Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. I’m Conner from polyglossa.com, and you’re listening to Episode 10 of the Listening Time podcast.

If this is your first time here, welcome! Hopefully this podcast will be helpful for you. In each episode, I talk about one or two different topics, and I speak naturally, but a little bit more slowly and a little bit more clearly than native speakers usually do. But I don’t read any script, I say things naturally as I think of them. So the dialogue is very natural and not scripted. So, this podcast should be able to help you reach a higher level in your English listening comprehension so that in the future, you can listen to normal podcasts made for English speakers. So also, remember that with each podcast, the transcript is available. If you look in the Details section of this episode, you’ll find the transcript there, so you can listen to this episode multiple times, and use the transcript to help you understand all those new words or phrases that you didn’t understand the first time. Okay?

So, in this episode, I’m going to talk about the gym, and I’m going to talk about charity. These are two random topics as usual, but they should be interesting. Also, before we start, remember to sign up for our $1 Listening Practice Seminars at polyglossa.com so that you can continue to practice your listening skills in more depth. And if you can, please share this podcast with anyone that might find it useful, and give it a rating, a like, a review, all of that stuff.

Also, I wanted to mention that in the very first podcast, I probably said that I was going to post maybe two or three episodes a week, I think. I think I probably won’t be able to keep up with that pace, unfortunately, because this isn’t my main job and I have to do a lot of other work. So, for now, there will probably just be one podcast a week, but hopefully in the future, if this podcast becomes more successful, I might be able to dedicate more time every week to recording more episodes. So, I just wanted to mention that and apologize that you won’t be hearing new episodes every couple days… maybe once a week. Alright, let’s get started.

Okay, first, let’s talk about the gym. This is a very useful and important topic for you. I’m sure I’ll be able to teach you some new vocabulary words as I speak about this topic. And this topic is important because I’m sure many of you like going to the gym or working out in general. The phrase “work out” is the phrase that English speakers often use when talking about exercising, going to the gym. I usually say, “I like working out”, or, “I don’t like working out”. That’s a very common phrase that we use. So, going to the gym is a great way to work out. And when I was younger, I went to the gym a lot. When I was 16, 17, around that age, I went to the gym like five or six days a week, even. I was obsessed with going to the gym. When I was younger, I really wanted to be big and strong. And so for me, going to the gym was a very good hobby to… to adopt.

So I went to the gym a lot. And usually, when I went to the gym, I would lift weights. That’s an important phrase for you to know, when you “lift weights”, that means you’re using those “weights”, those heavy objects, and you’re pushing them or pulling them to work your muscles. So, I used to lift weights, a lot. So, I really wanted to get big and strong, so I went to the gym almost every day… like I said: five days or six days a week. And I would usually go alone, but sometimes, I also had a gym partner. Some of you might have gym partners as well. These people are very useful, because they motivate you to continue going to the gym, and they motivate you to lift more weight and to do more when you’re working out. So, gym partners are great.

So, what type of… or what different types of workouts exist at the gym? I mentioned weightlifting. This is what I would usually do when I went to the gym in the past. And that’s because I wanted to get big and strong. But there are other types of exercises that people can do at the gym. For example, a lot of people do cardio exercises at the gym. “Cardio” just refers to the type of exercise that really works your heart muscle right, your “heart”, the thing that’s beating inside your chest. So when an exercise is an exercise that works your heart muscle, we usually refer to that as “cardio”. So people might say, “I went to the gym and did cardio for 30 minutes”. This just means that they did some form of exercise for 30 minutes that worked their heart muscle. So, this could be running, it could be walking. it could be cycling. There are many exercises for cardio.

The thing that you run on or walk on at the gym is called a “treadmill”. So when you go to the gym, many people… you’ll see many people running or walking on these machines, but the people aren’t moving anywhere, right. This is a treadmill. It keeps you in the same spot while you run or walk. I don’t like the treadmill. I find it very difficult. For me, it’s easier to run outside in nature or just on the street. Usually, when I use a treadmill, I get tired more easily, and I think it’s a little more boring, in my opinion. And so I don’t really like using treadmills, but, of course, sometimes you don’t have another option. You want to run, but you don’t have anywhere outside to run, so you have to use the treadmill.

So, there are cardio workouts, there are weightlifting and strength training type of workouts, and then some people do things like CrossFit. If you don’t know what this is, it’s a very dynamic type of exercise with a lot of movement, a lot of activity. I’ve never done CrossFit before, but I’ve seen people do it at the gym, and it looks difficult. But it looks like a good workout. And other people take other types of classes at the gym for different types of workouts, like, for example, someone might take kickboxing class at the gym or a pilates class at the gym. There are usually a lot of different types of classes at big gyms, where you can be with other people and practice some type of exercise or sport with a teacher. So, that usually happens at Big gyms, but at smaller gyms, you probably don’t have that many classes.

So, what facilities do gyms normally have? The word “facilities” here just refers to equipment and resources that are available at the gym. So, for example, the gym I used to go to when I was young had basketball courts, and it had a swimming pool. It had a sauna. This is the place where you go inside and it’s really really hot, and it makes you sweat. That’s a “sauna”. So, my gym had that too. And it had a lot of different equipment and machines and weights, and it had a class area for different classes as well. There were a lot of facilities, really, a lot of equipment there. So again, those are big gyms, but maybe your small local gym might only have workout equipment, a few treadmills and things like that… if it’s a smaller gym. So, gym sizes can range can vary, and the equipment can vary as well. When we say that something “varies” this means that there are many different types of this thing. So if I say, “the answers to the question may vary”, I’m saying there could be different answers to that question. Okay?

So, what is gym culture like? Well, in certain gyms, there are certain types of people that go there and they create a unique culture. So, some gyms are very popular with big strong men, and the culture there reflects that. It’s a culture, an environment with a lot of testosterone and people lifting heavy weight and loud music playing. This is one type of gym culture or environment. And then you have other environments, other cultures, maybe in a really nice luxury gym. There might be a lot of people doing different classes: yoga class, pilates class… and it’s more tranquil, it’s a calmer environment, and a little less macho. When we say “macho”, we’re referring to a very manly environment. So, you can call someone a “macho man” if they’re a very masculine man.

So, gym cultures can vary, but at every gym there are a couple rules that are universal. For example, it’s not good behavior to spend too much time on one specific piece of equipment, right. If you’re using the benchpress for a long time, people are going to get mad. They’re gonna ask you when you’re going to be finished. Right, so that’s one thing that’s common at all gyms. Another thing is that it’s sometimes… it could be polite to help someone out if they have bad technique or something, but not always. Some people might get a little offended if you come up to them and say, “Hey, you’re doing that lift wrong. Let me show you”. It really depends on the person. So I think it’s okay to do that if you’re… if the person looks like they’re lost and they’re new to the gym. But if it’s a man who already has some muscle, you might not want to say that to him because he might get a little offended.

So that’s another rule I can think of. And then of course, you have the rule that if you sweat on a piece of equipment… right, if you’re really hot and you sweat on that equipment, you have to clean that equipment, right. You should never leave your sweat mark on a bench, right. You should always clean that off with a towel before you finish. So, those are a few of the rules that are universal at gyms.

So, why don’t we talk a little bit about charity now. What is charity? Well, today, the word “charity” refers to a practice of helping others for free. So, if you want to help people that are in need of help, and you don’t want to charge them money, you just want to give them something, help them with something for free, this is called “charity”. We also have organizations that are referred to as “charities”. So, charity could we practice. Right. He likes… “He likes participating in the act of charity”, but the organization itself could also be a charity. So, that place is a “charity”, for example.

So, charities normally have a target… a target person… or a target group of people that they’re trying to help. Right. The word “target” refers to the thing, the person, goal that you’re trying to accomplish. This is the “target”. So, they might have a target group of people, like homeless people. Many charities provide resources or food or help for homeless people, people that don’t have anywhere to live. Or the target could be animals. There are some charities that exist to help animals… animals that don’t have owners or maybe even wild animals. So normally, charities have a specific target group of people or animals.

And so other examples might be certain church charities. Churches might engage in charity work, they might give clothes or food to people. That’s pretty common. And in general, there are many charities that help children, teenagers, those groups of people who are poor or don’t have a lot of guidance or something like that. Right. So, in American society, in the US, charities are very common. They’re very popular. They exist everywhere throughout the country, especially in the big cities, and it’s pretty easy to access the resources that charities offer. So, for example, even if I’m not completely homeless or really, really poor, I can usually get a lot of free stuff in the US, because there are many charitable types of organizations that give things away for free.

So, there are places like “food pantries”, for example. These are places that give free food to people. I remember that when I was in college, I had a friend who worked at the college food pantry, and she asked me if I wanted free food. And I said, “I don’t think I qualify for free food”. Right. “I don’t think I’m eligible for free food”. The word “eligible” means that you can receive or subscribe to something because you meet the requirements. That means you’re eligible. So if you’re 18 years old, you’re eligible to vote in the US, for example. So I told my friend, “I don’t think I’m eligible for free food”. And she said, “Just come and sign your name on the paper, and you can take all the free food you want”. And I said, “Really? Cool!” So I went that day and I wrote my name down on the paper, and I took a bunch of free food, and I had free food in my college dorm room for that week. So, it’s very easy to gain access to things like that in the US.

So, we have a lot of charities that give things away. And many people volunteer at these charities. So for example, when I was younger, I used to volunteer sometimes at soup kitchens. A “soup kitchen” is a place where they serve a warm meal to people who need it. The word “warm” just means hot, pretty much. Usually we say the phrase “a warm meal”. So, at soup kitchens, anyone can come in if they don’t have food to eat, and they can come into the soup kitchen, and they get a warm meal with meat and vegetables and fruit and dessert and a drink, all for free.

So, a lot of homeless people access these soup kitchens and their resources, and they go and eat free meals there. So, I volunteered at a few soup kitchens in the past. And it feels good… it feels good to volunteer your time, to help other people, to work as a team with the other volunteers. It’s a rewarding experience. The word “rewarding” means that the thing makes you feel good about yourself or it just makes you feel content in general. So, participating as a volunteer in different institutions like charities and things like that… this can be a rewarding experience for you.

So, I think that volunteer work is a big part of American society. In high school, for example, before you’re able to graduate from high school, many schools require you to do volunteer work. I had to do this when I was in high school. I had to do like 20 hours of volunteer work before I could graduate high school. I don’t know if this is still a policy that schools have nowadays, but when I was in school, this is… this was the policy. So, volunteering and also donating to charity is a big thing in American society. I think this is good.

So, why don’t we stop there for today. Hopefully these topics were interesting for you. And hopefully this was good practice for your ears. If you didn’t understand all the words or phrases I said, don’t worry. You have the transcript available for this episode, so you can listen again, and this time you can read the transcript while you’re listening, and you can try to understand all the words and phrases that you didn’t understand the first time. Okay, so also, remember to sign up for our $1 Listening Practice seminars at polyglossa.com if you need more help with your listening skills. And of course, share this podcast, and give it a like, a comment, a review, rating, all of that. And I hope that you’ll join us for Episode 11 of the Listening Time podcast.