i tried three gyms in tabriz and realized most people here lift for breakdancing

i used to think gyms were just places to lift weights but here in tabriz you stumble into cults training for parkour or women’s wrestling. it’s wild. my first stop was urban flex, a place that smells like old sneakers and expired protein powder. the owner, who goes by the name ‘the human weightlifter,’ told me no one cares about aesthetics here. they just lift until their shirts split. ‘we’ve had 12 members in a year,’ he said, which is sad but also makes me think this is either a precise metric or a joke about survival, right?