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Why are there more men than women in gyms? Are they lazier?


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Ive wondered this. Any gym Ive been to...any my friends have been to...and with most people you talk to...it seems men work out a lot more than women. And Ive been wondering why this is. Ive seen articles talking about this issues...small studies too...and some cite a womans schedule as demanding. You know..kids..housework..career...etc.

 

But how does this apply to young women without kids or a house to maintain. And how does this apply to those couples who equally split child and hous care.

 

I see women in the gym texting while barely doing their cardio...and god forbid they do any resistance training which is the main thing that gets a body looking good and strong. And women seem to be in and out of the gym quicker unless they go tanning to (wtf)

 

So somethings not adding up. Despite everything we are taught about how the genders see their body image, it appears men are the ones more concernd with their appearance.

 

I know women cannot work as hard as meen due to body differences...and I know they lose fat differently and slower...but its weird that i cant explain why I see more out of shape women at the gym than men...especially when theres more men to begin with.

 

Personally i think society teaches women the wrong ways to work out...making them think theyll get buff by lifting anything...and having them use those worthless thigh master machines that do nothing. Thats the tip of the iceberg though. Crossfit has been showing women they can be feminine and super fit and strong despite doing really strenuous workouts with heavy weight. Hough Im not a big fan of CF...im hoping it creates a cultural shift that educates women on working out efficiently a%d properly.

 

thoughts?

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Perhaps lots of women are intimidated by seeing all these men with muscles on top of muscles so they either go the women only gyms, buy the workout DVDs and do it from home or they have treadmills at home.

 

Just a few reasons why you see more men than women at your gym.

 

Where I go it is pretty even.

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Ive wondered this. Any gym Ive been to...any my friends have been to...and with most people you talk to...it seems men work out a lot more than women. And Ive been wondering why this is. Ive seen articles talking about this issues...small studies too...and some cite a womans schedule as demanding. You know..kids..housework..career...etc.

 

But how does this apply to young women without kids or a house to maintain. And how does this apply to those couples who equally split child and hous care.

 

I see women in the gym texting while barely doing their cardio...and god forbid they do any resistance training which is the main thing that gets a body looking good and strong. And women seem to be in and out of the gym quicker unless they go tanning to (wtf)

 

So somethings not adding up. Despite everything we are taught about how the genders see their body image, it appears men are the ones more concernd with their appearance.

 

I know women cannot work as hard as meen due to body differences...and I know they lose fat differently and slower...but its weird that i cant explain why I see more out of shape women at the gym than men...especially when theres more men to begin with.

 

Personally i think society teaches women the wrong ways to work out...making them think theyll get buff by lifting anything...and having them use those worthless thigh master machines that do nothing. Thats the tip of the iceberg though. Crossfit has been showing women they can be feminine and super fit and strong despite doing really strenuous workouts with heavy weight. Hough Im not a big fan of CF...im hoping it creates a cultural shift that educates women on working out efficiently a%d properly.

 

thoughts?

 

A lot of women prefer the class format: zumba, yoga, jazzercise, etc. I go to a hardcore weightlifting gym now, but the gym I belonged to prior was more of a fitness center. When I would pull up, the lot was full. Go inside, free weights and machines were at most 50% used, but the classes were packed; mainly w/ women. A lot of men prefer the free weight area, train with a few friends, or alone (like me). :)

 

I do agree that there is still a prevailing myth that if women lift weights they will become bulky. Any man that has engaged in some bodybuilding at any point in time knows how difficult it is to gain lean mass, even with proper diet and nutrition (and much higher test levels than women, even w/out enhancement).

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They have quite a few 'women only' gyms around.

Thats the thing though. Even with women only gyms...the articles, studies, and surveys still show a lot more men working out than women and working out for longer times.

Im just trying to figure out why this is. My mom even said when she was younger, that waaay more women hit the gym or even took interest in early womens bodybuilding. Im talking like when feminine builders like Racehl Mclish ran the show before women got on steroids.

 

And even with that said, my area has no female only gyms...but even the areas with them...if you talk to people and make friends, Its been my experience as well as others that guys you meet will say they workout out more so than you hear women say it.

 

Im just confused by it all. Especially when itd be nice to have a female gym buddy or gym buddy gf. Most of my friends are chicks too...and most are content with being weak and letting nature do its thing. I have guy friends like this too, but im not trying to fate men lol.

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The gym nearby has designated times for 'Ladies only' scheduled workouts.

 

The main reason being that the women don't like being evaluated by guys and ogled by them. They feel scrutinised and judged, and are frankly sick and tired of feeling like so much meat on parade.

 

So explained the Gym supervisor, who, before such divisions were organised, handled at least 3 complaints a day from ladies sick and tired of the male attention they were attracting.

Serious ladies, intent on just keeping fit, were getting heartily Pi$$ed off with all the comments and innuendos....

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Dudes want to beef up to get chicks. Chicks go on crash diets to become skinny and get dudes.

 

Seriously, its probably because a gym is a male environment. Why are there more women in a salon? Men don't want to upkeep their appearance; are they lazier?

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Sounds like you go to a meathead gym. I was a member of one of those once; the stares and comments didn't bother me until two years in, when all of the invites for dates started to interfere with my workout.

 

So I left for a normal gym; trust me, in a regular gym there are far more women than men, especially in college gyms. Usually, though, the men are on weights and women on cardio.

 

ALso, like others said, classes are 99%+ women.

 

That has been my experience, in gyms all over the world, but again it is anecdotal. I have rarely seen men work even moderately hard in a gym. I make them all look bad :)

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Ive seen articles talking about this issues...small studies too...and some cite a womans schedule as demanding. You know..kids..housework..career...etc.

 

Hey Kaylan, can you link those studies? I am curious :) I am aware of one study off the top of my head:

 

Interrelationships among physical activity, depress... [Prev Med. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI

 

Measurement of PA

 

Participants were asked to wear the accelerometer during all waking hours, positioned on the right hip on an elasticized fabric belt, over a 7-day period. For the present study, activity counts were summarized in 1-min epoch intervals. A weighted average of 4 accelerometer-derived intensity-related count cut-points was used to classify moderate and vigorous PA intensity (Troiano et al., 2008) (2020 and 5999 count cut-points for moderate and vigorous intensity, respectively). Accelerometry data were reduced to mean duration (min) of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). For the analyses described in this study, and as is recommended, only participants with at least 4 days with 10 or more hours per day of monitoring data were included in the analyses (Troiano et al., 2008).

 

CONCLUSION:

 

Promotion of physical activity in the adult population, especially among women, who were found to be less moderately- to vigorously-physically active than their male counterparts, may play an important role in reducing these deleterious conditions.

 

This study used accelerometers, which give objective measurement of intensity and duration of physical activity. In the study, men got an average 30 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity while women only got 18 minutes, on average. However, this was cumulative and not just time in the gym.

 

This chapter might give you some insight into the factors associated with women and less physical activity:

 

Health Psychology - Google Books

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I've been a member of a fitness forum for many years and 99% of them are women who work out at home, generally using DVDs. A lot of them are married with kids so don't have a lot of spare money or time.

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Also, it may be important to consider that women are mothers, wives, managing families. They may not have time to actually go to a gym so they work out at home. A lot of women I know go walking or running in groups with colleagues after work, or attend exercise classes being held in their communities at a public park or rec center.

 

Just because you don't see them at the gym doesn't mean they're not working out :-/. I also agree with TaraMaiden, the ogling's a problem. The gym I go to now I don't have this problem but the ones before this one - dudes were checking me out every time. It's creepy - I don't need to be ogled while I'm working out.

Edited by Almond_Joy
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The gym nearby has designated times for 'Ladies only' scheduled workouts.

 

The main reason being that the women don't like being evaluated by guys and ogled by them. They feel scrutinised and judged, and are frankly sick and tired of feeling like so much meat on parade.

 

So explained the Gym supervisor, who, before such divisions were organised, handled at least 3 complaints a day from ladies sick and tired of the male attention they were attracting.

Serious ladies, intent on just keeping fit, were getting heartily Pi$$ed off with all the comments and innuendos....

Thats the thing though...despite women only gyms, women still work out in less numbers and less time than men. And Im asking why that is if they have their own gyms or can even do it at home.

Dudes want to beef up to get chicks. Chicks go on crash diets to become skinny and get dudes.

 

Seriously, its probably because a gym is a male environment. Why are there more women in a salon? Men don't want to upkeep their appearance; are they lazier?

You brought up something good here, even though your post is misguided. Society has conditioned women into unhealthy fitness habits (crash diets, not lifting real weight, solely doing cardio, poor diets, useless machine etc)

 

And things like Crossfit are changing that. But I just cant see why so many girls dont see the light.

 

And regarding men and salons...that another societal thing. In America men may not upkeep themselves the way women do. But European and Asian guys sure upkeep better than us.

Edited by kaylan
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Hellllo men have notting to do. So shore they

Have so much time to hang with the homies

at the gym.its us that often have our hand full

Of the household and kids.

 

And put them as priority. Often we dont have

time to play.

Read the OP again. This doesnt explain why many younger women without kids and a household work out less than their male peers. Nor does it explain why Ive always seen women half-assing it more in their workouts than men. Maybe Ive just gone to lame gyms...or maybe I need to find some female athletes to befriend.

Sounds like you go to a meathead gym. I was a member of one of those once; the stares and comments didn't bother me until two years in, when all of the invites for dates started to interfere with my workout.

 

So I left for a normal gym; trust me, in a regular gym there are far more women than men, especially in college gyms. Usually, though, the men are on weights and women on cardio.

 

ALso, like others said, classes are 99%+ women.

 

That has been my experience, in gyms all over the world, but again it is anecdotal. I have rarely seen men work even moderately hard in a gym. I make them all look bad :)

Um no. I go to Planet Fitness, and have been to numerous "average folks" type gyms that didnt target meat heads at all.

 

And Im so sick of workout classes too. Too many fads pushed on women to get them skinny, weak and small...instead of healthy functional strength and endurance. Ive answered my own question. The reason I dont see many women working out is because many think classes and diets will do everything for them. Unhealthy habits and a lot of bogus fitness stuff is pushed on women and brainwashes them.

 

Allow me to mention the useless thigh-master (hip abductor) machine again...that women someone think will tone their thighs when the machines doesnt do that at all.

Hey Kaylan, can you link those studies? I am curious :) I am aware of one study off the top of my head:

 

Interrelationships among physical activity, depress... [Prev Med. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI

 

Measurement of PA

 

Participants were asked to wear the accelerometer during all waking hours, positioned on the right hip on an elasticized fabric belt, over a 7-day period. For the present study, activity counts were summarized in 1-min epoch intervals. A weighted average of 4 accelerometer-derived intensity-related count cut-points was used to classify moderate and vigorous PA intensity (Troiano et al., 2008) (2020 and 5999 count cut-points for moderate and vigorous intensity, respectively). Accelerometry data were reduced to mean duration (min) of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). For the analyses described in this study, and as is recommended, only participants with at least 4 days with 10 or more hours per day of monitoring data were included in the analyses (Troiano et al., 2008).

 

CONCLUSION:

 

Promotion of physical activity in the adult population, especially among women, who were found to be less moderately- to vigorously-physically active than their male counterparts, may play an important role in reducing these deleterious conditions.

 

This study used accelerometers, which give objective measurement of intensity and duration of physical activity. In the study, men got an average 30 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity while women only got 18 minutes, on average. However, this was cumulative and not just time in the gym.

 

This chapter might give you some insight into the factors associated with women and less physical activity:

 

Health Psychology - Google Books

Boom. Thats the main study Im talking about. Ill go dig up a couple others from the articles I read.
Also, it may be important to consider that women are mothers, wives, managing families. They may not have time to actually go to a gym so they work out at home. A lot of women I know go walking or running in groups with colleagues after work, or attend exercise classes being held in their communities at a public park or rec center.

 

Just because you don't see them at the gym doesn't mean they're not working out :-/. I also agree with TaraMaiden, the ogling's a problem. The gym I go to now I don't have this problem but the ones before this one - dudes were checking me out every time. It's creepy - I don't need to be ogled while I'm working out.

People clearly missed some things in my OP. This isnt just about the gym. This is about my friends, the friends of my friends, and just women I meet throughout my life. Whenever I speak about fitness, its rare for a girl to say she works out or have any real knowledge regarding fitness. Doesnt matter if its lifting weights, cardio, sports, yoga, whatever. I always meet more guys who exercise in some way or are at least knowledgeable about fitness.

 

Im trying to figure out why that is. Because as I said earlier. For as much as people like to say that women care a lot more about their appearance than men...it would seem based on whos constantly in the gym or doing fitness stuff, that men care a great deal about their appearance too. If not more so than women.

Edited by kaylan
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Ruby Slippers

Body shape and size come mostly from diet.

 

Tone comes from strength training.

 

Most women don't care about being toned - they just want to be thin. That comes down to what you do in the kitchen.

 

I'm starting to get annoyed by going to the weight training sections of my gym. They're always 90% full of men, and at least half of them start acting all weird as soon as a girl walks in. They either start preening and showing off - for instance, checking to make sure I'm watching before they start doing their pull-ups. Or they stare at my boobs or crotch every time I walk by. I ignore as best I can, but sometimes it makes me not even want to go in there.

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People clearly missed some things in my OP. This isnt just about the gym. This is about my friends, the friends of my friends, and just women I meet throughout my life. Whenever I speak about fitness, its rare for a girl to say she works out or have any real knowledge regarding fitness. Doesnt matter if its lifting weights, cardio, sports, yoga, whatever. I always meet more guys who exercise in some way or are at least knowledgeable about fitness.

 

Im trying to figure out why that is. Because as I said earlier. For as much as people like to say that women care a lot more about their appearance than men...it would seem based on whos constantly in the gym or doing fitness stuff, that men care a great deal about their appearance too. If not more so than women.

 

You seem to be equating attractiveness with being physically fit or knowledgeable about physical fitness. That is good knowledge for anyone to have and most wouldn't find a fit person unattractive....but for most men the woman doesn't have to be fit to be considered attractive. Most guys just want a girl that's not overweight and is well proportioned.

 

As far as men caring more about appearance than women.....from what I've seen most of the time that's just not true. When you say appearance you seem to be talking about physical fitness only. A lot more goes into appearance and attractiveness than just that. A woman can have a fantastic bod but if she's walking around in an oversized sweatshirt and track pants with hair that hasn't seen a comb in days she's not gonna look very attractive is she? The opposite also holds true. A woman can be not in the best of shape but invest effort in clothing, makeup, hair, and have the end result/presentation be attractive.

 

As to why things are this way....I assume it's just evolution. For day to day living there's never really been a need for women to make a concentrated, applied effort toward physical fitness. In hunter gatherer societies women would have gotten plenty of exercise managing domestic life from things like pounding grain, tanning animals, planting and/or harvesting. And if you don't think lugging around babies and running after kids all day isn't an exercise you're mistaken!

 

So women have in these capacities been fit, obviously enough to do what they needed to for day to day living. Now that we live in a culture of convenience the need for even that level of fitness is gone. The men don't need to be as fit as they used to be either, so really physical fitness is seen as more of icing on the cake than a foundation.al component of attractiveness.

 

Obviously I'm talking about people in general from my experience. There are plenty of people, like yourself, who find fitness more important than that.

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Body shape and size come mostly from diet.

 

Tone comes from strength training.

 

Most women don't care about being toned - they just want to be thin. That comes down to what you do in the kitchen.

 

I'm starting to get annoyed by going to the weight training sections of my gym. They're always 90% full of men, and at least half of them start acting all weird as soon as a girl walks in. They either start preening and showing off - for instance, checking to make sure I'm watching before they start doing their pull-ups. Or they stare at my boobs or crotch every time I walk by. I ignore as best I can, but sometimes it makes me not even want to go in there.

 

 

The last gym I was at had the treadmills in front of the seated rowing machines :-/. I can't imagine what genius thought of that layout, but the guys would just take a seat to stare at the women running on the treadmills from behind.

 

I got off once and a dude was right behind me like staring at me as I walked away. So frickin creepy.

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thoughts?

 

The only thing I hate more than gyms in general is mixed gender gyms.

 

I do all my exercise outside of a gym. And I don't talk about it with other people because, quite frankly, I find it a boring topic of discussion.

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You seem to be equating attractiveness with being physically fit or knowledgeable about physical fitness. That is good knowledge for anyone to have and most wouldn't find a fit person unattractive....but for most men the woman doesn't have to be fit to be considered attractive. Most guys just want a girl that's not overweight and is well proportioned.

 

As far as men caring more about appearance than women.....from what I've seen most of the time that's just not true. When you say appearance you seem to be talking about physical fitness only. A lot more goes into appearance and attractiveness than just that. A woman can have a fantastic bod but if she's walking around in an oversized sweatshirt and track pants with hair that hasn't seen a comb in days she's not gonna look very attractive is she? The opposite also holds true. A woman can be not in the best of shape but invest effort in clothing, makeup, hair, and have the end result/presentation be attractive.

 

As to why things are this way....I assume it's just evolution. For day to day living there's never really been a need for women to make a concentrated, applied effort toward physical fitness. In hunter gatherer societies women would have gotten plenty of exercise managing domestic life from things like pounding grain, tanning animals, planting and/or harvesting. And if you don't think lugging around babies and running after kids all day isn't an exercise you're mistaken!

 

So women have in these capacities been fit, obviously enough to do what they needed to for day to day living. Now that we live in a culture of convenience the need for even that level of fitness is gone. The men don't need to be as fit as they used to be either, so really physical fitness is seen as more of icing on the cake than a foundation.al component of attractiveness.

 

Obviously I'm talking about people in general from my experience. There are plenty of people, like yourself, who find fitness more important than that.

First let me address the bold. Do you not know how men work? We can see the body and tell shes hot through an outline. The hot body girl will be more attractive despite her clothing...because shes got the one up on the no body girl whos dolled up. Guys find hot chicks in plain or frumpy clothing attractive ALL the time. The women with the hotter body will win almost all the time.

 

And no its not "evolution". Its very modern in our society that weak and frail women are deemed attractive. This didnt start until Twiggy came out back in the 60s. Before then women like Marilyn Monroe were all you ever saw pushed as sexy. And trust me, men respond a lot more to Marilyn Monroe, or a gym goer like Jessica Biel, then any plain chick who doesnt take care of her body. So, if you want to talk about evolution or nature...our nature dictates that we are most attracted to top specimens of our species. And top specimens tend to be toned and shaped well, which is why both men and women drool over fitness models. Its a sexy look that our evolution has apparently hard wired us to be greatly attracted to, as those models have many inherently sexy traits.

 

Regarding the rest of the post thats not bolded, I wasnt solely talking about being attractive.

 

I was talking about who worries about appearance.

 

And in general, this thread was about women actually becoming more knowledgeable about fitness and health. Simple being thin through solely cardio, crash diets, and many "fitness" regimens that target women, do not promote overall good health.

 

Being fit is great for health and great for an always aging body. Read this. This is why its important for women to start exercising more and actually shun some of the BS society feeds them regarding how they should look. Being weak and frail, especially as you age, wont help.

Edited by kaylan
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Your idea of attractive body isn't shared by all. Crossfit women aren't attractive to all. A lot of men are attracted to softness and curves, not visible tone.

 

While a man can count on being more attractive to women by lifting, women may lose interest from a portion of men (not you, obviously).

 

I believe younger women exercise less because they don't have to. They attract plenty of men without it. Young people often aren't giving too much thought to healthy habits. So it isn't that they are lazy, but rather that putting time into window dressing is more effective at that age than putting time into toning an already attractive body.

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It depends on which gym you go to, where it's located, what time of day you go, what part of the gym you go to, etc. I've never noticed any big gender difference at the gyms I've gone to. If anything, I see more women at the gym than men. And I certainly see more women who look like they go to the gym than I see (straight) men.

 

As to your friends, the big pilgrimage to the gyms usually doesn't start until after 30, when people realize their metabolism is slowing down. Most people peak physically around 25 and don't have any reason to go to the gym. Looking good in your 20s is pretty effortless and most people that age haven't started thinking about their mortality, so unless they are engaging in competitive athletics or driven my some sort of insecurity, there will always be relatively fewer 20-somethings at the gym.

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I think you need to clearly state whether you're talking about fitness and health here, or about appearance. And whether you're talking about the gym or just exercising in general. You seem to be overlapping one with the other. When it comes to fitness and health, there are many ways to achieve that outside the gym. There are plenty of predominantly female fitness activities - pilates, zumba, rollerskating, etc.

 

When it comes to appearance, most models (not fitness models, who cater to a specific niche, but models, who are paid solely for their appearance) will assure you that working out is a much smaller part of the female beauty regime compared to a man's. A male model generally needs some muscle bulk, but female models don't. For the females, dieting is more essential to achieve a tiny waist, and the other components of beauty - hair, skin, makeup, clothes, etc - consume more time for the female model than the male. The stereotypical definition of beauty for women encompasses much more than simple athleticism - the average person will find http://www.shape.com/sites/shape.com/files/imagecache/lists_list_image/list_images/krista-329.jpg more good-looking than http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/001/155/326/103904407_crop_650x440.jpg?1312523529 despite the latter definitely being more athletic.

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I'd say my gym is split pretty evenly overall. The fitness class I take is 85% women. The cardio room is 50/50, and the weight lifting area is probably 85% men.

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Yeah, women are also discouraged from talking about said exercise ever! Even when found in the middle of a fitness-related topic. Didn't you know? We all have our amazing figures Naturally! We never eat healthy foods, only pizza and tacos, and NEVER EVER workout. This body just IS.

 

Plus, women are considered boring if they talk about their fitness routines; others get annoyed that said people workout and start to feel themselves guilty. So, after this type of programming, women rarely talk about it. I, for one, am far more outspoken than most and even I will keep quiet with men when they start discussing weights. I usually will chime in to correct something that is wrong, but that is it.

 

Only the people close to me, who have worked out with me or been invited to, or who have asked for my help and advice know to the extent that I workout. Don't want to get flamed for it anymore.

 

All of your "statistics" are anecdotal; they don't really apply in real life. What articles are you talking about? More importantly, where do you live?

 

Because, honestly, after spending a good deal of my time and life with other women, every single woman I know works out. The ones who at one time didn't wanted to, and I usually helped them get into it. The ones I meet in the city? All do something, it just comes out slowly ("Oh, I have to go for a run, can we meet in an hour instead, etc") Never as an actual topic of discussion.

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