were dripping sweat. So imagine what must go through my mind if I am NOT attracted to you and you boldly approach me with gym stench and ask me out!