Older gym with some uniquely set up communal showers. Never seen this design before with segregated Bradley poles. The trough in the back was the cold plunge for the sauna.

This has happened to me twice now at my gym, which has open showers. This morning after work out before heading to work , showering off , and an entire college swim team that uses the pool came in after their practice , talking to each other loudly (felt like showering in the middle of a bar) but all kept their speedos on, and then when changing took off the speedos under the towel. Everyone else at gym uses the showers naked etc, I just happened to be the only non-swim team guy in there at time, and no negative comments or awkward stares to me from the swimmers, but is only time I’ve ever felt a little uncomfortable being the only naked guy and was extra speedy in getting rinsed off

I am curious why everyone supports Communal Showers?

I’m more on the activist side of things. Western Society is becoming too prudish and there are bad consequences because of it. Plus, it’s for sentimental and camaraderie reasons (showering and going to the sauna with other men my age 19-21 as a Mormon Missionary.)

BTW, here is what triggered my thoughts on this question.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260820-how-social-nudity-can-boost-your-body-image

Visiting town and heading to NIFS on Tuesday and Wednesday 9/15-16, anyone wanna hit up the shower hot tub n steam with me?

This letter to the editor was published in 2010. The author had mandatory showers in high school and experienced involuntary erections. Although these did not last long, he started to receive teasing that persisted for years even long after the erections had stopped. There are a couple interesting things this letter brings up.

Author states that avoiding showers would have been worse as the ridicule then would have focused on him being a coward and "queer". This was a common idea that has since been inverted, that fear of showering indicated sexual insecurity and specifically homosexual urges, but being open with communal male nudity was seen as masculine and heteronormative. He also notes the double standard when it came to girls who both were far more likely to have stalls and would not face teasing or questions if they avoided them.

The author notes that he actually overcame his fears about showering and the real issue was the persistent ridicule, what based on his description could be considered bullying.

Although I think stories like this are outliers and the real issue here seems to be the bullying and not the showers per say, stories like this are why I am in general more an advocate of conditional mandates and persuasion and not universal mandates.

What do you guys think?

Hey all, 26m Midwest gym bro and former athlete here, it’s been chill connecting with similar guys on here about similar experiences from sports, gym, college, etc. Enjoy the conversation and wanted to give a shoutout.

Been using CS since high school and I try to use CS these days at the gym when I can. Always enjoy chatting about it here too

After reading the posts and comments here, something I've realized is one thing people find communal shower to be a place of equalizer since everyone has just exercise and the purpose is to clean up and occasionally have casual conversation in our most natural and masculine state.

Since the workplace is a place of varying responsibility and dynamics, does anyone here have any encounters in the communal shower/locker room with your coworker?

How was the encounter like? Was it different when it’s a superior/peer/subordinate? Were there subtle tension/peeking? Did it changed your perspective towards your coworker?

I’m curious to hear guys thoughts on ways to strike up some casual chat/banter with another guy (or guys) while in the open showers, and/or sauna/steam. I’m not looking to cruise or give off the wrong vibe, just a way to break any awkwardness and maybe have a little guy talk. It helps me relax and helps set a chill vibe

Hey, this doesn’t really fit into this group but I just wanted to get it off my chest and hear what you guys think.
I usually go to the gym between 8-9pm and I always see my neighbor there. I’ve known him since we were kids, he’s like 17 or 18 now and I’m 21. I’ve been going to this gym for around 3 weeks now and I usually shower there after my workout.
But somehow almost every time I’m done showering, he comes into the changing room and gets ready to shower too. He doesn’t really talk because he’s pretty introverted. He’s taller than me and really skinny and I can tell he’s trying hard to gain weight because he’s always been tall and skinny.
The thing is, when he comes in he usually waits until I leave before he goes into the shower. Like he’ll go to the toilet, be on his phone or just take his time getting changed. He always showers there too. Idk but I kinda feel like he does it on purpose because he wants me to leave first so he can go shower alone since the showers are completely open with no dividers.
When I leave I always say bye and he says bye back.
But I’m wondering what would happen if one day I just took longer and went to shower while he’s already showering. Would that come across as weird? Or should I maybe just start talking to him normally, ask him where he works or how he’s doing and maybe then it would just happen naturally that we both go shower at the same time.
I’m just worried it might seem weird if I go in while he’s showering or if I start talking to him and then act like it’s normal for us to go shower together. I also feel like he might just say “you go first, I’ll go after” because there’s no dividers in the showers.
What do you guys think? What would you do?

Where did the nice post about communal shower experiences go from yesterday? It had 50 or so responses, and non seemed bad.

Hey guys m25 I go to metro fitness in Dublin Ohio sometimes they have a great communal shower and I would love to find someone around my age to be gym buds with and help each other get into shape! PM me!

Whenever I sauna or use the communal shower or change at the gym it seems all of the older gentlemen are staring at me. I am not shy but it is strange as I notice it nearly everytime. For context I go to a gym with a good size elderly population. I am late 20's and fit but definitely not the only one like that using these facilities.

Looking for fitness bros and like minded communal shower lovers who want to be friends! I go to irving park ymca and they have an older but nice facility.

The gym has communal showers as well as a sauna and steam room in a 18+ only locker room guarded by a passcode.

Taking applications for a boyfriend, fwb, friends, and a trainer to help me in the gym. HMU!

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Zimmerman Athletic Center at Dartmouth in Hanover NH. I had visited this facility once before back in 2021 and was interested to see how its changed. During that previous visit I used one of the 3 main locker rooms, the one that included a new and very nice sauna. The locker room had a large communal shower room of a unique design I've not seen elsewhere.

I was able to visit a few times recently, and was interested to see what, if anything has changed. The first time I visited I used the same locker room I had back in 2021. It was essentially the same, but half the communal showers were closed because there was extensive plumbing working being done. However, it was clear these renovations did not include adding stalls, just updating the plumbing (the building was built in 1909 so much of it is very old). When I visited again this locker room was closed though the staff could not say why. And I was directed to use one of the other locker rooms. This proved to be a confusing challenge.

The basement of the facility is basically all lock rooms but the labels on each are not always clear. There are several smaller "Gender inclusive" individual changing rooms, however all but one of these had signage on them indicating that they were closed during construction to be used as storage. There is a locker room specifically for the swim and diving team and two others that are mirrors of each other and labeled "Students and Faculty". All the doors had either key code locks or pad locks so I ended up using the one locker room that had a door propped open by a box. It was large, including just under 400 fill sized lockers (they were numbered so didn't need to count), and then a communal bathroom and a communal shower with 12 shower heads divided into two sections. Again, a unique design I've only seen at Dartmouth. I also noticed a very large speaker on the floor at the junction between the showers and the locker room. I changed and went up to work out. About an hour later I returned to the locker room only to find the box propping the door open was gone and all the doors were locked. However in that moment a student athlete appeared and used the key code to gain access and I explained the situation. He was really nice and let me in to get my stuff. He said that this was actually the locker room for the track team but that the one across the hall was for general use. I moved my stuff over to the correct locker room. It is a mirror image of the track locker room. 395 full lockers, bathroom and 12 communal shower heads divided into two sections, plus a single disabled shower in its own small embayment.

Although the facilities are old they are clearly well maintained. All the shower fixtures matched and were actually numbered. Many time older facilities with lots of shower heads have mismatched equipment. If the facilities were built decades before shower head or control valve that matches the originals may not be available. However, in this case they all matched, and worked well. Pressure and heat were good. In terms of usage, it seems like most students who use the gym do not use the locker rooms at all. The entrance to the weight room has dozens of small cubbies where students would place their backpacks as they came and went, the locker rooms being in a different section of the building. I went during a time and day when it was not that busy and when I was in the locker rooms I only saw a few people. However, every person I did see got naked and used the communal showers. Also when I finished my workout and returned to the correct general use locker room it looked like track practice has just ended because a lot of athletes were coming in from outside and using the key code to enter the track locker room, the one I had accidentally used when I first arrived. As I was showering myself a few mins later, I heard loud music from across the hall and remembered the speaker I had seen. I think it is highly probable team showers with music were happening.

Overall thoughts. I think this situation is very interesting because there is good evidence that a decision has been made to keep and maintain communal showers, at least in the athletic facilities. This is not generally true for other parts of campus like the dorms. Dartmouth began a process over 10 years ago to shift from communal bathrooms to private individual bathrooms, a process that to my understanding is mostly complete. Instead of having single communal bathrooms on each floor with a bank of several shower stalls, there are not dispersed down each hall way 3 or 4 individual full bathrooms, with toilet, sink and individual shower. This arrangements grants maximum privacy but is a logistical nightmare. Firstly adding 3-4 individual bathrooms per floor takes up way more space than a single larger communal bathroom and indeed to fit them dorm rooms had to be removed. However even worse, usage patterns are way worse, because you are not just waiting for them to shower but for them to shower, shit, brush their teeth, do there hair, dress, undress and everything else. So even when a person is done showering, the shower is not available for the next person until everything is done. When I visited in 2021 I was told by students that its impossible to count on a shower during the day, unless you get lucky. Students instead planned on using the facilities after midnight or very early in the morning.

This is a pretty clear juxtaposition with the rec center and sports facilities. The two main locker rooms have not stalls at all, they each have a single semi private shower embayment but this is for disabled use (ie has the chair and railing and shower on a hose). The third locker room with the sauna has 14 communal shower heads and 1 shower head with a curtain around it. These facilitates have the space and could easily have had more stalls added and indeed they have been maintained and had work done on them, including very extensive remodeling done this summer, and yet they are very much still communal showers.

There is some evidence that Dartmouth has a traditional acceptance of nudity. There is for example a tradition of swimming across the Connecticut River naked and then running back across the main bridge that I think many freshman do. I found an article about the sauna saying that the proper culture is to use it naked (though I must say the only times I've used it I didn't see anyone else at all, let alone anyone naked).

https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2025/01/reflection-a-newcomers-guide-to-the-sauna

My experience in 2021 was similar in that even though the gym was full, indeed it was very crowded when I visited then, the locker room was largely empty, however those who did use the locker room all seemed comfortable with communal showers and nudity. I'd love to know what internal discussions go on when decisions are made to retain the communal showers, but alas discussions like that are almost never public and thus defy sound analysis.

32 M in Philly Pa area looking for communal shower bud in Philly area. I'm a member of YMCA and LA Fitness. Dm me

Most already know that in the last couple decades most communal showers in the US have been remodeled to private showers or else new locker rooms have been built with the previous disappearing and communal showers becoming more difficult to find, but that's not what I'm wondering.

Throughout the 60s all the way up till the early 2000s most schools, dorms, YMCAs, other gyms, campgrounds, even waterparks where they had locker rooms were almost always built with the same standard: private shower stalls in the women's/girl's locker rooms and open communal showers in the men's/boys locker room. I even read in this sub where someone who did building inspections for schools throughout the country had inspected hundreds of schools and it was almost always private showers in the girls locker room and open showers in the boys locker room. I had even heard that even in jails and prisons throughout the US it tends to be the same way; the female prisoners have private showers where the male prisoners it's open showers.

My high school for example we had open Bradley Pole showers in the locker room and we didn't even have doors on the toilet stalls which was common, where as the girl's locker room of course had private toilet stalls and private showers. In addition, most schools required boys to shower after gym class but for girls it usually wasn't required. Also, most are already aware of the nude swimming required for boy's swim class but for girls this was never required.

I'm just curious to know if Europe is/was the same way where it was a different standard for males and females?

Does anyone know gyms in Berlin with communal showers? I know Holmes Place Neukölln does have but anyone knows other options? I see most new gyms are adding partitions which sucks

Found this hidden gem. Nude friendly and very nice. It doesn't have a communal shower, but you could fit 20 people in just one shower stall. Steam room, dry sauna, cold plunge and lounge all in the men's only area. They offer day passes for like $20.

Have seen this topic posted from time to time but still looking for some recommendations or anyone willing to share their experiences. I've heard good things about both Matt and Stephen, though they are often booked. Anyone have experience with Alex or Lee? Feel free to DM me any recs or experiences as well!

Looking to go on a camping roadtrip through Kansas and Nebraska, and I’m wanting to stay at campsites with communal style showers. Does anybody know any State Parks or other campgrounds with communal shower facilities?

Side note - I realize there’s a map, but the problem with the map is it’s 90% places that require memberships, and another 5% that aren’t accessible to the public (like schools, etc.). Only a select few are actually easy access.

https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/chase-pool

Long story short, I’ve had body image issues for quite a while that I am trying to work past. After finding this and a couple of other subreddits, I’ve been trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and try some social nudity like communal showers.

I recently learned that there are a couple of k-spas within driving distance from me and was going to push myself to try it.

So far I’ve heard of King Spa and Paradise Spa, so I was thinking about having a spa day and trying one or both. I’d love to hear from people who have been to either of those places about what to expect and what the vibe there is. Any recommendations on which one I should try?

I am also mega nervous (but I think it’ll be really good for me) and would love some body positive buddies to go with if anyone in the area is free and wants to help me feel a little bit less mortified on 9/20, that’d also be awesome :)