Did you know that gym is short for the word “gymnasium?” Oh, sure, you did. But did you know that “gymnasium” comes from the Ancient Greeks and translates to “a place where men exercise naked?” Neither did I!

According to the modern source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, the name comes from the ancient Greek term gymns, meaning “naked.” But besides the public naked games place, the gymnasium was also a place of socializing and pursuing intellectual interests—naked as well, I assume. (Today, all of the intellectualizing appears to be done in the steam room.)

Coming on the heels (no pun intended) of the Frontiers swimsuit issue and gay Pride, we have all been spectators to the effects of hours and hours spent in various and sundry gyms around the Southland. I for one am exhausted just looking at them!

I was also treated to laments from various and sundry muscle-bodied acquaintances who were saddened that their muscle bodies were not as defined, enlarged, engorged, inflated or gargantuan as those of their other friends/competitors. Either they had not pumped, injected or thrown-up enough, so they were now determined to double-down and push for more. (We all need a goal.)

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not above such sentiments. Though I spent my high school years trying to figure out ways to get out of gym class, I promptly started going to a local gym when I got out of high school. And I haven’t stopped going since. So, looking at my unsatisfied acquaintances, the non-stop parade of perfection that I witnessed recently and my own experience, I wondered what motivates us gay men to go to the gym.

Former personal trainer and perpetual smart guy Erick Alvarez describes six basic gym types in his 2008 scholarly book (with a hot guy on the cover), Muscle Boys: Gay Gym Culture. Can you find yourself in one of these groups?

1. Older Men (men over 40). For these guys, good health is the primary motivator. Funny, because around my 40th birthday (cough), I totally changed my gym routine and started doing boot camp. My cardio capacity tells me this intensive level of exercise did improve my health, but my knees beg to differ.

2. HIV-Positive Men. These guys use the gym to manage their health. Again, health is the motivator. The transition from ‘70s ‘trim and toned’ to the current muscle beef movement can be traced back to the early ‘90s when a large number of HIV-positive men started taking steroids and bulking up to forestall HIV-related wasting. With protease inhibitors, wasting seems like an almost forgotten problem, but the use of steroids has only exploded (and so have the bodies).

3. Athletes. These guys use the gym to supplement their sports activities. Marathons, triathlons and ultimate finger-dialing telethons are the focus—not looking better in the mirror. I meet these mystery beings now and then, and they tend to remind me how bad I was at sports in elementary school. (Nothing they do, just my stuff.)

4. Circuit Men. These guys want to look hot so they can go to big parties, dance to thumpy music, take their shirts off and show their ripped abs. Now, you know they could take their shirts off even if they had a gut, but then no one would look at them. And that would be worse than staying home.

5. Muscle Bears. These guys build it big and burly rather than tight and defined. (Basically, they may pump and inject, but they don’t throw-up.) These guys still have parties with thumpy music where they take their shirts off, but in this crowd, a gut gets all the looks.

6. Miscellaneous Muscle Boys. This is the “catch-all” category. These guys work out to look good (and possibly for good health), but they don’t identify with any of the above groups. Chances are a lot of guys have been in this group at one time or another—such as when they are between parties and still telling people they’re 29.

So, which one are you? If you said “none of the above,” don’t be alarmed. You are in good company. Nationwide, only 38 percent of gay men even have gym memberships, according to a 2012 national survey done by Community Marketing, Inc. And we all know that having a membership does not mean you go to the gym!

But if you live in a big city, chances are you workout. Gym-going gay men total 57 percent in a 2012 survey of New York City residents by Global Strategy Group, Inc. (I suspect that is the same number of gay men who have three or more gym memberships here in L.A.)

Whatever their motivation, the gym is a place of importance for many in our community. It is a place of health, building strength and confidence, creating structure, forging new friendships and even giving a sense of purpose for some. It would be silly to trivialize it.

So, the next time you are in a gym, remember its true meaning, and when you are on the elliptical trainer, start up an intellectual conversation with the guy next to you about the homoerotic subtext of the late ‘70s TV series BJ and The Bear—naked.