My Subculture

For my subculture project, I have chosen to study people who work out at gyms religiously.  I plan on doing interviews at three types of places:  college campus gyms, gym chains (such as YMCA’s), and privately owned gyms.  It has been quite a while since I personally stepped foot inside a gym, but I am expecting to get the same types of stares that I have received in the past when I worked out often.  Part of my interview questions will include the interviewee’s perception of me when they saw me enter the gym.  Since I am a fairly small individual, I expect there to be some pre-conceived ideas about why I would come to a gym.

 Some things I hope to learn through visiting these sites and doing interviews are how many of the people use supplements such as protein shakes and creatine to boost the results of their workout.  I would also like to get the perspective of gym employees and what they see at work.  Does sexual harassment occur?  Do they nickname or tease any of the members?  What kind of methods do they use to win over the competition among other gyms?

 I am open to learn anything I can about this culture of fitness, but there are those few targets that I would like to hit, as discussed before.