"Naked Sunday" at gym, anyone?

Reading this made me skin crawl…

Who on god’s green earth would want to go to gym naked? The thought of all those sweaty bums and dangly bits…

The only workout I can imagine doing naked is the horizontal one, and then you’re supposed to be naked and sweaty!


The first clothing-free workout session at a Dutch gym went ahead as planned on Sunday -- and participants and observers said it met expectations.

Around a dozen middle-aged and elderly men braved the glare of nearly twice that number of journalists at Fitworld gym in the town of Heteren, including reporters, photographers and at least five television crews, to fulfill their dream of exercising naked.

Patrick de Man, owner of Fitworld, said he got the idea in part from two of his regular customers who asked why he had separate dressing rooms for men and women.

"That was the spark," he said, and he ultimately decided to open the gym on Sundays for nudists. The response was overwhelming -- both positive and negative. Some clients were worried about whether it would be sanitary.

De Man decided to open the inaugural session to the press after receiving inquiries from as far away as Russia and Australia.

No women nudists attended, though De Man said eight had signed up, out of nearly 100 applicants overall. The cost is $13 per session, sold in blocks of 10.

Nude exercisers were required to put towels down on weight machines and to use disposable seat covers while riding bikes. In addition, the machines were to be cleaned three times before they would be used again by the gym's regular clientele.

A team of sanitisers from the Swisher company was on hand to explain the full procedure.

Nudists were expected to spray machines with a cleanser and wipe them dry, then repeat that procedure with a disinfectant.

The disinfectant was "strong enough to kill any bug or germ, including Aids," said Sjaak van Huet.

All the machines and the whole building were to be cleaned again by the sanitisers at the end of the day.

Sapa-AP via mg