Laughing at the gym and why you should avoid it

I'm just back from the gym and sitting down for a quick second because the steam in the shower I'm about to take would make me pass out if I were to get in now. I've been on a good track lately. I go to the gym and watch CNN as I run. That way, I'm catching up on current events and getting in shape at the same time. Flawless plan, no?

No, not at all, apparently. There are quite a few TVs at the gym, most of them visible from the treadmill I use. While I may get distracted, I'm pretty good at sticking to CNN. Even when Saved By The Bell comes on, I only watch it on commercial breaks from the news. Go me. But today, today I lost control. 

Fresh Prince of Bel Air was on the screen right next to CNN. I'm as much of a Fresh Prince fan as the next guy, but it has never been a show where I get excited to see that it's on air. Until today. I could not look away. I even moved from just reading the closed captioning while still listening to the news, to just changing the channel completely and occasionally glancing over to make sure our country isn't going to complete and total rot. 

Will Smith and Carlton (I really don't care enough about him as an actor to look up his name for he is and will always be Carlton) sufficiently distracted me from the steep incline I was running, but also made me chuckle a bit under my breath. That's always the awkward thing about watching TV while working out. I'll smile and laugh because I can't hear myself with my headphones. Oh, but I'm sure you can, girl doing crunches right in front of me. And you, guy working at the FitRec help desk. Yes, you heard that laugh. But me? I'm going to pretend it never happened. 

Because laughing at the gym is not normal laughing. You're running fast on a treadmill with an incline, sweating and thirsty. So what escapes as a laugh is more just a groan. A confusing noise, I'm sure, to those who don't understand it was meant to be a laugh. I guess the next time I go to the gym, I'll wear a sign that says, "Yes, that was a laugh. No, I'm not dying or contagious."

Or maybe I'll just stick to CNN.