Jockstraps to the gym

[Tony56]

Now I am curious, one of my old high school buds is now the football coach there. I am going to stop by to see him one day and find out if that window is still there in his office. LOL

Not only was there a big window in the faculty/coach office/locker room/showers but in our set up they had to walk through the boy's locker room to get to their locker room. And at my school there was no wall between the locker room area and the showers - it was completely open so if you were in the locker room you could see who was in the showers, and vice versa.

The walkway to the facult/coach locker room was the space between the locker and the showers so they saw us changing in the locker area and showering in the communal showers. And what is really important from a historical perspective, NO ONE thought it was strang-odd-perverted-weird that our coaches saw us nude. Hell, more than one time I would actually have a conversation with a faculty member while I was nude drying off or getting ready for my shower, and of course other boys did, too.

It is amazing how things were so much different back in the good old days.

 

[WadWorshipper]

Yeah...it's odd. My brother---who went through the exact same type of PE setup as everyone's described above along with me---recently remarked that his two sons were both into the "towel dance". And he couldn't figure out where they got that attitude from---since it wasn't from him. But then, his boys didn't have mandatory PE anymore in either middle-school or high school.

My guess is that they have separate bedrooms. That's the biggest single element that's changed boys' fear of public nudity in the last 50 years. As incomes went up and boys got their own rooms, they got used to never being naked in front of others and more freaked out when they had to. So sad.

 

[swimmerguydfw]

My guess is that they have separate bedrooms. That's the biggest single element that's changed boys' fear of public nudity in the last 50 years. As incomes went up and boys got their own rooms, they got used to never being naked in front of others and more freaked out when they had to. So sad.

Actually, they did---and their own separate bathrooms as well---so you may have a point there. I'd never considered that aspect of it.

 

[swimmerguydfw]

Not only was there a big window in the faculty/coach office/locker room/showers but in our set up they had to walk through the boy's locker room to get to their locker room. And at my school there was no wall between the locker room area and the showers - it was completely open so if you were in the locker room you could see who was in the showers, and vice versa.

The walkway to the facult/coach locker room was the space between the locker and the showers so they saw us changing in the locker area and showering in the communal showers. And what is really important from a historical perspective, NO ONE thought it was strang-odd-perverted-weird that our coaches saw us nude. Hell, more than one time I would actually have a conversation with a faculty member while I was nude drying off or getting ready for my shower, and of course other boys did, too.

It is amazing how things were so much different back in the good old days.

Our schools were pretty much the same---everything was wide open, so there was no way anyone couldn't see everything. In fact, in the oldest school the coaches didn't have their own shower in their offices---they used the same communal showers at the end of the day after classes/practice were over that we did. But on a couple of occasions, when they wanted to get out early for meetings or whatnot, they'd shower with us (I had class at the end of the day, as did most of the guys on teams). It wasn't odd or perverted...it was just normal. In fact, it was kind of bonding because it was funny with everyone chatting and horsing around with the coaches there.

 

[Baro]

I used to wear boxer briefs while working out at my gym, but over the last year or so have exclusively switched to jockstraps, my Bike one usually unless it's in the wash. Used to be more shy about it because they've definitely fallen out of popularity, but it's a wonderfully freeing feeling (ha) to not give a damn. I'll change into it while I'm at the gym instead of changing into gym clothes ahead of time.

I've actually seen more guys my age (20's-30's) wearing or changing into them recently, they might be coming back into popularity outside queer circles. The more the merrier - Sex appeal aside, they're great support and really comfortable, there's a reason why they were so widely used for so many years.

 

[sulvca]

Now I am curious, one of my old high school buds is now the football coach there. I am going to stop by to see him one day and find out if that window is still there in his office. LOL

I will probably have to call and make an appointment to come see him. You can't just drop in to see someone anymore. Damn place is locked up tighter than Fort Knox and you can only go in through the front door past the cops and metal detectors.

I'm now also curious. I'm going to go pay a visit to the old locker room, somehow.

 

[Jon1971]

My old high school and middle school. I graduated high school in 89, and both my high school and middle school were built in 1980/1981, so they were relatively new schools when I went there.

Both schools had the coach's office surrounded by glass. In the high school, the office was at the front end of the locker room, and from the office you could see straight down all the rows of lockers to the back. You could only see the entrance to the showers/restroom from the coach's office.

Middle school, the locker room was kind of built around the coach's office. On one side of the office you could see straight down the rows of the main lockers. To the left you could see straight into the team lockers. The entrance to the showers was right between the main lockers and the team lockers.

I just can't imagine taking out the windows from the coach's office. A lot of shit happened in the locker room, and I can imagine it would have been worse if the coach couldn't see what was going on. How's the coach supposed to supervise the students, if he can't see them?

 

[WadWorshipper]

Actually, they did---and their own separate bathrooms as well---so you may have a point there. I'd never considered that aspect of it.

Yes, the most thoughtful analyses come to this conclusion, that the increase in family wealth after WWII allowed, for the first time, children to have their own rooms, in increasing numbers as time went on. Up until then, there was often only one bedroom for the parents and sometimes one bedroom for all the kids, of both genders. Growing up naked around others was normal. Mothers sent sons and cousins off to the creek with a bar of soap and towels for them to wash up. YMCA's in the 50's and 60's were all-naked: all boys and men were naked everywhere in the facility, the pool, showers, workout rooms, locker rooms. It was normal to see other males naked. But later boys that were never naked except for school gym class because they had their own room were uncomfortable. This increased over time, causing showers after gym class to be suspended, then same for sports, facilities reworked, so that now, no boy ever showers in front of others, ever. Yes, there are exceptions, but it's becoming the norm.

It's not the proliferation of cell phone videos threatening privacy. It's simply that boys grow up never being naked in front of anyone and can't "bare" to do it in the gym either. A real loss to their lives, in my opinion, but that's that.

 

[swimmerguydfw]

Interesting...

I had my own room (until my younger brother came along 10 years later)...but I shared the "boy's" bathroom with my dad all through the time that I lived at home. And, since our schedules usually overlapped, we were in the bathroom together pretty much daily---him shaving while I showered, and vice-versa. Later, my brother was in mix as he got older, so nudity between the males of the house was never an issue...at least not in the bathroom. I guess that I just never knew anything different. I will say that, yes, I was a little uncomfortable the first couple of days of junior high school when we had to all shower together after PE class. But I got over that pretty fast once I got accustomed to it. It was the same in high school. I can't even imagine not showering after playing whatever sport we were working on at the time in the afternoon heat. Most guys sweat like pigs...

College had even more nudity. I went to an older university with a tradition of once being a military school, so the dorm facilities (especially the older ones) were pretty Spartan---communal showers and bathrooms down at the end of the hall. Most guys just did everything in the bathroom naked...and then walked back and forth to their room the same way, with their towel over their shoulder (it helped dry you off in the humid climate). Even in their rooms, most guys were in their underwear while studying...or sleeping in the nude. So, I just don't get the "modern" emphasis on being so afraid to peel off their clothes in situations that normally would expect it---like at the gym.

The only place that I still see guys comfortable being naked with other guys is at country clubs (mostly an older crowd to begin with), or at swim meets getting in or out of your suit (it's hard to do the "towel dance" wearing a wet Speedo...LOL!)

 

[swimmerguydfw]

I used to wear boxer briefs while working out at my gym, but over the last year or so have exclusively switched to jockstraps, my Bike one usually unless it's in the wash. Used to be more shy about it because they've definitely fallen out of popularity, but it's a wonderfully freeing feeling (ha) to not give a damn. I'll change into it while I'm at the gym instead of changing into gym clothes ahead of time.

I've actually seen more guys my age (20's-30's) wearing or changing into them recently, they might be coming back into popularity outside queer circles. The more the merrier - Sex appeal aside, they're great support and really comfortable, there's a reason why they were so widely used for so many years.

Yeah...I tried the compression shorts, and the "jock-briefs"....but always went back to a basic jockstrap. They're far more comfortable---they don't bind in the crotch, and they allow my legs a far greater range of motion. Plus, they seem to keep me cooler and drier.

 

[Trevor]

I can't say that PE was my favorite class...LOL!...but it sure was an experience that I'm glad that I had. I made some good friends there, and It also made it a lot easier when I went away to college and lived in the dorms.

I guess you didn't suck as bad at Algebra and Chemistry as I did. Other than shop class P.E. was the only class I was halfway good at.

 

[sulvca]

I did find out from a buddy of mine that is a football coach at a nearby high school. He tells me that football players are showering in their underwear and or jock straps!

 

[Jon1971]

I did find out from a buddy of mine that is a football coach at a nearby high school. He tells me that football players are showering in their underwear and or jock straps!

Well, at least they're wearing jocks and not compression shorts?

 

[Tony56]

I did find out from a buddy of mine that is a football coach at a nearby high school. He tells me that football players are showering in their underwear and or jock straps!

That truly is sad, but not surprising.
I worked at a high school until a few years ago and it was interesting to observe different attitudes about showers among different teams. Most football players would walk off of the field and get into their own cars or parents' cars dirty, muddy, and smelly. If that was my kid I would send him back for a shower. Complete opposite of that was the hockey team that always showered, taking long showers. After a game it would be 30 minutes before the first player came out of the locker room.

Apparently the cross country and track teams showered nude because there were comments about that in the year books.

 

[Jon1971]

That truly is sad, but not surprising.
I worked at a high school until a few years ago and it was interesting to observe different attitudes about showers among different teams. Most football players would walk off of the field and get into their own cars or parents' cars dirty, muddy, and smelly. If that was my kid I would send him back for a shower. Complete opposite of that was the hockey team that always showered, taking long showers. After a game it would be 30 minutes before the first player came out of the locker room.

Apparently the cross country and track teams showered nude because there were comments about that in the year books.

I agree, if I was picking my kid up, and they were smelly and dirty, they would be sent back to the locker room for a shower.

 

[normguy]

Yeah we had to wear them for P.E. in Junior High as well. I graduated high school in '91 so this would have been mid to late 80s. Not sure when they invented middle schools.

I was in school way before you, then. And my question is I'm not sure WHY they invented middle schools. I think back in my old school district they've switched back to the way it was before.

 

[lilguy11]

I wore one in little league, along with a cup

 

[opinionman]

Well I can't speak to getting sweaty and horny, but when I grew up males wore a jockstrap for ANY physical activity more strenuous than walking. PE class, working out, playing sports, even swimming (for those not in the know, there are special swimmer jockstraps which have just a 1" waistband).

So, of course,guys were seen in the locker room changing into and out of jockstraps and sometimes strolling through the locker room in a jockstrap.

Exactly my experience!

 

[opinionman]

I exclusively wear bike jockstrap to the gym, I’m kinda obsessed with how they smell after a good workout
It’s a shame that they are so unpopular un europe

Ben oui! C'est exactement le cas chez moi.

 

[opinionman]

@Trevor I graduated HS in '92. My P.E. coach was also an old school type that required jock straps in class.

We had unannounced 'jock checks'.

I never had a jock check (not that I would have needed on in school; I always faithfully wore my jock). I'm amazed that coaches did that, altho I had enough experience with coaches of that era that I can imagine it.