Why do people do cardio at a gym?

What a sad, pathetic post to make, OP.

Just to inflate your own ego.

Running on a treadmill is tough. It takes all kinds of toughness. Unlike running outside where you’re all alone with nature totally blessing out, treadmills are boring and take way more mental stamina to use day in and day out.

Here is why treadmill running is tougher than outdoor running:

My butt is awesome and everyone stares

The tv shows are terrible

There’s a lot of noise in a gym

That idiot on the next treadmill is running like an idiot

It’s boring

There’s nothing pretty to look at

The air is sweaty and doesn’t move

I can’t just fart whenever I want

No snot rockets allowed!

I can’t just go left instead of going right so I can run through that cute neighborhood with the hot dad who mows the lawn early Saturdays

I can’t just “happen” to run by the hopping happy hour downtown and see all the cute office guys having drinks

That’s all I can think of right now.

Can we steer this thread back to cappuccinos now?

I use the gym treadmill frequently because my gym offers free babysitting and I have 3 young children. I can leave them in babysitting and get a solid workout in without having to find someone to watch my kids just because I want to run 5 miles.

That and my gym has lots of eye candy.

OutdoorsMan wrote:

I run outside everyday even if it is -30 degrees F and a blizzard or tornado. I run past snap fitness on one of my routes and everyone is in there yogging on their treadmills all decked out in their athletic gear watchin tv with their cappacinos, I just shake my head and push on. What ever happened to mental toughness?

the treadmill runners are mentally and physically weak. they will bring all kinds of excuses, don't listen to them.

It's hard to come home from work at 8pm on a cold New England winter day and then go out again. but that's what real runners do.

OutdoorsMan wrote:

Old Woman wrote:

Ugh, I know you're trolling, but convos like this bug the crap out of me so I'm going to respond anyway. I come home from work around 4:30 pm, and between December and mid-February that means it's dark when I finally head out for a run. Combine that with living in a town that doesn't make snow shoveling a priority, that's why I run inside during the week. Not really a fan of slipping on ice and breaking something.

But go ahead, be that man.

PS - Do you also make 250K a year and a hot wife?

Nah I live in a 2 story cheezits box and have a blowup doll, doesn't make me any less of a man.

Is that doll male?

OutdoorsMan wrote:

I run outside everyday even if it is -30 degrees F and a blizzard or tornado. I run past snap fitness on one of my routes and everyone is in there yogging on their treadmills all decked out in their athletic gear watchin tv with their cappacinos, I just shake my head and push on. What ever happened to mental toughness?

Since this thread has deteriorated into gym tales... my local gym has a chinese kid that runs in jeans and crocs. the flapping sound is unbearable. he is fat too. it's like an anime character.

amkelley wrote:

I often wonder why people are grinding away on treadmills at the gym when it's 55 degrees, calm and dry outside. I don't know about all of them, but I suspect many of the women are on treadmills because they are terrified to go outdoors. They have been told all their lives that any male encountered in an unsupervised environment is a rapist and they've bought on to it. Sad.

A serious answer to why I do cardio at the gym. First of all, I much prefer outdoor to indoor running if possible, and I just run for basic fitness (2-3x on a good week now).

I work out at the gym after work (lifting) about 3x a week, and the treadmills are always there and available. It's 80+ degrees here and humid year-round (I live in Asia near the equator), which means I'll be sweating profusely when I'm done after running outside which I'd rather not deal with at 8pm.

Furthermore, the traffic and road configurations around here are not at all conducive to running - if you're not familiar with SE Asian traffic I suggest you go to central HK or downtown Bangkok and see how easy it is to find a clear running path. Also, since I don't run often it is easy enough to keep from being bored by doing progression/fartlek runs by mixing up the speed every 1.0 km. And the gym I go to is not full of "fatties" like those of who you live in random American flyover states.

Why are these not "legitimate" reasons?

I am definitely in better shape than the OP and have only run outside twice this winter. I also have faster PRs for sure.

Enjoy your frostbite dip$hit.

Because they want to?

IGoToTheGym wrote:

I go to the gym a few times a week.

WITHOUT FAIL:

Everyone on the treadmills, 'bikes' and stair climber things is fat. And EVERY woman 'lifting' has something like 30 pounds on a leg machine, when they themselves weigh at least 30 pounds or more than they should. (Don't want to build muscle, you see, would make them look fat.)

I've gone for years, and this is consistent. The only things I do at the gym are things I can't do when not at the gym. I don't run, I don't ride anything, I don't go up fake stairs, I don't do sideways crap because I don't play basketball. It's not rocket science. But, slow cardio keeps you fat.

And lifting puny weights does nothing.

This is like blatantly untrue. The without fail part anyway. It's a fine description for the vast majority, but you routinely see some very fit (from a BF % perspective) on the cardio machines. That's not some unicorn sighting that happens once a year.

I'd say where I've been when it comes to lifting weights, probably about 80-90% of women are doing lifting that looks fairly useless. Decent percent of the guys too, but for different reasons.

I’ll run outside whenever I can, but when it’s dark, cold, and icy out I prefer the treadmill. Temp is decent, lots of eye candy (if at gym), can listen to music or podcasts...From a training perspective, I find the tread to be pretty ideal for running tempos and longer intervals. Keeps me from running too hard and allows me to dial in the right heart rate. Finally, if you have young kids, work, and want to keep up your mileage, it’s a necessity. Do lots of pre dawn miles before anyone wakes up. 4-5 mos of the year, 2/3rd of my runs are on the tread, the rest of the year maybe 1/10.

kadoo wrote:

[quote]OutdoorsMan wrote:

3) All the people that are going to wreck you in the spring have been doing their quality indoors when footing was bad. You may feel like a hard ass because you have wind burns and a torn meniscus, but your turn over is going to be shot. Enjoy having your doors blown off in the last quarter.

100% agree with this last point. I live in Wisconsin and a majority of the time the roads are coated in slippery snow/ice or the trails/bikepaths I normally do quality work on are not plowed. When it's time run fast over the winter, it's done on the treadmill. Easy runs or recovery runs, sure I'll run outside no matter what the conditions - you just need to dress for the cold. But for hard stuff when conditions are crappy, c'mon, your "tough as nails" is lost on me.

Fortunately I have a nice treadmill so I don't need to go to the gym. Plus my treadmill is located in my sun room where I can close off the doors and open the windows, temp gets down to 50 degrees. If I didn't own a treadmill, I'd probably do it at the gym. I even do long runs on the treadmill when the temperature is cold enough that I wouldn't want to spend 2-2.5 hours outside.

OutdoorsMan wrote: Why do people do cardio at a gym?

because that's where the treadmills are.

OutdoorsMan wrote:

I run outside everyday even if it is -30 degrees F and a blizzard or tornado. I run past snap fitness on one of my routes and everyone is in there yogging on their treadmills all decked out in their athletic gear watchin tv with their cappacinos, I just shake my head and push on. What ever happened to mental toughness?

To run intervals? Perfect for that. Just zone out, great temperatur, no wind and rain.

I can get a better workout in on an indoor track or treadmill than on slick ice and/or 6 inches of snow. Not to mention the risk of injury with the latter.

Also this has been mentioned, but sometimes you gotta work on your game, and all the hotties in spandex are inside.

OutdoorsMan wrote:

What ever happened to mental toughness?

Mental toughness? Running outside is the mentally soft option.

How hard is it to throw on a jacket, some tights, and gloves and go for a crisp winter run with the outdoors to engage your mind?

I'm sorry, but those that harden up and grind out 2+ hour runs on the treadmill are the ones displaying the most mental toughness in my book. There is a reason most serious runner avoid the treadmill like the plague...and it sure as hell isn't because it's so easy and fun.

Some of really tough types go to the gym because they provide child care for those circumstances when our spouse isn’t home. It’s great for us and our children. Someday, when you are no longer a child, you will realize that are often a plethora of valid reasons for people to do things, even if you don’t understand them or choose to do them in a different way for yourself.

I think your reasons are totally legitimate. If I lived where you do I'd probably do a lot of treadmill running too. But in the small California city where I live it is usually cool but not snowy/icy in the mornings, not humid, and traffic is not severe. I just don't get people pounding away on a treadmill when they could go run on a nice bike/pedestrian path along a creek just a block away (seriously).