I think there should be nerdy gyms and I’m not even joking about that.
Gyms are always marketed around appearance and personal improvement and ~wellness~: lose wait, get hot, eat less! Blah blah blah. They’re soulless and tap into a form of motivation that only works for so long (and is more than a little psychologically damaging for many people)
What if instead, a gym was a place of play, with exercise focused on enjoyment, adventure, and entertainment. It could even be like a D&D campaign:
You’re not running on a treadmill to get hot or whatever - you’re running down a beaten woodsy path to get word to the king that invaders have landed on your shoreline.
The rowing machine isn’t a monotonous repetitive exercise to get muscles. It’s a serious endeavor where you row with your companions to steer your Greek trireme or Viking warship into battle.
You’re not lifting weights - those are packs you must carry in your adventure across remote, hostile countryside
This isn’t an exercise routine. It’s today’s adventure campaign, with several different activities required - scaling a mountain, fleeing a dragon, etc
…and so on.
Because exercise is healthy, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a boring adult obligation. Why force yourself to exercise the same way you force yourself to file your taxes, when you could instead engage in an hour or so of play?
This is a silly post, but I honestly just think serious adults with serious jobs should still have some time on the playground a few days a week.
We had this thing near us. Wizard quest. You had to go station to station and find many things and got to use a fun wand that would activate stuff.
Legitimately, that turned into a gym would make me want to go
Gimme a sci-fi version of this and I’m SO there
Saaaame!
Here are some ideas I came up with quickly
- some machines already have screens, show how by running on this treadmill I’m exploring an abandoned ship or calibrating some technology
- Instead of lifting weights, I’m carrying essential medical supplies (or organs) to the medbay to help save my teammates
- training for a mission on a dangerous alien planet, so I can defend myself from the potentially dangerous fauna/flora
Just go crazy with it.
I’d also kill for just some interesting visuals while I exercise - like in a fantasy themed gym it could look like a castle or a forest or a village, or in a sci fi environment make it look like a space ship. I don’t like staring at blank walls or watching other people :(. (Though to be fair this is a lot to ask lol)
I LOVE IT!!!
heck YES
dammit if I had starting-a-business amounts of money I would go SO awesomely crazy with ideas for this
(am already exploding with ideas for creative immersive experiences to share with fellow nerds. this is up my alley)
I don’t know what a true immersive experience for nerds is like, so I would love just anything at this point.
yessss me too!
(and for one example… well, Starlingship isn’t a gym, but I so totally want it to happen someday)
