Today at the gym I was in the middle of a shoulder rehabilitation exercise set which my physiotherapist had just gone through with me an hour earlier. A man comes over, makes me remove my earphones, and then tells me I am doing it incorrectly. I looked at him with a puzzled expression as I had been ‘in the zone’ – then he goes on to demo how I should lower the cable point and bend more in order to get a stretch in my back. I told him – well I am not targeting my back, I am doing shoulder rehab given by my physio. To which he replies ‘well this exercise is much better for your shoulder’ and demos another one which is on my regime. I said ‘yes I also do that one’ and managed to dismiss him and go back to my exercise, but he made me feel like I had to apologise to him for not doing as per his instructions. Men approaching me in the gym to depart their so called wisdom happens about once a week. I have been playing sports to a decent level all my life and do weights in the gym about five times a week, there is no reason for anyone to think I don’t know what I am doing. Not that it’s entirely relevant but I have a Masters degree in Engineering (really I am not an idiot). But of course these men assume they have superior knowledge to me as I lack a penis, and they feel they are in full right to disturb me in order to ‘help’. It is hard for me to be rude as there is often a small chance that they have good intentions, so all I can do is stand my ground and be dismissive.
