If there’s one advantage of a 24-hour gym, it’s that you can use it any time you need a workout. Well, that’s what you’d expect, right? But one gym user recently discovered it’s not something you can take for granted.
Dan Hill, from Sandy, Utah, was swimming laps in the pool of his local gym when the staff “closed the doors and went home,” he revealed on Facebook at around 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 12. The most ironic part of the entire thing is that his gym is called 24 Hour Fitness.
It was just as well that Hill had his phone with him because he was able to document his memorable, lonesome workout by taking photos and posting them on Facebook — giving the rest of us some entertainment along the way.
“I am literally locked inside 24 Hour Fitness right now,” Hill wrote alongside selfies of his confused expression in various locations within the building. “Doesn’t the name suggests that they stay open 24 hours?,” he continued, adding that he was “walking around trying to figure out how to get out.”
Clearly, yelling for help had no effect.
Hill called the local emergency services in Sandy, who told him he would get a call back. Then, he called his wife, who didn’t have much advice to offer beyond, “Find a comfortable place to sleep.”
Luckily, it didn’t come to that and Hill was eventually “rescued” by three police officers. He gave them a shout-out on Facebook and joked that he was “Free at last!”
Hill’s gym saga quickly went viral, with his post racking up more than 7,000 reactions so far. But he was quick to defend his gym from negative publicity.
On Jan. 14, just a couple days after he was locked in, Hill shared another photo of himself back in the swimming pool at 24 Hour Fitness, with a large sign featuring a red arrow that read, “I’m here,” and was placed at the end of his lane.
“So I’ve felt bad about any poor publicity I may have caused,” Hill wrote in the post. “Despite all the fuss, I still love my 24 (even if it is now my 20). Maybe this is a workable solution …” he said in reference to the sign.
Since his night at the gym went viral, Hill has become something of a celebrity in Utah, and even appeared on Salt Lake City’s KTSU-TV. The network’s local show, “The Place,” posted about his visit on Instagram.
But, according to Hill, Kelly Ripa holding a photo of him on “Live with Kelly and Ryan” has been the highlight of the whole thing.
On Jan. 16, Hill took to Facebook again to indicate that he’d enjoyed the whole experience, but was keen to go back to normal life.
“Thanks everyone. Really. I’m a smart alec (sic), it’s true, and I had no intention of this becoming what it did,” he wrote. “But I’m touched by all the kind words and beyond entertained at the witty repartee going on.”
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
