Age in the Eyes of the Beholder – Ageism in Gyms

Our presentation discusses the issue of old-age and ageism in the context of gyms in Israel. It strives to contribute to the approach that questions `old-age` as having self-evident existence. Ageism is perceived as contempt, hostility, patronizing and fear towards older people, based on age as determining social image, identity and status. The gym`s framework serves as a convenient sphere for examining the phenomenon of ageism because of the physical, bodily characteristics that are prominent in this social surrounding. The analysis suggests that `old-age` is perceived as threatening but also as challenging. Fitness activity and the persistence involved in it are perceived by the trainers and trainees, of all ages, as signaling the distancing from physical fragility (and end of life) but also as a way of overcoming it.

The paper is based on an anthropological study in two gyms in Tel Aviv and in one gym in a suburban region. It was carried out by participant observations and conversations with male and female trainees and trainers in the studied gyms. Both authors, who are notably different, in terms of gender, age and involvement in sports activity, also base the analysis on personal training experience. The findings revealed that the trainers` and trainees` attitude toward the older trainees shifts from consideration and encouragement to contempt, despise and disregard. However, a `regular` attitude toward the older trainees, similar to the one toward other trainees, was also noticed. Expressions of reservation, distance and exclusion are neither definite nor inclusive in all the studied gyms. Furthermore, noteworthy differences were found, depending on the contexts and situations, on the sites and times of activity, the trainers, the trainees, the kind of activity, ownership, etc.