A woman was working out in the gym near three men and accused them of deliberately “not looking” at her in a bid to make her feel uncomfortable but one of the men has hit back
The woman recorded her workout and claimed three men were deliberately not looking at her to make her feel uncomfortable (stock image)(Image: Getty Images)
A man has responded after being called out by a fitness influencer who claimed he was “trying too hard not to look” at her after he was caught in the background of a video she filmed at the gym.
Many people record their workout routines and sessions then share them with the masses on social media. Danica Kennedy, 37, focuses on yoga, callisthenics and flexibility, and caused a stir after sharing a video of herself in a gym in the resort village of Canggu on the south coast of Bali, Indonesia.
In the now-deleted footage, she can be seen completing a less than traditional stretching movement; bending forwards so her body is practically folded in half, while raising her up on her toes.
In the background, three men could be seen occasionally, and briefly, glancing in her direction. In text added over the top of the footage, Danica wrote: “POV: you’re just trying to open your toes but the gym bros are confused.”
As the video continued, she added further text which read “flabbergasted” and “side-eyes,” in reference to the men in the background.
Danica appeared to believe they were making a deliberate point not to look at her in a bid to make her feel uncomfortable.
When one person commented on her video and said nobody was looking at her, she replied: “That’s my point. Trying too hard not to look. I could feel the awkwardness”. She then added: “Get me out of Canggu, the men are so b**chy”.
The video quickly went viral, even drawing the attention of Joey Swoll, an online influencer known for calling out and criticising toxic behaviour seen in gyms.
Swoll slammed Danica’s interpretation of the situation, branding her video “absolutely ridiculous”.
One of the men shown in the background of Danica’s clip was Matt Butterworth, a callisthenics coach from Australia. He was keen to hit back at her footage.
WARNING: Some strong language, viewer discretion advised
In a video on TikTok, Matt began: “So I got featured in a Joey Swoll video and there are two very important things I want to touch on here.”
He went on to explain: “So I was in the background of a video of a girl working out and she’s zooming in on my face as I’m kind of minding my own business, kind of looking down, and supposedly I was side-eyeing her and intentionally not looking at her to make her feel uncomfortable because she was doing some alternative workout, for whatever reason.”
Matt conceded she may indeed have felt “insecure” and “uncomfortable” and said “these are completely fair enough emotions” that many people may experience in a gym.
But he was keen to set the record straight. He continued: “One; a lot of videos you see online are completely done for the algorithm. They’re completely done to get views so a lot of it can be completely fabricated.
“Two; a lot of people feel the exact same way she may have actually felt and you need to realise that no one actually cares, or at least in 90% of the cases, [no one cares].”
Matt could recall the day he was caught in Danica’s video due to the fact he was wearing denim shorts and hadn’t actually meant to be in the gym that day.
He said he was “completely in [his] own world” and had been “in between calls”, leading to his “brain [being] all over the place”.
Matt added: “This is what people need to realise – if they’re getting gym anxiety, or if they’re on a night out, and they feel like people are judging them, 95% of the time, no one gives a f**k.
“People can create so many scenarios in their head and, even in the case that people were actually judging at a gym; you’re at a gym, you’re training, you’re trying to better yourself, who gives an absolute f**k.”
Matt said he wouldn’t film videos to post online in a bid to gain “validation” and said he hoped Danica “learns from this experience”.
