6 To Gym or Not To Gym?

I keep thinking about the Gym Culture that's been getting a tighter and tighter grip on us all over the past 20 or 30 years. When I first joined a gym -about 25 years ago -it was a bit of a novelty thing to do, something fun to do every week and, I suppose, a bit of a lifestyle accessory. As the years have gone by it seems that to be seen as acceptable as a young man out on the gay scene, you need to have been working out for years on a regular basis. Pecs, biceps, and six-pack are all seen as necessary rather than as optional extras! The transition in terms of the rapidly increased pressure to conform to cultural bodily shape and size expectations was illustrated nicely in the number of trimmed and toned figures to be found on the gay beech at Sitges each year. My first visit there must have been over 20 years ago. I've been fortunate enough to have a fairly lean athletic build without having to worry too much about diet and excercize. On that first visit there was a wide range of shapes and sizes following a fairly normal distribution. At my last vist a few years ago, I was shocked and somewhat saddened to find that well over 80% of the bodies to be seen were honed to Gym Perfection. Rather than finding these sexy, lean bodies attractive, all I could register were the empty hours of gym time spent burning off fat and the corresponding inevitable consequential accompanying limitations in terms personality development and conversational possibilities. Not that I need have worried about a conversation actually occurring because natural selection being what it is, once you've spent your time and energy grooming yourself to perfection, you're then naturally and narcissistically drawn to others in your own image and repelled from those who haven't been so careful about what they eat and how they look! I've been struggling with whether or not my anti-gym attitude is just a matter of 'sour grapes'. As you get older your metabolism slows down and you don't need to eat as much as you used to do so the middle age spread kicks in and it's less easy to maintain a naturally athletic state without having to cut back significantly on foodie treats. But I think it's more than that. I fear that Gym Culture has crept in to replace what used to be around as a reasonably caring, giving, protective culture maybe based on some collective sense that in times of persecution we need to look after each other. So now we're not ostensibly persecuted any more what takes its place? Seems like gay men have fallen into the low self-esteem, back-biting, bitchy world that a lot of women have been drawn into. 'Be Slim and Bitch' being the best form of defense! So instead why not put the dumb bells down and move away from the Gym. How about some Yoga, Pilates, or even Tai Chi? Get a sense of who you are rather than what you look like!