Recently I joined a gym with a pool featuring a steam room and sauna room in the locker room. To my surprise, the showers were all individual stalls with a curtain. In the main locker area I noticed when many members were dressing, they kept wrapped in a towel. Only a few people were naked in the locker room. Then I observed most of the nude members were approximately over 40 years of age. When I entered the locker room from the pool, I took of my wet bathing suite and took a shower. I exited the shower nude and walked over to my locker to hang up my bathing suite. I then walked over to the steam room with towel in hand and entered the steam room naked. When I entered, there were two other members in there. One wearing shorts and the other wrapped in a towel. I relaxed there for a while feeling a comfortable but wondering why so many people were so covered up. I then exited the steam room after a while and walked across the hall still naked into a hot sauna room. I placed my towel on the bench to sit on and stretched out in the corner and enjoyed the heat. After several minutes alone, one person entered wrapped in a towel and hesitantly greeted me as if he was shocked that I was sitting there naked. A few minutes later another person entered the sauna room much to my shock fully clothed carrying a basketball and sat down. Again, I was the only naked person in the sauna but didn't care. In the main locker room there a few other nude people but they were in the minority. Has locker room nudity changed over the years?
Replies
- MEMemberJan 11, 2019
The idea of being in a sauna dressed just seems so ridiculous. How the hell can you reap the benefits if a sauna if trussed up
ReactReply - JAjamnatOriginal PosterJan 11, 2019[quote]The proper way to take a sauna is nude. You want yo sweet all the toxins out, not trap them.[/quote] Exactly!ReactReply
- HA
Jan 11, 2019I have found one of the last Saunas with a men only day. There are some nude and some with trunks which don't bother anyone. Trouble is its a Thursday and its 9-2pm so difficult to get there. All the same its nice to have the choice as so many council run places insist on mixed costumes to be worn. Wonder how long it will last but its a breath of fresh air.
ReactReply - MEMemberJan 28, 2019
one open in cardiff now
ReactReply - HA
Jan 30, 2019It has! But Ive been having a great experience at new gym I go to, most over age 30 will sprawl out naked while the young girls giggle and laugh while they walk by the windows and see us
ReactReply - HAJan 30, 2019
It has! But Ive been having a great experience at new gym I go to, most over age 30 will sprawl out naked while the young girls giggle and laugh while they walk by the windows and see us
ReactReply - MEMemberMar 22, 2019
Locker room nudity has changed over the years. I tend to find that the young guys are more self conscious than the older guys. But I had a good experience this week, I had a sauna after swimming (mixed area so swimmers stay on) and chatted to a woman I know and a guy I did not. Left to have a shower and after a while the other guy appeared. We were both comfortable walking and talking naked around the change room while getting ready to leave. Like others here I tend to leave dressing until the last minute and this guy was similar. Made for a good change.
Having said that the locker room now has showers with partitions with lockable doors. I shower with the door open as I don't care and I walk in and out putting on shampoo, conditioner and whatever to get the chlorine off. The shower has a 1 minute cycle to save water, auto cut off.
ReactReply - PA
Sep 26, 2020It has nothing to do with sexuality and everything to do with body image. We are constantly inundated with the idea of the "perfect body" and, for men, that tends to include the idea of larger than average genitalia.
ReactReply - MEMemberSep 21, 2022
Certainly the pool change rooms where I go are now individual stalls and with lockable doors not just a curtain, it is the exact opposite of the open showers that were there before it was re-developed / upgraded. I shower with the door open, speedo's on initially as I let the shower water rinse me off and the speedo's. I take them off and rinse them more thoroughly and walk out to my gear, no towel. Some older guys my age do this but many don't, society has changed, the paranoia about how we look naked is over the top. Is it due to the proliferation of porn, social media, political correctness, etc. or a bit of all of them?
ReactReply - MEMemberSep 21, 2022
I no longer partake in an activity that is linked to locker room needs. I was an elite swimmer in my day and through the locker room time developed body confidence and no shame in being nude with others.
Contrast to today where I road trip for work and use camping accommodation with communal amenities I find that very few if any people use these facilities to shower nowadays. People tend to have glamping down pat and either stay in cabins with showers or have a caravan with a shower... So no need to risk your body confidence and be comfortable in your own skin.
It's great in some respects as I can usually do my daily routine without being cramped into the cubicle. I shower with the door open and even brush my teeth while nude etc. So free with roo. To move!
ReactReply - AL
Sep 22, 2022Men's locker room behavior has changed over my lifetime for sure. Younger guys are much less comfortable with nudity than older guys, unlike when I was a younger guy myself. My gym has a fairly small locker room that has two open showers and some cubicles with curtains; it's between the locker room and pool entrance, and I shower after my swim. Usually I'm the only naked guy, period. I was surprised the other day that there were three of us showering and grooming nude. What wasn't surprising is that we were all well over age 65.
ReactReply - MEMemberSep 27, 2022
Goodness it's been a few years since I was at a textile camping place or anywhere else for that matter. When we did visit those places it was shower stalls and open toilets. Camping facilities it was surprising to see women existing the men side. Perhaps the longer line on the women side. Explain that one to your young sons when female is in a mens room.
Our #2 son has toured so many countries I couldn't count anymore and he told us he always uses the woman's side because the men's is so disgusting. Heck I can't argue that point. Our kids grew up on swim teams using the same locker rooms I did when I swam at there age, open shower and locker room and by gawd you showered or paid a painful penalty.
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