Agu Dawn

What naturally comes to mind at the thought of going to the gym is to exercise, sweat and lose weight. However, there are more to that as investigations reveal that going to gym comes with certain amorous purposes.

In the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, gym has equally become a hub for networking for jobs, exchanging contracts and even seductive avenues. Just as the gym users participate in more than working out, the gym instructors have a little more than teaching too.

A 41-year-old gym trainer in Garki 2, Tony Dada, who has been in the business of helping people achieve their desired body weight loss for 18 years, told Daily Sun that it was a case of turning his interest into passion:

“I have always been interested in keeping fit and I turned my passion into a business. I enjoy meeting people and getting to help them burn off calories and maintain a great body.

“There is a massive patronage annually, and January is usually a great time for massive inflow of clients. My job gives me access to lots of people even VIPs in the society. The job comes with downsides especially when it comes to dealing with female clients. The females are not the issue however, the emotional threats I get from my female client lovers is the reason for the problem.

“The men sometimes come to the gym to check on their wife or girlfriends and can get uncomfortable when they see me holding the body of a female client to help them maintain a certain position while working out.

“With some people, I can see the discomfort on their face. While others openly express to me that I am crossing my boundaries. And they can tell me not to touch them even if it is support I am giving them to help them workout better.

“I try to maintain my composure; I equally assure the men that it is professional help and nothing more. I remind them that there are work ethics and I will not get into anything more than helping them work out properly to avoid the females getting hurt.

“The assurance doesn’t always work, I get females who stop coming because their partners are not comfortable with it and have a lot of distrust towards gym trainers.”

Digging deeper into the world of gym especially, if there are cases where the female clients try to get their attention: “I face that regularly, I have had female clients tell me they wanted me in their beds.

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“Some bought me gifts and invited me out and to their houses. Some went as far as asking for home services and this is an avenue to try to seduce me. As a professional, I decline and try to relate to them as friendly as possible.”

Another trainer at a hotel in Utako, 28-year-old Ayodeji Andy, said: “My biggest problem as a trainer is the jealousy of the female client lover. When I notice the insecure on the male partner, I encourage the males to come to the gym as a way to reduce any misgivings.

“This has been working and I hope it will keep working. While some don’t agree to it, some people hang around the gym as a way to monitor the female(s) during the duration of their session.

“The jealousy is not gender based; some women think that the men come to walk out as a way to find other ladies in the gym. For such men, their female partners come around and hang out at the gym while waiting for the training session to end. Some people also use the gym as an extracurricular place outside their relationship.

“I have had to go into the gym toilet at the end of the day and I find used condoms on the floor. While I have experienced instances of a female coming to the gym to accuse another female of cheating with her partner. There are also great instances where single individuals have met in the gym and a beautiful relationship has come out of it.

“As human, I have had my moments where I fancy some of my female clients. But I try not to cross the boundaries and I force myself to maintain a professional relationship. I cannot afford to spoil my brand name because of an ethical issue.”

A gym user, Mary Igwe, said: “I used to go to a gym at Maitama, but I stopped going because my husband got very uncomfortable with it.

“My husband said he was not comfortable with the young men training me and the fact that there was body contact. He felt the trainers were a distraction from my goals. After fighting over it for weeks, I decided to stop using the gym on the condition that I get a personal trainer at home. Now I exercise at home with my husband and a trainer.”

Chuks Harrison is another gym user: “I want my wife to be fit and look good but I won’t allow her in the gym. There are various ways of keeping fit like jogging and exercising with her.

“We work out together; I don’t want her in a gym or getting seduced by these men and their muscles. I can’t stand the thought of her being touched by another man or the temptation of the men. I will keep helping her keep fit.”