2mo ago

Gym bro talk has to be one of the dumbest things ever

Like, why does a gym attract so many dickheads. I'm just there minding my own damn business when I overhear dudes talking about how they are 'going to get so much pussy for lifting' and whatever dumb shit. It's a constant stream of male garbage coming from all around you. My fault for not wearing headphones I guess.

Is that why you lift? Really? Are most gym bros just terminally insecure man children? Fucking hell man. Who unironically talks like that? I know I'm probably in a bubble as a sober, vegan communist but still.

58 comments

Are most gym bros just terminally insecure man children?
Most men are terminally insecure man children...
- Patriarchy really did a number on the human race
  
  Yea it kinda did…
  The idea that dying in war or from incurable illnesses at a manufacturing job makes us manly men didn’t leave much space for emotional maturity.
going to get so much pussy for lifting
Body dysmorphia is rampant amongst gym bros. Not getting laid is the driving force. Internet market delivers toxic results. Also, yes dudes can be that dumb.
- dudes rock bc they dumb as rocks, fr fr
- In a loving, longterm relationship, still feel terrible about my body image even though I'm in the best shape of my life, shit hurts
  
  In a loving, longterm relationship, still feel terrible about my body and I'm in horrible shape (despite exercising still). If it helps in anyway, be proud of maintaining physical health. Attraction is subjective but your health isn't. Always worth it exercise even if you're just getting your heart rate up with some cardio. At least that what I tell my fat ass.
I know I’m probably in a bubble as a sober, vegan communist but still.
I mean yeah. It's a good bubble to be in, if one is going to have to be in a bubble, but there is a lot of reactionary bullshit out there...
It's weird to be aware and to be trying to do something about it, and also live within that stuff. Reminds of the following line from when I was trying to read through: https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:No_Free_Left
E. M. S. Namboodiripad found a flaw in Ningal Enne Communistakki. The characters, he wrote in 1954, "are puppets with no relationship to living communist activists." Where are the voices of the dalits, the adivasis, the worker and the peasants, the heart of the communist movement? Thoppil Bhasi, Namboodiripad felt, had not adequately addressed the struggle to become a communist which often runs through several phases – fighting one's circumstances, certainly, but then the break with established ideologies, ability to find activities to do to contribute to the struggle while living in this world. In close-knit communities at the nether end of the social order survival is an anxious business and social humiliation is a constant hindrance. The communists who emerge out of these worlds are often talented and bright – those who could make lucrative careers and could be the shining lights of their communities. Yet, they chose to go to the trenches of political battle. They refuse to leave their world, but in adopting the transformative social agenda of communism they remain within at a curious distance – unwilling to conform to conservative social trends. What Namboodiripad seemed to indicate is that communists live a double reality – fighting against this world to make a better future, and living in this world within one's social order. To inhabit the present and the future is a stern burden on a communist. None of this comes out in the art on communism – too middle class in its orientation, only able to see the Maoists or the communists as figures of romance. It makes it so much easier to disdain them when the romance fades.
(bold emphasis mine)
And I would add, unlike the concept of a cult and other formations that emphasize a sense of superiority as a justification for being outside the norm, communism has no such mental buffer exactly? Instead, there is I think more of a humbling going on and an uncovering of scientific ruggedness in existence that might otherwise be more softened or hidden by fanciful ideologies of elitism and false promises. It is like you are seeing the raw nerve endings of society and watching as a steady diet of fast food is paved over with running a lot (figuratively speaking). But you can't simply pretend you exist outside it and act from a safe vantage point. You're in it even as you try to change it and are awash in its influences on you.
Idk if that makes sense, but I'm trying to get at something that is hard for me to put into words.
This is why I go to planet fitness and workout with old people
They also tend to uhh, put down people who are overweight for trying to excersize. Im not a very strong person, but I had to restrain myself from attempting to knock two people the fuck out for saying "look at that loser" to someone who was working out at the gym.
Been going to various gyms for about 18 years now and this is not something I encounter.
Are most gym bros just terminally insecure man children?
Yes sadly, right wing media apparatus targeted men's fitness pretty hard around 2016, barely any progress has been made to decouple the two :(
I'm a fellow communist who has been lifting for 15 years. I've literally never experienced this IRL. People say that gym bros are like this online, but I've never seen it. I've seen nothing but hella nice dudes. I'm not saying the toxic right wing selfhelp joe rogan gym bro isn't out there, I just think that stereotype is way overblown.
- Maybe they just secretly decided to go to my specific gym
the western world, especially anglos, have a bizarre relationship with health and fitness. like others have said, the focus has been from increasing health to image, something these people are obsessed with. this is why i prefer to workout at home, this capitalist way of thinking is prevalent everywhere but at its worst at the gym.
- Perhaps we can link the fascistic nature of purity culture in the west to the vapid, egocentric gym culture?
  
  yes, this is true. you see in short form videos "you must consume x amount of this" or "you must do x workout this many times", it's why you see so many clones wearing the same gear parroting the same stuff may sometimes even have an adverse effect on health.
From my experience no, most gymbros are decent IMO. It's just the younger ones that are more into that, well at least on my country. > 25yo gymbros/gymsis mostly talk about their job, although i have been guilty of admiring my gymcrush. Like 95% of my talk with my partner is about being tired from job lol
I have a theory: Just do sports, don’t lift, at least not as your main form of exercise. I have always felt that women can somehow smell it on the guys, I dunno.
The funny thing is that while most male Americans (and increasingly Westerners in general) are fat (which isn’t attractive to most straight women) the maximum body for getting the ladyfolk is not that much muscle and you should be slightly underweight but not shredded.
The biggest thing about a great physique for attracting mates is confidence, and for men, the toxic gym culture ends up creating a really fucked up body dysmorphia. I worked at the university gym during college and let me tell you the bizarre things I heard… like some guy refusing to go ask a woman out that was sending him all the signs of attraction because he was too embarrassed that his calf muscles were too small or upset that his lats weren’t looking better.
- I heard like some guy refusing to go ask a woman out that was sending him all the signs of attraction because they were embarrassed that their calf muscles were too small or upset that their lats weren’t looking better.
  She dodged a nuke ngl
Stupidity and lack of self examination are the rule, not the exception... but if they had heard that God really wanted them not to fornicate nor be adulterous and were surrounded by people who believed it so maybe, just maybe, whatever desires they had would've been channelled into monogamy, initially through peer pressure perhaps and eventually thanks to maturity and love for their partner as a person and not a tool for satisfaction.
What I meant by this is basically: few people will spend time of their day pondering about the ethical decisions they have made and will make, as they naturally don't gravitate to philosophy nor do they have the ease of thought that would make it a more pleasurable experience. And while a serious, self respecting intellectual might reach some moral conclusions 'naturally', the 99 others require an easy set of rules and a fear of inescapable punishment to act right on many occasions. This is why Catholicism, which is nothing more than a parasite wearing Jesus' skin, failed to provide an ethical framework to the West: either "you're already saved" or you can just go to the priest and tell him you did something wrong (while never fixing it, apologising to the other person or facing the punishment of the law for it...) and you're all good, nothing to worry about, God forgave you touching your little niece, lol.
Anyway, TLDR: it's sorta disappointing but keep in mind that the software can be easily changed in a generation or two. Those lacking in hardware have and will continue existing, but if we all agree on a set of basic rules and values, we can all live together in harmony and without disrespecting others.
- wait lol what is this bit though? This is so interesting, I wanna hear this account talk more.
  
  I wanna see that reactionary shithead getting banned, it's fucking vile to read that garbage.
- Mr. Mod, that comment took me like 3 whole minutes to write... how did it offend you to such a degree you would silence me? :(
Threads like this make it really obvious as to why the right wing has so much success pulling men in, when the left criticizes all of them for wanting to just be fit. It's pretty well known this mentality is due to right wing propaganda yet here is another thread of "all men that go to gyms are just dumb assholes." Again we devolve into attacking the people instead of the system that causes this. Let's not do anything to build up a healthy masculinity on the left. Let's just berate them and drive them further to the right. It's hilarious how easy we make the rights job for them.
Leftists: "Why gym bros driven to the right?"
Also leftists: "Hey let's have another entire thread calling men stupid, vanity driven, sexist assholes for stepping foot near a gym."
- Nobody is criticizing men for wanting to be fit. I actively encourage them to do so. However, an urge to be fit does not necessary means you have to become an misogynistic asshole. You build positive masculinity by revealing the fascist nature many gym bros currently have and offer an alternative.
- when the left criticizes all of them for wanting to just be fit.
  Who here is criticizing men specifically for wanting to be fit? Point to the comments in question, let's see it.
- That's not at all what's happening here lmao
- This is a ridiculously defensive response that doesn't reflect the discussion in this thread at all. Read The Will to Change by bell hooks
- can you describe your view of what a "healthy masculinity" looks like
  
  As a man I’d say that “healthy masculinity” makes as much sense as “non-racist white person”. Maybe there’s a few outliers here and there, but as a whole the identity is based on the subjugation of others.
I learned a long time ago that I need to wear headphones in the gym, on planes and on trains. Human beings in general are pretty fucking stupid, it's not limited to the gym or to men.
- You sound very up your own ass
  
  Why does my perspective upset you so much? Are you one of the morons having loud, senseless conversations in public?
- This is an incredibly bad take.
  Objectifying women as nothing more than their sex organs referring to having sex as "getting pussy" is incredibly misogynistic. Denying that gyms are a hot bed of misogyny is just silly.
  Thinking that having more casual sex is what will save the western left is fucking ridiculous.
  
  Absolutely, and while I wouldn't commend policing everyone around you's language, if I heard a friend use that kind of phrase I'd definitely make a mental note that I need to have a conversation about masculinity with them.

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