When you think of slogging it out in the gym, I bet you think of young, tanned, muscular men and their slightly smaller but equally tanned and toned female counterparts.

I've had a zillion gym memberships in every suburb I've ever lived since I was about 16 and I've learned that nowehere else on Earth do you find such a diverse range of people. They come in all shapes and sizes, they're there for all sorts of different reasons. Some are lazy. Some are intensely dedicated. Some are young. Some are old. It never ceases to amaze me.

I went to the gym this afternoon. My gym is fairly small local one. It boasts only a handful of weights and machines, a room for classes and another one for RPM classes. But the range of people is incredible and I love how it's really one place where the usual stereotypes are chucked out of the window.

For instance, I myself love going to the gym and my father is a personal trainer. But I have huge boobs and a fat bum and he's a formerly obese middle aged male (sorry dad).  You could look at him easily and just think he's nothing special compared to the muscle bound twits that are immediately called to mind when you think of personal trainers, but he's a man who once weighed as much as all five of his children together (to be fair, we were a lot younger then) who completed an 80km marathon, in the dark, starting at 1am, up the Glasshouse mountains with guys 20 years younger than him. Not even your average gym junkie could do that (and I certainly wouldn't ever entertain the idea, let alone attempt it).  He attempted to ride the 2500km between Killarney and Cairns but was forced to train it home from Rockhampton after several incidents of getting stupidly lost (as will happen when you have a bunch of men and lots of gadgets but lacking the ability to read a map). You could look at me and be forgiven for thinking that with my baggy clothes and red face that I'm a lazy sot (which is sometimes true I'll admit). I'm built like a brick shithouse and I can carry my other half around with as much ease as I can my 2 year old cousin (he doesn't squirm as much or try and smack me in the head with wooden blocks so that makes it a bit easier).

I have been on a treadmill next to someone 3 times my size who was running at twice the incline I was and almost twice as fast - if I ever ran that fast I would probably have an epic accident of tripping up and having the belt tear my face off after catching my earrings or nose ring. I have seen skinny people struggle to lift the first weight on any of the weight machines. I have seen an old man, who had to have been well into his 70's, outpace the athletic young girl next to him. I've seen all sorts and all sizes defying every stereotype you can imagine.

Some people are there to overcome the terrible fate genetics handed them (like me), others are there to train for specific events, others are there to make an effort to improve themselves, others are there to build up strength as part of their rehabilitation (like after an accident or a long illness) and others just do it because they want to.  But I never get tired of going to the gym and seeing firsthand exactly how rubbish stereotypes really are.

Now if the rest of the world would just relax it's rigid assumption that the only people worth anything are skinny little twats in lycra, the world would be a much happier place.