Steam room rules?

[TitanicJake]

I just joined a new gym. My old gym was very blue collar working class/military guys. There was little modesty in the lockers, showers and steam room. This new gym has a lot of white collar guys that are either office types or medical professionals. I walked to the steam room naked and was alone so I only used my towel to sit on. Eventually a guy came in and saw me naked so he dropped his towel and we wound up talking for a bit. The next time I went in I was surprised to see about 7 guys all wearing their towels. I was naked so I wrapped myself before I sat. After a while I thought fuck it and dropped my towel and layed back. It's a big room with lots of space so it wasn't like I was in someone's face.
Do guys in most gyms keep towels on? In high school & college I never experienced this. Is this yet another part of modesty in American culture?
I have to tell you, laying naked and talking man to man just felt good. I'll miss that if this gym is uptight.
Jake

 

[2322]

I always sit on my towel. I don't give damn what other people do.

The only place I found it "weird" was in a sauna at a gym I went to. I walked in carrying my towel and found a man with his two young sons and they were all in their swimsuits! There's no sign that says you have to wear anything and this A-hole turned down the temperature so it was under 120F. I just turned around and left. The politics of me being naked with two young children and their uptight father was just not worth a sauna.

 

[arkfarmbear]

My experiences have been divided not along "class" lines but by whether or not the gym welcomed openly gay guys. Those that did so seemed to be much more relaxed about total nudity. The others not so much. And, the worst is when the town only has one or two gyms and the homophobes and gay guys are both present. My last gym required that men wear swim TRUNKS! Nothing else was allowed.

In subsequent years some of the most homophobic guys have been arrested for public lewdness in local parks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[N2jocks]

I go to the YMCA. We have separate mens and womens locker room so the wet areas in the mens locker rooms allow total nudity. It depends on the men...some cover...some don't. Some guys are more shy about their bodies than others. I alewys sit on a towel for sanitary reasons but will let it all hang out so to speak. I don't worry what others do or think. There are gays and straights at the Y and as long as the guys don't fool around, no one care about the nudity. It all depends on how secure you are in your own skin and with your own sexuality. Do what you feel comfortable with and don't think about the rest...that's what I do.

 

[goodwood]

Steam room etiquette in my gyms has always been totally naked. Men feel comfortable being naked but as a matter of being hygienic i always bring a towel to sit or lie on. If guys want to cover up with a towel then they can do that. But really now. In a steam room that is not necessary. I have never known any kind of blue/white collar differentiation.
Once I was in the steam room when a Japenese guy and his five year old son came into the steam room completely naked for the steam and they were chatting away, completely comfortable with being naked. As this was happening, I was in the steam room with my best friend's little boy who was two years old and my friend's son wanted to go into "the hot room". Knowing it was a public place and that i and my friend were well known i did keep my trunks on and his boys as well.
After just a few minutes in the steam room, my friend's son was looking overwhelmed from the heat and looked at me said "I'm hot" so I picked him up and exited.
Meanwhile, Japanese guy and his son were happily chatting away and laughing. Perhaps at the stupid blonde guy and kid in suits.
Anyway, my friend's poor kid was over heated and we both needed to shower so I got naked and got the kid naked and showerd holding him and we both got all cleaned up and I got him dressed.
When I told my friend about this he just laughed and laughed and wondered why I would be so concerned with being naked in front of a child and said that he liked how the Japenese guy was with his son.
ANYWAY - Jake, no guys at my gym have towels except me and my towel is to sit or lie on. Do what you will until ayone tells you not to.

 

[Cycleman]

Wear the towel. It's distracting otherwise when talking.

 

[catman]

Sadly, the differential I am seeing more and more is AGE.

The older tend to be less concerned, the younger seem to be more 'uptight'. My gym does not have a steam area (most of the gyms in my area are doing away with (when asked I told that steam rooms are harder to keep sanitary as the steam is a breeding ground for various...(one place I went, before it thankfully closed) was known for the 'wierd funk' in the steam room).

When I use the sauna (for me, the steam room is even harder to see in- so who cares? plus when my foresking hits steam and sweat i do tend to 'puff' a bit (anyone else?). I can't IMAGINE wearing clothes in a steam room ( sauna is a bit different)...

As to my local sauna, I go nude most of the time- I have learned a 'trick'- I sit on the towel 'diaper' style so that if its gets crowded (or the 'uptights' come in I simply pick up the 'bottom' piece as a flap and have that in my lap (it can do interesting things with my lip cock, but thats another story...

 

[Trigon]

Maybe, you're thinking about this too hard, Jake.

I was in a similar situation, in which a guy brought his three boys with him into the sauna and asked me if I would "mind" covering up. I told him that I would very much mind, because the steamroom is just about the only place left in the gym a guy can get out of his clothes for awhile and relax. He called me a jerk and marched his kids right out of there.

If his son wasn't ready to sit in a steamroom with grown men, his dad shouldn't have been bringing him.

 

[scanjock8]

I work out in a very corporate gym--most guys walk into the steam room wearing a towel and then remove it to sit on, which seems very normal for all types of guys. It is not cruisy at all. Taking a steam is so much better sitting nude than covered up in my opinion.

The same applies to the whirlpool baths.

 

[nicedaddy36]

In my town the YMCA is the major health club chain in town. There are about 15 YMCA's but the main one is the downtown YMCA. The downtown Y has a huge steam room and a huge open group shower room and there is LOTS of nudity. Some guys wear towels in the steam room but most don't. There are even a couple who will shower in their towels which I find very weird.

There is one guy - mid 30s, nice looking - who showers in his tighty whitie briefs. He doesn't have a big bulge in then so maybe he's embarassed, but it's still weird that he showers in his briefs. A few weeks ago I saw him with his son at the YMCA and of course his son also showered in his briefs, just like his dad. It's sad that the dad is so uptight about his body but it's even more sad that he's making his son into such a prude.

It used to be a requirement that you were 18 or older to go to the downtown YMCA. Maybe that's why it also is a very cruisy YMCA with quite a bit of action in the men's lockerroom area. After 7 p.m. on week nights, you can get (or give) a blowjob almost any day. It's a fun YMCA.

I'm a nudist, so I NEVER wear a towel into the steam or sauna, but I do carry one with me and sit on it.

 

[aviatorguy]

All you American guys need to come to Europe, chill out and get naked!!! There is one sauna at my gym with 2 doors one from the female changing room the other from the mens, everyone men/women/boys and girls are naked, natural and not hung up in anyway about their bodies or genitalia!!

 

[pronatalist]

How can anybody wear clothes or a towell in a steam room? Isn't it like, way too hot?

Is declining social sexual mores, leading to people becoming nude-phobic?

Or are people just not trained, that they don't always have to be so "shy" and bashful in every public nudity acceptable setting?

If somebody is showering, oh I don't know, maybe at the swimming pool, and in walks some parent towing along opposite-sex children of young age, because toddlers can't wander in alone, why should the person showering have to cover up? Nudity is to be expected in shower rooms and locker rooms. Duh?

Makes be glad not to be a member of some fitness club/swimming, so I don't seem to have to deal with such nonsense?

 

[SpeedoMike]

I was in a similar situation, in which a guy brought his three boys with him into the sauna and asked me if I would "mind" covering up. I told him that I would very much mind, because the steamroom is just about the only place left in the gym a guy can get out of his clothes for awhile and relax. He called me a jerk and marched his kids right out of there.

If his son wasn't ready to sit in a steamroom with grown men, his dad shouldn't have been bringing him.

Once walked into the sauna (which has a sliding glass door) and saw a guy with his three sons, all nakey.

It was cute: dad was real big, the 17ish was big, the 15ish was medium, and the 12-13ish was dinky. :wink: I add that was years ago and I doubt that would happen in today's environment. :frown1: Only the dad might be naked.

 

[catman]

Speaking of- I did see 2 dads with their sons in the lockerroom a few months ago (it was obviously 'divorced dads weekend'), I was very impressed- both men (straight is what my 'radar' said), were really encouraging in the work out..showing weights etc... treadmill....

then in the locker room, they handed them towels, said 'strip down' time for the sauna- really giving them the whole 'men experience'... I did notice the 2 sons glancing at their nude dads, and just being faily normal with it all (dads in boxers, sons in briefs)


I later heard the sons giggling as they went into the showers...'' the 2 did use the 'handicapped' shower together (bigger)...

What really touched me about the whole thing, was the opposite of what seems to be happening, these two dads, with their sons, showing how it 'should' be (ie its okay to be (gasp) naked in a locker room, its okay to use the sauna (I walked past, and glanced but did not see clothes on)...

 

[shaveddave]

I only use the towel to sit or lay on; though I've also done Catmans "Diaper" trick of flipping the towel over my lap if I get weird looks from the uptights. Nothin' better after a workout than relaxing nude in the steamroom!

 

[SpandexGear]

I choose my current gym based on what I had seen in the men's lockeroom -- not the guys -- just their habits. :wink:

Good mix of both (99% str8) blue and white collar guys. It is a 50/50 split when it comes to wearing a towel in the locker area -- but in the wet areas (toilets, urinals, sinks, shaving bar, massage room, whirlpool, sauna and steam room) every guy is butt naked.

Some new guys will try and wear a towel for awhile in the wet area -- but then they catch on that every guy goes naked -- espeically in the sauna, steam room and whirlpool areas -- as it should be.

As soon as I saw that dudes were butt naked with no hang ups -- just guys being guys -- I signed up at the gym.

 

[B_Monster]

I wear a towel in but, remove it and sit down on it, dont really care what others think and 99% are nude in the steam and sauna

 

[lovin_california]

TitanicJake,

I couldn't agree more:

> I have to tell you, laying naked and talking man to man just felt good.

I think it is true, as everyone has said, it is really hard to find a place these days to go and hang out naked! It feels great.

I too usually do not cover up... it's usually too steamy to see anyway!

 

[catman]

I just can't IMAGINE wearing clothes in a steam room...

baffles me... all that hot moisture.. I live in the Southeast... we have that here- its called "summer" ugh...

 

[manniner]

I work very part time at a gym called L A Fitness, and they require towel cover up at all times.........it really blows........guys pretend to lift up their towel to wipe the sweat off their face..........(giving a good peek at the goods) but then recover up....but then theres me and many other dudes who shower and leave the curtain open a few good inches........