Blog 3

Similarly to yesterday, Abbey and I spent our day observing and taking notes on the gym's workout classes. Afterward, we split up to do personal research on fitness and health, and prepared for our meeting with Josh tomorrow by brainstorming questions and topics to ask him about. 

One thing that surprised me was the level of dedication each coach shows to the gym and its members. For example, I learned that they come in at 4:45 a.m. every day to prepare for their first class at 5:30 a.m. As I mentioned in my previous blog, they know each member by name and history, as they keep detailed logs of the participants' progress on individual spreadsheets.

If I could restart my Hawken project, I’d keep the main idea but tweak it to focus simultaneously on my own workout journey alongside my observations of others. Abbey and I plan to join in on their classes later down the line of our project, but I think it might have been interesting and engaging if we spent the entire time reflecting on our personal progress as well. This way, we might leave with a larger impact and knowledge of how to help other people with their own fitness journeys, since we actually experienced it firsthand ourselves. 

Lastly, something I noticed that stuck out to me was that even in the larger HIT classes, it was clear that the gym was one big community. When members walked in, the on-duty coach greeted them by name and asked about their days and lives. People happily chatted with one another during breaks and before the workouts began. Additionally, the coach made announcements throughout the class, congratulating specific members on their recent workout accomplishments while everyone else cheered and clapped. It was very heartwarming to observe, and I’d recommend anyone looking to work out to find a place with as strong of a community.