# to work out (at the gym)



## verbivore

Let's say someone calls you on your cell phone while you're at the gym. He asks you what you're are going, to which you reply "I'm workin' out."

Faire de la musculation doesn't seem to cut it.  thanks


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## SwissPete

This previous thread may be helpful.


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## Broff

> I'm workin' out."


 
_Je suis en train de faire de l'exercise_ is a possibility but rather formal.  

_Je suis au gym (gymnase)_ implying I'm workin' out is what I would use.

I hope it helps


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## Sniegurochka

Broff said:


> _Je suis en train de faire de l'exercise_ is a possibility but rather formal.
> 
> _Je suis au gym (gymnase)_ implying I'm workin' out is what I would use.
> 
> I hope it helps


 

Is "gym" masculine or feminine? The dictionary says "nf" for "gym", "nm" for "gymnase", and in this thread I read "au gym". Which is right?


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## verbivore

Sniegurochka said:


> Is "gym" masculine or feminine? The dictionary says "nf" for "gym", "nm" for "gymnase", and in this thread I read "au gym". Which is right?


 

"nf" equates to à la gym


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## totallylost202

verbivore said:


> "nf" equates to à la gym


 
I have to ask:

My dictionary suggests 'faire de la gonflette', could that work?


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## verbivore

Yep. It equates to "inflating" the muscles. But not just doing cardio.


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## FAC13

Sniegurochka said:


> Is "gym" masculine or feminine? The dictionary says "nf" for "gym", "nm" for "gymnase", and in this thread I read "au gym". Which is right?


 
I think the confusion is because in English gym is an abbreviation of gymnasium (gymnase, which is masculine) but in French it is regarded as being an abbreviation of gymnastique (which is feminine).

Can somebody confirm this please?


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## marcolo

I confirm that you can say

Je suis à la gym (=gymnastique)

but not "au gym", sorry Broff 
"gonflette" is pejorative, whereas "working out" is not, so I would not use this expression. You can use it if you want to mock someone :

Arrête de faire de la gonflette ! Entraîner ton cerveau ne serait pas du luxe 

If you are a woman, you can say as well

Je fais du step


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## wildan1

_je suis *au club de gym, au club de fitness*_

_(au gym_ ne marche pas pour décrire le lieu)


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## Broff

I suppose _au gym_ must be a Canadianism:

http://www.canadian-health-network.ca/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1039795127085&pagename=CHN-RCS%2FCHNResource%2FCHNResourcePageTemplate&lang=Fr&c=CHNResource


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## jdgamble

Since it took me forever to translate "to work out", as this thread did not really help... luckily I found this one using backwards translation:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=7030

I am still confused on what I need to say for "at the gym"...

à la gym?


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## verbivore

I would use "s'entraîner" or "être à la gym".


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## Broff

Hi verbivore,

être à la gym refers more to taking a gym class.  être au gym would fit better here, I think:


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## jdgamble

So la gym is "gym class" like in high school while le gym is the gym where one goes to work out?


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## marcolo

"être au gym " is just plain wrong. 
Maybe, it means something in french canadian, but not in french from France.


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## wildan1

To go back to the phone call interrupting the workout, couldn't you just say

_Je fais ma gym(nastique) ; je te rappelle tout à l'heure._


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## marcolo

that sounds nice, wildan


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## jdgamble

So then "faire ma gym(nastique)" would imlply what translation?

"working-out *at* my gym"?

That's confusing if you translate it literally.


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## Broff

marcolo said:


> "être au gym " is just plain wrong.
> Maybe, it means something in french canadian, but not in french from France.


 
It comes from: être au gymnasium, and it is perfectly correct usage.


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## verbivore

When we talk about a "gym" and a "gymnasium", are we sure they are the same things? When I think of a gymnasium I don't get the same image. A gym is where I go to pump iron or jog on the treddie. At a gymnasium, maybe there are rings, pommel horses and trampolines. When I go to work out, I go "to the gym". I would never say "gymnasium". Perhaps it is the same connotation in France as well. My buddy, who is French, says à la gym. Au gym maybe gives one the wrong idea, even though it is a legitimate expression.


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## wildan1

jdgamble said:


> So then "faire ma gym(nastique)" would imlply what translation?
> 
> "working-out *at* my gym"?
> 
> That's confusing if you translate it literally.


 
_Je fais ma gym(nastique)_ means _I'm doing my workout/I'm working out_. It's describing the activity, not the place you are doing it (which can be called _un club de gym_)


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## verbivore

I asked my French buddy about "faire la gymnastique" and he says this sounds more like doing gymnastics or P.E. 

So if say someone calls you while you are at the gym working out (= lifting weights), you could say: _Je suis à la salle de muscu/ Je fais de la muscu à la salle. (i.e., I'm at the gym working out.)
_
If you are doing cardio, just say _Je fais du cardio._


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## Xavier11222

It does sound like calisthenics indeed. I've always used "(aller à) la salle de sport." 
I watched a movie dubbed in French the other night where man tells to woman as she's getting undressed to use her superpowers (I know how that sounds, but it _was_ a superheroes movie) something like "Tu... tu as fait de la gym?" and that totally failed at conveying that she had a toner body. Had I not seen the original, I would have assumed she still had her leotard on.


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## jdgamble

Xavier11222 said:


> It does sound like calisthenics indeed. I've always used "(aller à) la salle de sport."
> I watched a movie dubbed in French the other night where *a* man tells *a* *to* woman as she's getting undressed to use her superpowers (I know how that sounds, but it _was_ a superheroes movie) something like "Tu... tu as fait de la gym?" and that totally failed at conveying that she had a toner body. Had I not seen the original, I would have assumed she still had her leotard on.


 
Sounds like _My Super Ex-Girlfriend_...

So we agree that these work for "to work-out":

- faire de la muscu(lation) [à la salle]
- faire de l'exercise
- faire une gym(nastique)
- s'entraîner


I think the problem with these is that they only express where you are, not necessarily what you are doing:

- être à la salle de muscu(lation)
- être au club de gym
- être à la gym
- être au gym(nasium)

So is the best translation for *a workout* in the noun form _une gym_? Since the best translation for the verb, *to workout*, seems to be _faire une gym_?


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## Xavier11222

Actually, not at all. 
To my mind, the best translation for "a workout" would really be... dependent on context. 
"De l'exercice" could work most of the time. 
And "faire une gym" doesn't work either - at least in France. 
I stand by my an-articulation earlier. And it was Les Quatre Fantastiques!


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## jdgamble

Well when I say "une gym" I was responding to the fact that "on fait LEUR gym".

Alors,

_Je fais ma gym_.  - since that DOES seem to work, why wouldn't 

faire une gym?


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## Xavier11222

It doesn't sound right, for the same reasons - "gymnastique" needs a partitive, or a definite article or, as in your example, a possessive. 
To me, it's really like fun and food, which are always a pain to translate, so much so that it sometimes feel like the concepts are totally foreign to French minds. Except that in the case of working out, it is (but less and less) sort of true.


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## Already-Seen

_Faire sa gym_ (je fais ma gym, tu fais ta gym, il fait sa gym, nous faisons notre gym, vous faites votre gym, ils font leur gym) works but not _faire une gym_. _Faire de la gym_ works too.

Personally, I'd use _*aller à la gym / être à la gym (=go to /be at the gym)*_ to say "to work out" or "a workout". 
I need to work out = Il faut que j'aille à la gym (= I need to go to the gym)
Sorry, I can't talk to you, I'm working out now = Je suis à la gym
I went for a workout = Je suis allé(e) à la gym

I think that when you say _aller_ or _être à la gym_ it is understood that you go there to work out. 

If I were a guy, I'd use "faire de la muscu" or "aller à la muscu" and even "être à la (salle de) muscu"... 

Judging from this thread, there seems to be regional and/or personal differences.

Edit: I've just realized that those only work if one works out at a gym. For a home workout, 'faire de l'exercice' could work.


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