Masculine Gym Culture and Main Character Syndrome

This is my unique experience and deep dive into masculine gym apparel, and the ever changing culture that is THE GYM.

I need you to listen very carefully because it’s a dire situation right now okay I need you to hide your loved ones all the people close to you all the people you care about because I want to talk to you about something I want to talk about something today and the thing

I want to talk about is very near and dear to my heart today we’re going to talk about working out I love working out I’ve worked out for a long time and specifically in that vein I want to talk to you guys about a phenomena that has

Been going on for I think over over a decade now at at the very least and that phenomena in the vein of working out is overly masculine G apparel when I say I love working out and I’ve worked out for a long time um I have I think I started working out when

I was like 12 or 13 for reference I am 25 now so it’s been a good like 12 to like half my lifespan I have spent uh working out and I love it I think it’s really good for you um I feel immensely better on the days that I work out

Versus the days that I don’t work out I feel like with I feel like sometimes on the days I don’t work out I just feel anxious too and I hate that uh when I do work out I feel really calm I think it’s a great thing so I’m not going to

On working out in this video uh I think it’s really good to take care of your body in whatever like capacity of working out that you do like I’m not I love I love lifting but I love venturing out into other things too I love I like swimming running cycling I think is

Super cool Zumba whatever you want to get behind I think there’s like a really weird social there’s several really weird social phenomena behind working out and because I’ve been Lifting for so long I was there at the Renaissance of something really special um I was there

When when gym shark released man I think the Renaissance of new gym apparel is like a whole that’s a whole historical event that needs to be considered separately of what I’m talking about today which is overly masculine gym apparel let let me see exactly when gym

Shark started 2012 okay so I I had actually already been Lifting for a good 2 years before gym shark became a thing if you guys remember I don’t know who was lifting in 2012 with me all my 2012 homies out there uh say what up in the chat put some dubs in

There we out here when jimm shark came out it I feel like it shook the gym Community I think it was one of the first non like big name brands that really like came into the Limelight like Nike Adidas like all those Brands were already like people just wore those and

That was like a super normal thing for like active wear jym shark was the first like small brand that just blew up like nobody’s business like if you did not have a shark on your clothing on your person while you were at the gym they were taking you out back and they were

Putting you down dude it was it was that serious to have to wear gym shark and I remember getting gym shark for Christmas that year too it was crazy and I think Jim apparel is just an important thing to discuss uh because I think a lot of

People don’t even know what to wear to the gym um and what I’m going to talk about in the video is What Not to Wear uh I’m going to get into a couple things and the thing I want to start with is what I feel is the gateway drug

Into this overly masculine apparel and I think a lot of you guys are going to be familiar with this I dare you guys I dare you guys to look me dead in the eye and tell me you’ve never seen a person in the gym wearing this

Shirt I know you’ve seen it everyone has seen it everyone know someone at the gym I say 50/50 odds you just go to the gym right now and see someone in the shirt this shirt is what opens the floodgates to other overly masculine Apparel in the gym

It all precipitates from this shirt I don’t know if it’s like a product of like main character syndrome too people just get this idea in their head people just start feeling like Captain America dude they feel like the hero and then they just have to start wearing more

Masculine stuff to the gym I don’t know if that’s like to compensate for an insecurity or or what I don’t know where it stems from but there’s a whole culture behind this overly masculine uh men’s wear and working out I’m not saying this to on Captain America either I love Chris

Evans dude Chris Evans can get it I just watched the new uh Scott Pilgrim um show too that had the whole original cast come back including Mr Chris Mr Christopher Evans I don’t know if his is his real name Christopher can somebody hat check that for me I need my information people on

This right right right now come on baby’s the name I love Chris Evans but I think some people wearing this Captain America shirt just like they take it a little too far all right I I think they get a little too into the character I thought

Of making this video the other day right I was at the gym having my workout as usual and I saw someone in a very specific shirt and I thought oh my God I need to make a video video about this I need to go talk to everyone I know and

Their mom about it Mom’s in the chat I’m talking to you I’m going to pull up the shirt for you guys I want you guys to see this I saw a man in the gym wearing this shirt and if you are that man I saw in the gym and you’re watching this

Today I’m up I’m not picking fun you were bigger than me uh don’t give me a black eye actually please I would look worse in my videos you did that you don’t do it I saw this and I think there’s a lot to pick apart here um

First of all like black eye like when you say black ey specialist right are you saying you give a lot of black eyes are you saying that you get a lot of black guys are you saying that when people get black guys you’re like a specialist and you can help them cuz

That would actually be pretty cool I would like that I think that would be a benefit to society all right but I don’t know about this and that I feel like the cherry on top is that the brand name for this the brand name for this shirt is

Violent gentlemen which is just such an oxymoron in and of itself I just don’t know what type of main character syndrome like hero delusions you have to be on I swear that this person wearing the shirt has never punched anyone in their life so while I was digging

Into this black ey specialist shirt I found out that the brand violent gentlemen is actually a hockey brand um which like okay I kind of get because like I feel like hockey I I don’t really watch hockey but I know it’s known to be like a violent sport so like violent

Gentlemen like I see where you’re coming from I won’t call you an oxy again just a but I wanted to show you guys something on their website here I dug a little more and I looked at more of their merchandise and I found this shirt that says dream Crushers uh

Violent gentleman worldwide Hockey Club and I was like okay like kind of on brand for what I’ve been seeing so far but why is the top picture this is not hockey I swear to you I am no hockey player I swear it’s on Ice I swear it’s on Ice I don’t think

There’s like belts involved like this I actually think you’re supposed to be wearing like more more gear than this as well um don’t take my word for it as I only work out I do not play hockey um but hockey players in in nightly Nation

You can get back to me on this um I don’t I don’t think this is hockey all right something that I’ve noticed across a lot of these a lot of these overly masculine uh gym shirts is they share a few themes one that I see all of the

Time is overly masculine gyw that has like collegiate branding on it I don’t know if that’s because a lot of the people wearing these like haven’t moved past that like phase of their life even on the black ey spe specialist shirt that was pretty apparent and I think a a

Brand that really accentuates this that has been in the Limelight recently and I could make a whole video on this brand because there’s been so much like that’s gone down um and I totally have some of their stuff um but I think they worth talking about is Young La I

Wouldn’t be surprised if some of you have like young La merchandise young La has like boomed into popularity like I see if I had to quantify a percentage of people in the gym wearing young La it would be in like the the 20 to 30ish per of people probably are wearing an

Article of young young LA and it’s like it’s weird to see it come into the Limelight so quickly and part of it is because they’re following the like those popular Trends there’s been some um controversy with some of their designers like ambassadors recently um which I haven’t read up enough on to

Talk about but I think there’re a really unique brand and I think they accentuate this like Collegiate theme that a lot of like masculine gymwear has cuz I know I’ve I’ve seen that on dozens of their lines of apparel I think they do this in

A lot of their branding but I just saw this on like their new releases and I thought this was like a good one uh I explore cuz like any of these could be like a little like a college design like it’s very like college very like Clubby

Themed I should have led with this too but I’m showing you guys this in confidence that you’re looking at the design and not the Bulge okay promise me okay I need I need you guys I need you guys to promise me that you’re just looking at the design right I know I’m

Very zoomed in all right on his waist I need you guys to Pro I need you guys to look me in the eye and tell me where your eyes wandered okay I need you to tell me it’s not going to break us okay I need you to tell me you’re not going to

Get kicked out okay another phenomena that I see on a lot of these pieces of merchandise is a font that I think you guys are all familiar with I actually want to try right now let me try I’m just going to look up masculine

Font and see if it’s in like the top 10 results damn some of these fonts are pretty masculine I actually don’t see it here so my point is being unproven as I’m talking luckily I already had the font pulled up guys this is the font I’m talking about this font right here has

Permeated so many graphic a t-shirts worn by men in the gym and I know you’ve seen it before don’t play dumb with me I know you’ve seen this in your local 24-hour fitness your local LA Fitness I don’t know what gyms they have in other I don’t know what gyms they

Have in other states you probably wouldn’t see this in an equinox I think in Equinox they work out in like full threepiece suits I’m actually so poor I don’t even know if like a three three piece suit is all of the I don’t know if that’s like the maximum number of pieces

Cuz I’m sure people at equinox work out in like 7pie suits dude they have articles of clothing I don’t even know about they’re they’re on a different wealth level for me I’m not even going to I don’t want to dig into that today you know um let me know in the comments

If any of you guys are interested in a little nightly Nick merch line uh utilizing this font uh hit me up because that might be exclusively what I work out in from now on could do a little shirt that’s like PE PE poo poo nightly

Neck uh cut it into a Stringer I I think stringers are like another um overly masculine thing in the gym cuz I think there’s like a time and a place for a Stringer and I think some exercises can be like better utilized in a Stringer I think there’s

Some that are over the top where like your nipples are literally always out and the line of the Stringer is like sometimes you see people in stringers sometimes where it’s it’s like the string on the front is the same thickness as the string on the back

That’s not supposed to be how it is at least it’s supposed to cover your nipples most of the time and I don’t see that all the time you know sometimes I’m seeing more nips than I bargain for when I go to the gym and I already bargain I

Have an a lotted few nips that I’ll see at the gym okay I can tolerate a couple but sometimes I see more than a couple and that is crossing a line my friend cuz you won’t be able to hold me back I’ll be all right guys I have a couple more

Shirts that I found to talk to you guys about we have I don’t negotiate with pain or fatigue okay I would what if they had like my daughter dude what if they had my wife and kids you’re not negotiating with pain or fatigue then uh are you going to give

Him a black ey that what you’re going to do are you going to give pain and fatigue a black eye when they kidnap your loved ones what I thought dude that’s what I thought this one I wanted to bring up cuz I think this one really really accentuates the whole like main

Character syndrome problem I’m talking about it’s so like to the point about it you pick the couch I choose the bench it’s so like trying to be better than you pale that it’s like it’s like ay to me it’s like I feel like you can’t be more upfront about it than

This you cannot move louder than this I think so many of the people who wear this type of merchandise are the people who are incapable of moving in silence uh everything they do needs to be perceived by someone or talked about by someone they need to be acknowledged in

Some way for every little morsel of a second that they live uh which is fun funny because I am making YouTube videos to be perceived by you guys but I don’t do it because I want to be perceived it’s illegal to look at me I do it

Because I want I want to share my silly opinions I mean I’ve been on comfortable benches before I think I made a video in high school of like me pulling up on the bench with like a old pillow and blanket set cuz guys I as as much as I’m

on this like overly masculine apparel I love goofing off in the gym I was definitely one of those high schoolers that used to Goof Off in the gym that everyone now that I’m grown up I know everyone hates I felt like I wasn’t hated at the time but I was

Probably um misconstruing that I probably was more hated than I uh realized and I tell people this all the time my ultimate workout goal has always and will always be to be big enough and fit enough and athletic enough that I could do the stupidest you’ve ever

Seen in your entire life in the gym and people would look at me and they think oh my God like I have to be doing what this guy’s doing this guy is so big he’s so athletic he’s so fit like this has to be it this is like the missing

Piece and it’s not I’m just with you but that’s where I want to be those are my lifting goals so let me know when I get there if you ever see nightly in nly’s gym um and you’re working out uh let me know if you’re looking at me and thinking I

Got to work out like that guy I feel like PE I get approached by a lot of people in the gym I feel like this is my this is my male privilege that I get approached by people in the gym and they’re like really friendly and we have

Good conversations and they’re like oh we should work out some time or we should like work in I don’t think uh women always get that experience I think there’s a lot of creepy dudes in the gym and that’s not fair so I’m sorry that I get to enjoy that privilege when my

Female members of nightly Nation might not um if anyone creeps on you in the gym you just tell him nightly Nick is a black ey specialist all right I’ll come knocking I do think it’s no worthy to talk about the people who pull up to the

Gym in like a full thick like sweatsuit like hoodie and joggers like thick as all hell and I understand if you’re doing that to sweat more I think there’s a lot of people who do that specifically to sweat more and I think that is i’ like like good on you if that’s what

You’re using it for I also think there’s people who do it just to put the hood up and act like they want to kill someone while they’re in the gym act like they’re they do it to act like they’re possessed by the ninetail fox and they have um demons with them within them

And we would not like to see them when when they’re angry and if that’s what you’re wearing it for I don’t like that as much I don’t think that’s a very practical use of the outfit I hear an ice cream truck outside I almost forgot

To talk to you I look I look like a maniac I’m sorry gu I get heated when I make these videos all right I almost forgot to talk to you guys about this culmination of what I’m talking about here all right the combination of this overly masculine culture and apparel and working

Out and it’s in a brand called the red con one which I’m sure a lot of you have heard of the reason I didn’t think of them right away is because they’re not just apparel apparel is kind of secondary they’re primarily like a um supplement brand and I actually worked

At GNC for a while believe it or not I worked at a General Nutrition Center for a while not to be mistaken with the truck company GMC which did happen a couple times at my work um I know a little bit about supplements I actually know a lot of bit about supplements

Let’s talk to you guys about their products because I think their entire branding is based on just military themes like go guns muscles working out trucks like all of these manly manly things a man I just want to look at like a list of their products can I do it they’re

Like an all section on your shop dude I love calling an entire Corporation dude all supplements let me just read you some of these all right guys we’ve got Total War pre-workout big noise m m light isotope 100 double tap Tango creatine we’ve got the war zone not to

Be confused view with the G I actually I haven’t seen war zone before this might be a new one from when I worked at GNC all right welcome to the war zone oh we’ve got breach breach bcas well this one just feels like non-creative after reading all the other

Ones now I want them to have like a military theme cuz just B Allen is like that ba Allen in RPG glucose disposal I think most people’s bodies just do that grunt canteen Fade Out cluster bomb I wouldn’t mention this in the video but they definitely do also have

Merch and I just thought it was important to bring up because this is like the Pinnacle of this masculine theming in workout culture I wanted to talk to you guys about it uh this is raycon one all right guys I have two honorable mentions here okay um and I

Kind of feel like I’m outing myself here this isn’t now what I’m about to mention this is like bonus content all right this isn’t overly masculine wear um this is that my fiance would like to see me in going to the gym right and I feel like I’m outing myself here because one

Of these I already I already do wear um sometimes and it’s a little embarrassing and I swear I’ve been seeing more and more people wear this exact outfit into the gym specifically because of a very particular character in a certain anime that a lot of people might be familiar

With and I’ve seen um I’ve seen some like Tik Tok influencer um gym people uh talk about this guy too um so here is the man himself toi fushiguro um and so many people have been so many men have been stricken with this man because he’s so fine he’s

Positively fine um and I love I love pulling out this outfit dude this outfit pulls 100% um and I get why people are wearing it to the gym it’s very comfortable too uh this outfit is is definitely up and coming the other one the other one that

Needs to be mentioned here all right this specific sleeveless heght mock neck all right this is the other honorable mention and I know there’s a popular under arour one I actually think I I have both of these in my closet so I can mimic on both of these outfits if we’re

Talking about this overly masculine apparel I think it’s also important that we talk about the antithesis of this overly masculine apparel and I think there is apparel that you can wear in the gym that shows off how how comfortable you are with yourself I I think this can kind of just

Be like anything that you find comfortable to work out in because bottom line that’s what you should wear to the gym or to workout you should wear whatever makes you feel comfortable to work out in uh within reason because don’t work out like naked um unless you’re like alone don’t force other

People to perceive you um naked if they don’t want that um because even if they let you in the gym it’s still not cool that’s kind of where I was going with the whole Stringer thing earlier um if you’ve just got your nips out all the

Time uh Don’t Force other people to see that no matter how big you are um some people don’t want to see it and I do I respect being like I think it’s good to be confident in your appearance I want more people to be confident in their appearance um but don’t force other

People to be confident in your appearance well there you have it for now guys um I had to drop everything I was doing and talk to guys about this I could not hold it within my flesh prison any longer I just needed I needed to get these words out

To you guys and I need you to listen and I need you to to drop everything you’re doing to watch this video okay um and since you’re here and it’s the end of the video I guess you did so I’m glad um you get a gold star I’m going to get a

Little name board in the back here that has all of my viewers on it and I’m going to give everyone who makes it to the end of the video a gold star and if you lie about watching the whole video I’m going to take away your stars and

You’re going to be a bad Noodle and you don’t want to be a bad noodle you don’t want to find out what happens if you’re a bad noodle but I’ll see you guys in the next video and hopefully in the next one I won’t be sick and hopefully you

Guys won’t be sick either uh we I’m I’m going for like all healthy people in nightly Nation so if you’re sick get out of here dude we don’t need you here hey your germs elsewhere bye guys guys I hope all of you are happy too cuz this video up my continue

Shopping list on my browser um so I hope you all feel nice for doing that to me okay I hope you’re all happy and that you know that you guys did this and I have to think about buying these things every time I browse the web now so thank you