hear me out: it's okay to date your fellow gym members

It does not feel too bold to say that human relations are in a sorry state. I’m sorry for my part in this; I enthusiastically Tindered and OKCupided back in the day, and that has led us to the point where no one can even make eye contact any more. (I did try to warn everyone several years ago.) But as more and more people realize that apps and the internet are fundamentally broken, they are returning to the real world to find people. This means more and more people are interested in meeting each other in places they have to be anyway, where there is a built-in shared interest, like gyms and exercise classes. One writer flagged to me that Hyrox, an “indoor-fitness competition,” even held a speed dating recently.

Is this even remotely a good idea?

The stock advice about gyms and dating is "don’t do it." The reasoning is that if you date someone who you see at the gym all the time and things go awry, you still have to see that person all the time, but now with this failed interaction hanging in the air. Going to the gym is already hard for many people, and dating weirdness makes it even harder. Still other people freaking love the gym, and hate to see any harm to their peaceful me time. Never mind that the social pressure on everyone has increased everywhere, when the ability to put anyone on extremely public trial is only one phone recording away.

These are all important factors to consider. Rolling the dice on going on a date with a person you’ve seen around, but have maybe not even spoken to, is risky.