‘This would terrify me’: Man working out in his garage gym discovers he’s being watched but the truth is more wholesome than it seems

It’s normal to feel a little self-conscious when working out at the gym, but the reality is that most aren’t paying any attention to what you are doing. But what would you do if someone was very obviously watching you as you work out, and to make matters worse, they’re watching you in your personal home gym? Well that’s exactly the situation that one guy on TikTok found himself in.

TikTok user Tom Trotter shared a bizarre video from inside his personal gym in his garage. The garage door is open, presumably on account of the hot weather, however, it’s immediately obvious that something is off as an elderly man can be seen standing just outside. Trotter does attempt to engage with the man as he can be heard asking him “You okay? All good?” However, he gets no response from the man.

A rather disturbing predicament

What would you do if an old man was silently watching you? Some viewers chimed in with their recommendations, some suggested aggression, one person told Tom, “I would have had an aggressive right arm workout and see if he would still have kept watching!” Another gave a more measured response by suggesting he call the police while a third told him to “just close the garage door.”

It seemed most assumed the worst of the old man, one user even claimed “this would terrify me.” To be fair this isn’t exactly an uncommon response to something like this, we’ve seen plenty of creeps acting weird on TikTok in the past. However, it’s not always as sinister as it first seems.

A wholesome conclusion

While Tom’s initial video ends without an answer as to what the old man was doing, a follow-up vid gives us the conclusion we were all eagerly waiting for.

In the second video the mysterious man returns, but this time he seems a little more talkative. Trotter introduces himself and shakes hands with him, while it appears the man knows little English; he does show an interest in using the weights in Tom’s gym.

Tom finds out through the use of Google Translate that the man is from Shanghai and was simply curious about the home gym. He claims the elderly man is calm and kind, qualities which can clearly be seen in the clip. The video ends on a much more wholesome note than the first part with the two men seemingly becoming friends as Tom claims “exercise brings us all together.”

Tom also criticizes the commenters who recommended a more aggressive or rude approach explaining that he chose not to do that, “I chose calm. I chose kindness. And it led to understanding, not fear.” It seems there’s a lesson to be learned here today that could be applied to many situations in the world right now.