As someone who has been working out for the past 30 years, I consider the gym to be a commons. What ruins it for me are people who reenact the tragedy of that

As someone who has been working out for the past 30 years, I consider the gym to be a commons. What ruins it for me are people who reenact the tragedy of that commons. There's the guy who takes three towels and hogs three machines at once and gets all shirty if you ask to use one of them while he's elsewhere. Then there's the Iron Man who leaves at least 300 pounds of weights on a barbell after he's done with his sets. And there are the wolf packs of either women or dudes that alternate on a machine for 45 minutes straight exchanging war stories about WTFEver and not letting anyone work in with them. I approach the gym like I approach work: as something to be done as quickly and efficiently as possible. One of them benefits my body and the other benefits my wallet. But even then, I genuinely enjoy a good run outside on a beautiful trail in the early evening or morning. And all that said, I'll take my grim ritual over the sciatica, lack of endurance, and general lack of health I had previously.