#anyway these are cheesy and stupid but sooooo much fun i love sweaty people

[writinggoesgreen]

any story where you have an excuse to make everyone strong as hell and very sweaty is perfect to me. here are some quick inspo ideas for my most beloved au type.

commercial chain gyms have a pretty standard array of equipment (cardio machines like treadmills, rowing machines), resistance machines, mats, and free weights, and will usually focus on having a lot of machines to sustain a larger, diverse clientele. they also probably run a pretty diverse selection of classes. they may also have callisthenics and body weight training areas.

body building gyms usually look pretty different to commercial gyms - they might be smaller, and a little less shiny, for some reason. as a specialist gym, they tend to be a little smaller in terms of number of stations available. if they're targeted towards strong man competition style working out, you might even have crazy things like huge truck tires to hit with a hammer or throw around. i went to one once that had a busted fiat 500 for people to lift. i dunno. go wild.

boxing/martial arts gyms will vary depending on what martial art they are teaching. they may also teach a variety, or just one kind, depending on the trainers. a boxing gym might have punch bags and a ring, but somewhere that teaches jiu jitsu, which fights on mats, probably wont have a roped ring. there might be some overlap in what is taught (muay thai, kickboxing, and mma have similar skillsets, for example) so they might run different sessions for each. a lot of places run kids and women's classes, too. if you aren't a practitioner of the martial art you're writing, doublecheck things like if they are graded, if there is often a sparring element to training, or if there is a specific uniform, as these things vary massively.

i have never been to a women's only gym but they function pretty similarly to most standard gyms, with the general equipment you would expect. it's only really the people using it that seperates it.

yoga studios can be very small, or very big. they will usually have soft floors and mats, as well as things like yoga blocks, straps, and balls. if they also teach pilates, there might also be some pilates machines. there might also be seperate rooms, for different classes, or meditation spaces.

similarly, dance studios can be any size, and like martial arts gyms, can specialise in a single style, or multiple. maybe it's run by a single dancer who only teaches tap, or maybe there are a few instructors who teach a variety of styles. what it looks like will vary massively depending on that.

swimming pools will usually have... a body of water. they may also a sauna, a shallow pool for kids, and depending on the pool, a play area. these also tend to run classes.

here is a suggestion list of different classes a gym might run, sorted into categories. these have been pulled from as diverse a group of gyms as i could find in my area, for a more realistic selection:

cardio: body combat, spin, zumba, circuits, body conditioning, bootcamp, HIIT. strength: learn to lift, absolute abs, kettlebells, upper body blast. dance: here is a school in london with a huge variety of dance classes for inspo. martial arts: self defense, boxing for fitness. i wont list every kind of martial arts here because it's pointless, so here is the wiki page for it. note: some of these are closed cultural practices, and would not likely be taught outside of where they are traditionally practiced. misc: personal training.

after moving to a new city, character a joins a gym class at random in a desperate attempt to make some new friends.

character a starts a new job at a local gym as a personal trainer, and isn't counting on the yoga instructor being quite so... flexible.

after an injury, character a starts doing some physio work at the gym. character b is in charge of their recovery.

character a takes their kid to a swimming class every week, where character b is the instructor taking the class.

despite knowing what a cliche it is, character a develops a humiliating crush on their personal trainer. it can't be helped - character b seems to exclusively wear obscenely tight t-shirts to work.

character a is a lifeguard at the pool where character b swims every morning, and quickly becomes a very strong motivation to getting up at 5am every day.

character a works at a family-run gym, and their bumbling crush on one of the regulars, character b, is becoming increasingly difficult to hide from their nosy siblings.

working on entering their first competition, character a works with character b in some one-to-one sessions, only to find them sitting in the front row come competition day.

character a returns to training after an injury in their last fight shattered their confidence. character b, their coach, helps them get back on their feet.