Gym Game Journal - In pursuit of consistency through setup

[Jan]

Some time ago I had a major epiphany regarding skills acquisition. I realized that progress can be substantially accelerated through SETUP.

Setup is some tangent (venue, type of game, specific male archetype, specific skill, etc) which is used to LIMIT VARIABILITY. Instead of devoting 30% of my time to day game, 20% to night game, 20% to online game, and 30% to social game, I decided to do only one type of game, but DO IT REPEATADLY.

Gym Game is my choice.

DAY 1 - 01/24/2020

Today was my first day consciously working on my gym game. My current goal is to focus on building social capital in my gym. I want to get to know staff, regulars and I want to make myself known in the venue.

I started with very simple things like saying hi to everyone when I enter and exit locker room. Also saying hi to all people I've already spoken to before.

This is my first time doing gym game but not the first time at this gym, so I already know some people there.

I have also established a SPOT. Spot is another way I'm planning to reduce VARIABILITY. This concept comes from bar game when I realized that in the bars which I attended, there is usually one or two spots which are frequently visited by people who want to order drinks. So I stood there and waited for chicks to come and order drinks. Instead of going to them, I would wait and chat them up and when they come closeby.

In the gym, I realized that the stretching mats are the best spot. There are many more girls in this area than for example CrossFit rack. It's actually quite convenient for me too, because I work on my mobility these days, so this is my spot of exercise anyways.

Goal for next day is to:
- continue saying hi to everyone in the locker room
- have a small talk with 1 or 2 people who I already know or some people I don't know
- ask a staff member if the gym can order an equipment which they miss

 

[Jan]

REPORT 2 - 08/03/2020

It's been around 6 or 7 weeks since my first post. During this time I went to the gym 3 or 4 times per week, every week. I must admit that I have been mostly focused on my training and I didn't really invest that much time into gym game. However, I did some progress so I'm going to share it here.

DONE:

- I got into a habit of saying "hi" and "bye" to every stranger I meet when I enter or exit the changing room. I believe some people can recognize me just from doing this [strangers]
- There are several people I recognize and say "hi" give high five whenever I meet the at the gym [recognizables]
- Pretty much all staff members recognize me, I high five some of them [stuff recognizables]
- One of the trainers helped me to do my initial weighting, we happened to share interest, and whenever we meet each other at the gym, we almost either have a small talk or sometimes we have a 10-15" discussion about sports, training, etc [acquaintances]
- A acquaintance of mine, who is a goalkeeper attends the same gym, and we have a similar relationship like I have with the trainer [acquaintances]

In summary, I have managed to build some SOCIAL CAPITAL. I'm going to capitalize on that during the next step, in coming weeks.

FIRST DATE FROM GYM GAME

- I have also managed to get my first date from the gym game. It was actually extremely easy because the girl seemed to very attracted to me. I saw her few times in the gym, we smiled at each other. The last Friday, we saw each other at the gym and then while I was leaving the gym, I saw her waiting next to the gym exit. It looked like she was waiting for me How do I know? She was siting on a sofa when I was entering changing rooms, and she was still siting there when I left the changing rooms. After I left the gym, she followed, so we were together waiting for the elevator. I started conversation saying that I thought the gym is open an hour longer. Since it wasn't, I had to cut my training early. It happened that it was the same case for her. The conversation continued as we walked together to the parking lot. I was able to decipher from her body language and excitement level that she was interested. When I suggested we meet some other time, she offered her phone number. I sent her a text next morning, and we set up a date, a day after. I'm going to stop here, because I would like to use this Journal to focus specifically on the gym environment (early game), and skip date game (mid game) for some other place or time.

NEXT STEP GOALS:
- start small talk with 10 random people and see if I can "convert" some of them into acquittances
- get another date