Gym Etiquette

[mandiam]

With the gym being in my morning routine and even getting ready for work there everyday--I have come to notice little things that just bug me...

Is there anything that just BUGS you at the gym?? I don't want this thread to just be a compaining one--but m hope is that maybe we can come to a little gym etiquette list and everyone can be happy gymmers.

I'll start.

Obnoxious grunting. LOL--it kind of just makes me laugh--and then another side of me is just thinking what the heck!!! I understand when something is difficult, a little grunt is sometimes necessary--but if you are belting out songs in grunt form with every rep you take--maybe we should lower the weight just a tad hahahaha..

How about you girls? Find anything entertaining at your gym? or just plain gross?

[Veronica]

I work out in a small, private gym with a personal trainer. I've discovered grunting is sometimes necessary; it just happens. Same thing with funny faces, there are times you just can't avoid making them.

Lifting heavy is required if you want to build muscle.

When I worked out in a public facility, bad form bothered me, as did dropping weights.

Veronica

[PirateKitty]

+1 on dropping weights

Also, wiping down machines after use.
It's quick, easy, and most gyms supply the sanitizer and napkins.

[Blueberry]

Those who ignore the 30 minute time limit for cardio machines (and/or cover the time up with their towel). Last time I was waiting for a machine, there was someone who had been on the machine well over 30 minutes (she ended up stopping after an hour).

I'm never sure whether to say something. I usually end up just waiting and someone else will give it up. But - when there are multiple people doing the long workout thing, it can be a 20+ minute wait. I get that people need to workout longer than 30 minutes - when I do, I get off, wait for another machine, get back on. Not sure what the correct etiquette is.

[Veronica]

I'm never sure whether to say something. I usually end up just waiting and someone else will give it up. But - when there are multiple people doing the long workout thing, it can be a 20+ minute wait. I get that people need to workout longer than 30 minutes - when I do, I get off, wait for another machine, get back on. Not sure what the correct etiquette is.

That's a toughie because if your training plan calls for doing a longer workout... but I think I'd still do the polite thing and get off if there were people waiting.

When I have to do cardio at the public gym I belong to, I try to be there when it's not crowded so I can be on as long as I want. Not a luxury everyone has, I know.

Veronica

[Veronica]

Unavoidable funny faces... You can't see the 30 pound dumbbells I'm holding.

Veronica

[skhill]

Biggest annoyance: folks who have the volume on their devices so high that it's audible to others. Of course, with it turned up that high you might not notice the dropped weights...

[OakLeaf]

Biggest annoyance: people who can't keep their hands off the thermostat and/or fans, who make everyone else work out with stiff, cold muscles because of their pathological need never to sweat.

Close second: people who wear perfume or strong-scented products, either while working out or applying them in the locker room.

[Blueberry]

That's a toughie because if your training plan calls for doing a longer workout... but I think I'd still do the polite thing and get off if there were people waiting.

I really, really try to be sympathetic to that - with my own workouts and when others are working out. I do my bike workouts at home on my trainer and I'm still banned from running - so I'm talking about elliptical trainers on my "off" days for extra cardio. There are giant signs with the time limit posted, though - so it's not like it isn't an "official rule." Gym officials have definitely asked people to stop before, but they don't do it regularly.

My gym is affiliated with a major university, so most of the people working out are students. The people I mentioned are working out while reading magazines, chatting with friends, talking on cell phones and otherwise not really focusing on their workouts. My own perception and prejudices coming through - but I find it hard to believe that what they're doing is part of their training plan....

[mandiam]

Unavoidable funny faces... You can't see the 30 pound dumbbells I'm holding.

Veronica

LOL i love that photo. The annoyance I have with the grunts is mainly pointed to a certain gentleman at my gym. He grunts---when he walks. He grunts--when he sits. It's not the normal "this is heavy" type grunt. It's the loud obnoxious ones. I didn't mean to not use heavy weights--I know it sounded as such!

and 30lb dumbbells? what were you doing with those bad boys?!

[Catrin]

LOL i love that photo. The annoyance I have with the grunts is mainly pointed to a certain gentleman at my gym. He grunts---when he walks. He grunts--when he sits. It's not the normal "this is heavy" type grunt. It's the loud obnoxious ones. I didn't mean to not use heavy weights--I know it sounded as such!

and 30lb dumbbells? what were you doing with those bad boys?!

He may not even be aware that he does it, I know a couple of people who does the same thing and I am convinced that at least one of them isn't even aware of it. It is the kind that certainly gets the attention of everyone else around!

My current annoyance are a couple of members who provided unsolicited "guidance" because they don't seem to like what I am doing. Outside of that I can't think of much else, I tend to reserve my cardio for the bike outside or the Helix Lateral Trainer - and the latter doesn't appear to be very popular outside of cyclists (and there are three of them).

[Veronica]

and 30lb dumbbells? what were you doing with those bad boys?!

Dead lifts on a step - sets of twenty. That round also had single leg hamstring curls, side to side jumps, lunges with a 20 pound vest and running with high knees (also while wearing the vest.)

Veronica

[Crankin]

I don't do anything except walk into the group exercise room at my gym, for my strength/core class. I also went to a few spin classes this winter. Nothing has really annoyed me there, except for the perceived cheapness of the owners, but at the last gym I went to (12 years), there were lots of things. This was a huge, multi-purpose club, with tennis and swimming, lots of trainers and lots of classes. People routinely bugged me there, as in the woman who ran on the treadmill all morning, every morning, in full make up. I wanted to say "go outside." Sometimes, I would have to wait for ellipticals or treadmills in the late afternoon, but they really did a huge number of pieces of equipment.
People in spin class bothered me a lot. There was the fan issue, as has been discussed on another thread and more annoying, the "mommy crowd," who talked incessantly through classes. I still belonged to this gym during my first year of grad school and sometimes I went in the mid morning and it was soooo annoying. Then there was the guy who wore the same ripped sleeveless t shirt every single class for like 4 years. He smelled, too. Now, this guy has an $7K bike, he can afford a jersey.
At first, the women in the classes I am taking at the new place were not too friendly, but now that it's been 6 months and I am still there, they talk to me occasionally.

[Tri Girl]

I really only go to our gym to swim anymore, but when I used to go daily for Body Pump and running on the treadmill (before we got one of our own), there was this HORRIBLY annoying perky cute young little thing next to me (how she ALWAYS wound up next to me or near me, I'll never know). Anyway, when she ran, she would grunt with EVERY footstrike. And not an angry grunt from exertion, more like the kind of grunt/moan you would hear in the bedroom. Oh good gravy- it drove me insane. I would often stop my run and move to another treadmill just to get away from her. Thankfully our gym has 2 dozen treadmills to choose from. I thought "man- she *really* likes running". I couldn't run and concentrate with that going on next to me! Jeez! Now, there were always a few young male things that would inevitably wind up running near her. Go figure...
Now the only grunting I hear is from our chocolate lab who sits at the front of the treadmill looking at me and grunting because she wants me to take her outside and run.
So I guess I'm saying that it would be good to keep your treadmill moans to yourself.

[Pax]

People who don't re-rack their weights!

I work out at a University gym and end up following very young fit guys from station to station, they will load up the bar with anywhere from 200-500 lbs. of weights (depending on the station), do their set, and walk away. I end up getting most of my workout re-racking their weights.