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Sauna
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
Oh my, there is not a whole lot of things I like more than a couple good ol' sauna rounds in the evening, especially on sunday when you need to be fresh and filled with energy for the monday.
Sauna and generally spa is rather big in Austria, how's it on the island? What are your feelings about it?
Since November a friend of mine invites for sauna evenings about every week. She has a sauna in her basement and you can go out (like outside the house) from there and she has a few of those deck chairs, everyone brings something to drink and/or eat. We always have music down there and today I was lucky enough to get hold of a massage from her (because she had an oil down there). Ahh.. I'm so relaxed right now and wanted to share :P
So is your opinion about going into a 100 degree hot room to pour water onto the oven and sweat like a monkey with a cold shower afterwards to revitalize yourself?
Sauna and generally spa is rather big in Austria, how's it on the island? What are your feelings about it?
Since November a friend of mine invites for sauna evenings about every week. She has a sauna in her basement and you can go out (like outside the house) from there and she has a few of those deck chairs, everyone brings something to drink and/or eat. We always have music down there and today I was lucky enough to get hold of a massage from her (because she had an oil down there). Ahh.. I'm so relaxed right now and wanted to share :P
So is your opinion about going into a 100 degree hot room to pour water onto the oven and sweat like a monkey with a cold shower afterwards to revitalize yourself?
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Comments
Mind you, last time I was in the sauna in the gym near where I work, there was a toned a anything lad doing stretches for around 10 minute. Can't say I was feeling terribly relaxed....
Back when I was freezing all the time and I'd go from the jacuzzi to the sauna to the steam room, now that was a good winters day!
There's a guy who shaves the whole time he's in the sauna at the gym I use near home - just using sweat as the lubricant. I'm always relieved when he gets out - there's only so much your chin can take after all.
I think you'll find that fat men don't usually go to the gym ...
lol You actually get quite a few at my Gym, aswell as the iron pumpers.
I don't think Sauna's are quite as big over here as they are on ze continent. Some rich people may have hot tub's in their garden, but I don't know of anyone who has their own Sauna.
I do use the Sauna quite frequently at the moment though, about 2-3 times a week. Because I always go after the Gym, along with the Steam room and Hot tub. It's become a routine. It's a fucking struggle to stay in the Sauna for longer than 10 mins though.
I am fat and i got to the gym, but the way i see it thats the whole friggin point of going, if i wasnt then i wouldnt
Awww! *hugs*
But would you say fat men are the majority?
But I'd say it's probably around a fifth.
Before christmas we made some kind of "special" where everyone brought a lot of christmasy food/drinks/snacks. I made 5 litres of punch, so after the sauna we went outside to cool off and had a lovely orange punch.
Do you wear swimming pants/bikinis in the sauna if you are in the gym or the spa? On those sunday meets some are naked and some are in bathing gear (just out of habit I guess). In austria spas/gyms it's against the resident rules to wear any kind of clothing in the sauna and I guess that might put some people off but on average I think the typical austrian has less of a problem with that.
So it kinda proves my point to Jordan that he will hardly be surrounded by loads of fat, sweaty men ...
I guess it is habit. When a friend took me to the spa for the first time years ago I was a bit uncomfy myself when getting naked but after many times you don't even 'notice' the difference anymore if you are wearing something or not. One time when I was sitting in the sauna with said friend we were silently talking (in some saunas even talking is forbidden, lol) and two others (a girl and a boy who were a couple) who overheard the convo joined in, because they had something to add. And so 4 completly naked people were talking about some random stuff and it didn't feel much different than sitting in a bar in shirt and trousers talking others up. (Maybe a bit, because the girl was leaning on her b/f with her legs bend at the knees and I was sitting near her feet and she was spreading the knees a bit apart to look through them to see me while talking... It was a bit of a tough trial).
Other example. Last sunday a (girl)friend of mine in the sauna asked me if I was doing excersises with weighs. And as a matter of fact I do (she just wanted some tips on different excersises, but I misunderstood it as a compliment and asked, "oh why, yes, glad you noticed." to which she responded, "no, that's not what I meant... I just wanted some hints." lol, but I digress). Anyway to show her some more sophisticated excersises like deadlifts I got up and showed her how it's done (without weight of course) and I didn't even "feel" naked halfway through the explanation before I said, "oh just one sec, let me get my towel." because naked or not, I don't want to stand that much in the central point when wearing nothing. And she wasn't 'checking' me out, because I was watching her during the explanation, so...
I think nakedness is never completely devoid of sexuality unless you are from some tribe who live completely naked 24/7 to be honest though. I am not perving, but if I see a fit chick in the spa I sometimes... kinda... 'check her out' (that has a really negative connotation), but you know, look at her and give her a rating in my head or something like that lol.
Many prefer not to be naked for whatever reason (I just find it more comfy to be), but yesterday we were talking if we (the sunday-sauna-crew lol) should one time drive together out to a spa to have a relaxing afternoon/evening together and everyone was avid to the idea, so as an old man of spa I carefully asked if they (the ones who wear bathing gear in the sauna) know that most spas have a must-naked policy, so that they won't have any bad surprise once there and they said, "yea, I know, but I don't mind that."
So yea, I would say it's a kind of habit and you get used to it. (to the original question). It's probably comparable to a massage. To a masseur a massage is probably zero arousing but if you are kneading a attractive girls back and the lowest point of the lumbar region of her spine can you say you remain completely cool?
I never experienced something like people shaving in the sauna and I think this is totally out of place. I mean it's not comfortable there and there is really no good reason to have that done in there (rather something you should do on your own). Maybe they have a bit of a "hey look at me"-attitude and I don't like that. I think people like that should be reported to the staff and thrown out.
I think you're blowing this out of proportion. I said fat men 'usually' don't go down to the gym and Big Gay suggested just one fifth of the men there are fat. That's a minority. I would have thought that if you had taken offence to anything anyone had said, it would be Jordan's suggestion that only fat, sweaty men are found there.
One time a fat old guy came into the pool area naked. He quickly realized he was naked and turned back to go to the locker room but I couldn't unsee it... nor could the participatns of the water aerobics class that are meer feet away from the locker room door
The gym near home has no dress code, but the saunas are segregated, the sauna near work is swimwear required -that might be because of the steam room though.
The shaving man, I think is a distraction from the heat, not exhibitionism - and you do get a damn good shave in a sauna - you just don't keep scraping....
And by the way, do you get really FAT people in a gym? Sure, there are lots of overweight people but I do draw a distinction between the two. So many people say "Oh, I'm so fat" when in fact, all they are carrying is a bit of extra weight. Some people are too hard on themselves.
Anyway, I stand chastised.
*hugs*