Pedaling Pelotons past the Pandemic: a COVID Caveat Emptor - Gustav, where art thou?

Try this at home:  Throngs of folks have been paying big bucks for exercise equipment lately. Ranging from the popular Peloton itself (where you pay a few thousand plus a monthly membership for virtual coaching and special effects so you actually are convinced you are part of a peloton, a group of cyclists--this while never leaving your living room!) to full home gyms, sometimes costing upwards of a few thousand dollars. Anyone who has bothered to make a trip to Dick's or gone on Amazon in search for dumb bells and the like have realized exercise equipment in many forms is like the toilet paper earlier in the pandemic--flying off the shelves and in short supply (maybe not, as you'll see later). Personal trainers, assuming they have good masks, are also in demand. This is, of course, in part due to the number of gyms that have been closed for protracted periods now. It will be interesting, given the investment people are making, to see how many return to their respective gyms once they reopen. 

Nothing new-try this on for size: The home gym didn't arrive on the scene during or even shortly before COVID arrived. It was actually introduced in 1861 by "orthopedic machinist" Gustav Ernst--the original manual which was recently discovered shows women from the Victorian era in full, puffy petticoats and tight-fitting bodices, as well as gents dressed in their finest, with contraptions which may have been a forerunner to the Bowflex (copyright infringement? Hmmm). Can you imagine if they walked into a gym today to see the current manner of dress, ubiquitous bottles of Gatorade, and also hand/equipment sanitizer now? I think they would likely exclaim "Whimps"!

Dissonance and Big Bucks: "It's not a lemon!". The psychology of dissonance, intimately related to consumer spending (including gym equipment) concerns the deliberate (or incidental) arrangement of an internal conflict we have to resolve, especially when our behavior is not consistent with an internal conviction (brainwashing is related to this). When you buy a car for 75K+ and someone askes how you like it, you will invariably reply "I love this car!" even if you've discovered some minor flaws ("I must love it; look at how much I was willing to spend").  So, when people pay big bucks for exercise equipment they are usually quite resistant to part with it. When I offer to take the Bowflex off their hands that sits idly and decorated with clothes hangers, they claim they are going to start "Next Monday"-- Right! Yep, you probably won't find such equipment at highly reduced prices at garage sales but you might, if you're willing to wait long enough, find them at estate sales; start date no longer in question. A humorous infomercial (and apparently effective, based on number of sales) from a few decades ago, featuring the newest contraption designed to whip you into shape, cited, "Millions of  people across the country buy hot dogs and gym memberships each year, and they don't know what's on the inside of either one!"

Cementing the Deal: As I have written here in previous posts, there have been ample articles in fitness magazines regarding the the opportunities to engage all our muscles without going into debt, without dependence on such fancy stuff. Whether it's utilizing the 'outdoor gyms' (aka playscapes) we as taxpayers bought for the kids (when the kids are not monopolizing them, that is), using the high school parking lot for biking, running, etc., when the track is closed, or purchasing a few items from the hardware store (for pennies on the dollar), you, too, can have a complete 'home gym'. "I love my cinder blocks!" I must, look how little I paid for them -- suckers!