Why do people use communal showers at the gym? I've never used one...

[Herman Munster]

I don't want to be around anybody when I am showering. That's my personal time and space. When I'm at the gym, I work out and then go home to shower. I don't care if I'm a little stinky in the car on the drive home.

It has nothing to do with the other guys there if they are gay or straight. I don't care if people think my penis is big or small or whatever. I am germ phobic, though. There are nasty people in this world.

I don't know how often the communal showers are cleaned or what fungus or other things the other people using the showers are bringing to the shower. I have problems using public restrooms too when there are too many people around me. All the bodily noises and fowl smells disturb my concentration when I am trying to do my business.

[WI_DEM]

1. Well, for me I tend to work out before work, so I take a shower before going in

and change into my work attire from the gym.

[Herman Munster]

2. that makes sense

I always go after work and then go home.

[Katherine Brengle]

3. I have never been in a communal shower...

I think they had them in the locker rooms in my high school but no one used them - they were really old, probably leftovers from an earlier time...

The ones at my gym are all private, like bathroom stalls with little changing areas that are also private.

I wouldn't shower with others in public, that's just strange.

[Digit]

6. That is how high school used to be!

This was the women's shower I am speaking of.

[soothsayer]

24. I failed P.E. (with my mom's permission) for not taking communal

showers. Weirdos.

[Scooter24]

4. I always shower after I workout...

it doesn't bother me and my gym has locker room attendants who are constantly cleaning them. I go to a gym that has a lot of young executives, so it's more like a day spa. I am usually in between appointments, at lunch, or going somewhere after the gym, so it usually requires me to shower after my workout seeing as how I don't have time to go home and do it.

You can wear shower shoes if you fear the germs.

[peacebird]

5. my gym has private shower stalls, and enuf locker areas that usually I can dress

more or less privately too....

I go straight to work after and don't want to be sweaty.

Course that's in the ladies locker room - maybe the gents have a more "open" arrangement...! LOL!

[Scooter24]

7. lol...

At my club, we have private shower areas. A 5x5 area with a shower head, several soaps, lotion, and a shower curtain.

The "dudes" area is quite nice haha

[donco]

8. I,m usually in the gym for about

two hours five days a week, I get rather rank, don’t want to smell the car up, so take a good shower, four years in the Marine Corps will cure you of the communal showers phobia.

[sarge43]

9. A week of basic in any branch cures that phobia. n/t

[happyslug]

11. It took you a week?????? The smell after a day was enough for me.

n/t

[sarge43]

18. You're right.

When the buzzards stayed up wind ....

[karlrschneider]

10. Maybe things have changed in schools (jr high & hs) when I was there we swam naked

& all showered together...like 50 at a time. Nobody thought anything about it that I recall. One guy named 'Tex' something was always showing off his dong that he could actually tie in a knot! I'm not making that up.

[Maine-ah]

28. .

:wow: :wow: :wow:

[originalpckelly]

12. Why this sudden talk about showering?

Isn't it a little weird to debate whether or not to shower in public?

:crazy:

The lengths we on DU will go to be outraged at something pretty much meaningless is absolutely underestimated.

[damntexdem]

13. So they won't stink when they leave the gym.

If you hate communal showers that much, why do you allow yourself to use communal gym equipment?

[mondo joe]

14. If I go to the gym it's before work or at lunch - so a shower is called for.

There are germs and people are nasty. But if you let that stop you there's a whole lot of things you can't do.

[happyslug]

15. A different Male-Female Difference here.

Probably because men first learn to Shower while in the Army (Baths were preferred prior to WWI, but the Army like showers for the troops went in and out quicker). This was reinforced by WWII and the Cold War Draft. Thus a lot of men became use to communal showers, while most women did not (Also influence of Queen Victoria, who established the custom of bathing alone, prior to her reign most people bathed communally). Queen Victoria valued her privacy and her view what was good enough for her was good enough for everyone else so bathing alone became the custom during her reign).

On the other hand women were NOT subject to the draft and the Military need to get people in and out of Showers (Women did serve, but in small numbers till the 1970s). With the end of the Draft the Army tried to upgrade its image by improving its facilities and you started to see more and more "Private" Showers (Basically stalls with a curtain).

Thus the difference in this thread, with a lot of women saying NO to communal showers, with a Lot of Men say "What is the big deal" (With exceptions for both sexes based on one life experiences).

[Left Is Write]

17. For what it's worth, the communal showers in the girls locker room at junior high...

was not a pleasant experience for most of us who went through it.

[MonkeyFunk]

21. I can imagine

I saw Carrie!

[Gormy Cuss]

23. I actually remember it as fun, but we were making a statement of sorts.

We were a bunch of baby feminists unashamed of our nakedness and all. There were two private stalls (popular with girls who were menstruating, or who had religious restrictions, or who were just shy) but many of us opted for the much faster access to the gang shower.

[Katherine Brengle]

19. You need to realize that women are made to feel that their bodies

are disgusting and never good enough their entire lives, so not wanting to be naked in front of other people stems from social issues, not personal ones, usually.

[MonkeyFunk]

22. I'm not sure

it's much different for the majority of adolescent boys.

[CTyankee]

26. I used to belong to my college gym and showered with a nun!

Yep. This is a private Catholic college (Domenican) that used to be all female. The women's shower was communal. My swim always coincided with that of the woman who was head of the Classics department. The good Sister and I had great conversations about ancient Rome and Greece while showering and getting dressed. She was absolutely unfazed about her own (and my) nudity. She is in her 70s and a dear heart. I miss her because I go to another gym now.

FWIW, my husband thought it was a little odd that I "showered with a nun."

[Left Is Write]

16. I often wonder about fungi too.

However, if I were not going home right after a workout, I'd shower at the gym. My gym has private showers, though.

[CottonBear]

35. I don't mind communal showers but I always wear flip flops when showering.

I wear them to the edge of the pool and them put them right back on before going back to the locker room. No fungi problem. :)

[Shell Beau]

20. I agree. I like to shower in privacy.

I guess I am modest or whatever, but I am completely uncomfortable showering with others (besides the hubby of course)

[taterguy]

25. I use communal showers so I can see other naked men

Ooops, did I just say that out loud?

[emmajane67]

27. I don't shower at the gym.

I go home (it's only a 5 minute walk).

When staying in hostels or the like, with communal showers I always wear flip-flops to avoid the funghi issue.

[MissMillie]

29. my gym has separate stalls for everyone

And it's VERY clean.

[Beer Snob-50]

30. If i go to the gym before work than i gotta shower

I just wear flipflops into the shower to prevent athletes feet (do you gotta be an athlete to get it?) The big problem in my eyes are the older guys who have to chat with you while showering. I don't want to talk to fat naked men while I shower.

[Deep13]

31. One can leave clean and refreshed.

Plus, once the gym fee is paid, it's free. Home showers are not.

[Patiod]

32. Not really much of a choice after swimming

I used to swim at a local high school, with a bunch of women from 40-75, and we all showered naked. I think hard-core swimmers of either sex, just like guys who have been in the service, become really comfortable with their bodies and with nudity. Later, a few women started to shower in their swimsuits, and you could tell they were visibly upset by those of us who chose to shower naked.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

33. What's the problem?

All these people who write "fuck" all over the Lounge suddenly turn into shy, blushing Victorian virgins?

I go to a gym that has communal showers and two small shower stalls. I'd say 99% of the women--ranging in age from teens to downright elderly-- just use the communal shower.

[Jimbo S]

34. Always used communal showers

I'm 40 years old. Male.

High school phy-ed, after practices, and now after working out at the gym. Just something I've always done.

I understand that now the younger generation has self-image issues and won't shower publicly, and I think it's a shame people are made to feel that way about their bodies.