At my gym, any machine with a comfy seat quickly turns into a place to lounge and get in some added screen hypnosis time. Locals park themselves there, scroll, text, watch videos, and occasionally do a few lazy reps just to appear to be doing something. Over time, I have seen many regular gym goers actually gain more weight rather than lose any. Just by showing up, many seem to feel like they have accomplished something, and then go out afterward and gulp another 1000 calorie Frappa Sugarchino to reward themselves for their efforts.

I used to bring my own phone along, mostly as a music player, but it was too easy to get distracted. So now I leave it at home and use a smartwatch as my music source, together with a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. Much better, less temptation, more training done.

A lot of the locals will stay at the gym for an hour or even two, but a huge chunk of that time is spent staring at their phones while gently moving a machine with almost no weight loaded up on it. Usually it is something for the legs that they can do while seated and barely breaking a sweat, still leaving their hands free to check their Facebook and Instagram. The hip flexor machine is a crowd favorite for this. It is like they believe fitness can be absorbed through proximity. Just sit on the equipment long enough and maybe the muscles will get the hint.

It all used to annoy me. I would think, why TF even come if you are not there to really train? But over time, I realized many of them see the gym very differently than I do. For them, it is often more about guilt than desire. They feel better simply by showing up, regardless of what they actually do once they get there.

A lot of them also do not really know how to train to make progress. Nobody ever taught them. A bit of swinging their arms around, basically just stretching with no resistance, seems to be enough for some. Of course, a few are serious, but most seem to think a little light movement is adequate. They do not realize that real results usually involve effort, sweat, and subjecting the muscles to proper resistance to induce hypertrophy. For many who don't enjoy going, the achievement is not the workout itself, but merely being able to tell themselves they went.

I used to go to big gyms that were full of trendy looking trainers with cool, spiky haircuts, and it was almost a dark comedy. Trainers carrying clients’ handbags, holding clients’ phones, rushing over when a text comes in, even giving shoulder rubs between sets while the client sat on a machine doing next to nothing. For a lot of local people, the gym is seen as a service center, part lifestyle, part social outing, and part guilt relief. Very different from Western gym culture.

These days, it bothers me much less because I do not really pay attention to what other people are doing. I go to a small gym late in the evening, about an hour and a half before closing, when fewer of these time wasting seat warmers are hanging about. I get in, do my workout, get out, and mostly ignore what everyone else is not achieving, unless someone is camping out with their phone on a machine playing video games that I actually need to use. That's when I might... remind them it's a gym.

I stopped going to the gym. I got sick of it.

I am trying to figure out how to just do basic exercises at home. I will never get big, but I don't care.

When I was going, I noticed a few things:

1 - Some people go there mostly to socialize. One idiot kept bothering me during my sets, chatting me up. You're not supposed to bother someone when they are lifting. And then a Thai girl got pissed off because she thought we were wasting time and she was pushing me to get off the machine. Also, the same guy kept going on the treadmill next to me and I was forced to talk to him for an hour each time. I hate treadmills now.

2 - One guy seemed to be there to pick up girls. And I'm sure a lot of guys do it. So that means they extend their sessions to 2-3 hours, lounge around like they're in a bar.

3 - A fight nearly broke out once and one guy was making a facial gesture to me to join in and help him. Screw that. You need to be careful. If you piss off the wrong blockhead, it can turn into violence in there.

4 - Maybe 3 or 4 in 10 guys are muscular. A lot of guys are fat or too skinny. Not sure what they're doing, but the training doesn't seem to be working. Even the guys who are muscular, some of them smoke and eat junk food and probably do steroids. I did see 2 guys injecting themselves in the bathroom.

5 - Some guys push themselves too hard and have injuries. That's one thing I was worried about. Many people have not been taught properly how to train. Going to failure each and every set and lifting as much as possible all the time may not be the best way to train.

6 - I noticed way more Thai girls than guys at that gym, for some reason. Some of these girls are working hard to stay slim and toned.

You just described my gym in CNX. I see the exact same behavior every time I go there. My 90 minute to 2 hour workout could completed in about an hour but so many just sit and look at their phones again and again. Most of the "phone" sitters are locals but some foreigners do the same as well. I am one of the "oddballs" who leaves his phone in the locker (where it belongs). I know some will say they need to hear music with their earbuds but if one is actually serious about fitness then "I don't need a phone to motivate me". But I never just find an unoccuppied machine and carry on with my workout.

Yep definitely plenty of people sitting on exercise machines and spending too long scrolling their phones.

I wear headphones in the gym:

1. to listen to podcasts (rarely listen to music in the gym, concentrating on listening to the talking makes time pass).

2. So no bugger will talk to me. It works and I like it that way.

If I ask someone sitting and looking at their phone to get up, they always seem happy to do so.

13 minutes ago, Prubangboy said:

If I ask someone sitting and looking at their phone to get up, they always seem happy to do so.

Who or what do they get up to or do and with what?

I think most of those gym guys are actually closet gays.....

5 minutes ago, simon43 said:

I think most of those gym guys are actually closet gays.....

Arent you bisexual yourself ?

Work out the least popular time in the most obscure gym. It worked well for me for years.

5 hours ago, simon43 said:

I think most of those gym guys are actually closet gays.....

5 hours ago, simon43 said:

I think most of those gym guys are actually closet gays.....

6 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

Who or what do they get up to or do and with what?

They’re looking at their phone. I asked him if I can use the machine.

They say OK and then they get up and leave the machine.

Then I use the machine and they go do something else.

But I don’t know what because I’m using the machine while they go to do it.

And then, sometimes, I am sitting at the machine looking at my phone.

And someone asks me if they can use the machine.

And then I get up and then they use the machine.

And then I go and sit on a bench or something.

And then, later on, I go back and use the machine again

But sometimes, I go to another machine instead.

I hope this is helpful.

Once in a while, I ask them if they’re using the machine and they tell me that they are just finishing resting while looking at their phone.

And then they start exercising again and are done in about 90 seconds.

And then I use the machine.

Other times, I just go use another machine until they are done, and then come back and use that machine.

Is this behavior only limited to gyms in Thailand?

Its wonderful. All those young men, stripped to the waist, muscles pumped and rippling, the pheromonic perfume of sweat and lust as they gaze knowingly at any farang that hangs in a gym....

Yep the best part of being old and fat and uninterested in any exercise save Billboard and Thermae is the avoidance of the above.

14 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Yep the best part of being old and fat and uninterested in any exercise save Billboard and Thermae is the avoidance of the above.

Sounds glorious. Could you do 10 proper pushups if your life depended upon it?

8 hours ago, simon43 said:

I think most of those gym guys are actually closet gays.....

Is that what you like about the gyms?

I don’t observe any closet behavior in Thailand. Don’t think they even need closets here. They are simply overt about it.

31 minutes ago, BilllyGOAT said:

Sounds glorious. Could you do 10 proper pushups if your life depended upon it?

depends how hot she is. 21, 45kg with robobobs? maybe 20

30 minutes ago, BilllyGOAT said:

Is that what you like about the gyms?

What difference does it make?

7 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

depends how hot she is. 21, 45kg with robobobs? maybe 20

You couldn't even do 5 if your life depended on it. Gun to the head, the whole deal. Go ahead, post a video of you doing just 5, no girl. Fahgettaboudit. Only in your dreams bruv. 🤣

2 hours ago, BilllyGOAT said:

Is that what you like about the gyms?

I don’t observe any closet behavior in Thailand. Don’t think they even need closets here. They are simply overt about it.

I never go to gyms - I walk outside for my exercise.

4 hours ago, simon43 said:

I never go to gyms - I walk outside for my exercise.

As you NEVER go to gyms, how could you conclude that: "I think most of those gym guys are actually closet gays....."?

The problem with some people wearing head phones is they don't realise what sound they are making. One guy over 60 at the gym in the condo was making noises something between sad sex and exulted groaning. Terrible. Not cool.

15 hours ago, Prubangboy said:

And then, sometimes, I am sitting at the machine looking at my phone.

And someone asks me if they can use the machine.

And then I get up and then they use the machine.

And then I go and sit on a bench or something.

And then, later on, I go back and use the machine again

But sometimes, I go to another machine instead.

I hope this is helpful.

I think you are particularly social but it can be uncomfortable asking to use a machine. Some react poorly. Don't want to anyway. Use the machine. Fast. Get off. No more than 5 minutes. Running machine no longer than 30. In my opinion.

The last time I was there I spent a lot of time trying to find a lifting gym and trainer. Apparently Strongman is completely unknown and the gyms and trainers insist on using machines. I hate machines, I lift for exercise. I'm only so so at it, but that is the type of exercise I prefer. The unnatural movement patterns of machines is annoying and doesn't provide the type of exercise I am looking for.

I agree with the description of gyms in Thailand. I would add the numerous women and men who seem to think that the more selfies they take of themselves in the gym, the better they will look. I also think that for many Thai's it is a status symbol to go to a gym and have a trainer (who does mist of the work for you.) Where i lift, there seems to be a large number of Thais who drive very expensive vehicles, only work out with a trainer and wear the latest brand name gym fashion. I try to go when there are the fewest number of people and adjust my workout to what is available.

This is a weird question, more like a strange way to ask something, unless.

Wonderful Thai Gym Culture?? Maybe fitness isn't why you go to the gym.

Maybe this is what you're looking for:

Association with Male Fitness & Aesthetics: In Bangkok, some fitness gym cultures have historically been described as places where middle-class gay men socialize, build muscle, and meet partners, sometimes creating a "gym-gay" subculture.

21 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

I think you are particularly social but it can be uncomfortable asking to use a machine. Some react poorly. Don't want to anyway. Use the machine. Fast. Get off. No more than 5 minutes. Running machine no longer than 30. In my opinion.

I agree that you shouldn’t rest sitting at the exercise station except between sets.

To do 3 ninety seconds sets, with 2 ninety seconds rests in between takes about eight minutes.

So definitely , anyone still sitting there at the 10 or 15 minute mark is being rude

21 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

The problem with some people wearing head phones is they don't realise what sound they are making. One guy over 60 at the gym in the condo was making noises something between sad sex and exulted groaning. Terrible. Not cool.

Ahhhh very true lol

I do it myself

I also like to dance to my own music

I usually to Universe gym in Pattaya or Tony's

I don't like those modern air conditioning gyms such as Elite in Pattaya

Dance baby , I dance

3 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Ahhhh very true lol

I do it myself

I also like to dance to my own music

I usually to Universe gym in Pattaya or Tony's

I don't like those modern air conditioning gyms such as Elite in Pattaya

Dance baby , I dance

That would be a sight. My last condo a couple of years ago had no air conditioning and open windows not far from Second road. Crappy equipment too. Think it did more harm than good. This one has air purifiers which is good. You can breathe baby breathe

Not just Thais waste time in the gym. We have plenty of farangs sitting on a machine doing nothing.