In came Curves and Planet Fitness and New York Sports Club and Crunch, where even the logo reassured you that the experience wasn't for wimps. People couldn't get enough of these gyms, and they soon began to proliferate under the watchful eye of corporate America, with a distinct flavor for each crowd. Only weight lifters lifted weights then women did aerobics. Fast-forward a dozen-plus centuries: These dumbbells found homes in new types of gymnasiums-now they're called gyms, because this isn't ancient Greece anymore-like Gold's Gym, where puffy and steroidal men would train (not quite nude) to compete in the public game of self-worship. In these gymnasiums were halteres, a form of weights that would evolve into dumbbells.
Open spaces in ancient Greece where men trained, often nude, to compete in public games.
