Every guy wants to get hench right? Muscles, veins, abs, tight t-shirts saying things like "look at my gains bruh!" It's a part of male society that has completely blown up over the past couple of years. It's also now seen as a great way to get Instagram/Twitter followers (ladies will follow you if you post pictures of your abs, and so will guys if you reveal your secrets like what you eat etc.) The British male body has always been well... a bit like three-day-old porridge, pasty, clunky and thinks it's salvageable with a bit of heat, but things are changing my friend.
I love the gym! The smell of the equipment, the pop music thumping out the speakers, I had no idea I was a Taylor Swift fan but Shake It Off is great workout music. The sudden boom in the male gym body can be attributed to a few things:
Price - Gyms have never been cheaper, I remember the days of my gym membership costing more than my phone contract (damn you Vodafone). £11 a month is my local fee - that's cheaper than a one person Nando's (protein bruh!) Anyone can afford to get a "cheeky session" in nowadays. What's £11 even if you're on the dole, you can keep fit after you watch Jeremy Kyle.
Availability - 24hr gyms have never been more popular, that's right you can walk in at 4am in the morning, you can go there straight away after a night out on the town drinking and dancing to whatever generic number in some sick stained nightclub. You can stumble into a gym and tell yourself "now's the perfect time for a workout Gary", take off your velvet blazer, and just end up using the medicine ball as a pillow and fall asleep all snugly and cute surrounded by dumbbells.
Attitude - Times are changing, only a few years ago men were not allowed to say the word "diet" as it was commonly associated with women and crying in front of a mirror because your 2010 jeans no longer fit, "curse you Krispy Kreme!" Imagine going out on a Friday with the lads for a couple of "buds" when ordering the first round of drinks you politely decline a pint, as it has a lot of calories and that's 30 minutes on the step machine tomorrow, exactly! The verbal beating from your mates would just be too much. But now it's getting more common for guys to avoid beers and replace them with protein shakes, who needs alcohol when you can have a drink that contains "Branch Chain Amino Acids" mmmmmmmmm!
Fashionable - Gym clothing is very much in right now, exercise brands such as Under Armour have now overtaken giants like Adidas in the sportswear market in the USA. Under Armour is the brand that revolutionised the tight fitting "compression clothing", which people say gives you an edge when exercising. I don't know about that, but it does make my "package" look adequate, so that's good enough for me and hopefully you.
In January, like every January, there will be an influx of "newbies" joining gyms, walking around with post Christmas midriff looking at equipment as if it's something found on a space shuttle. Don't be one of those guys join now, have the edge on them, be ready for when they ask you that question "excuse me sir, but what does this machine do?" "Well that's not gym equipment mate, that's actually a vending machine". You will feel like a KING compared to them, even if just two months ago you thought a "kettlebell" could make tea.