Going to the Gym is Hard Enough...

...without having smelly guys making working out even tougher.

I was minding my own business on my favorite machine, which I still don't know the name of - it's a cross between an elliptical and a stair master.

A guy plunked down on the machine beside me, and immediately, his smell wafted towards me. I'm not trying to be cruel. Yes, I know gyms are filled with sweaty, smelly people. But this wasn't guy musk from working out. This smelled like I peed on my clothes, left them in a pile for a month, put them on, pooped in my pants and then decided to work out.

I tried to breathe through my mouth (even though you're supposed to breathe through your nose). It didn't work. I could still smell him. I know I was making involuntary faces, grimaces people probably attributed to working out. I couldn't help it, my nose is pretty sensitive to scents and it DID NOT like his smell.

I started to get self-conscious, hoping people walking by my machine didn't think it was me that smelled. Finally, after twenty long minutes of me mentally telling him to move on, he left. Two dainty spritzes of cleaning solution, a quick swipe with a paper towel and he was gone. That is why I have started wiping down my machines before and after using them - there's no telling whose funky body was touching it before yours. Andrew being even more fastidious had already started this practice after viewing other people skip their machine wipe downs (People, take note, it's really bad gym etiquette - and really gross - not to wipe down your machine after using it!)