Bad Gym Etiquette

[DarrenConroy]

taking weights off my rack during my set while I'm repping, or just taking weights from station, I may not use them all, but I' am in that area of the station using the equipment, it only takes but a quickie to ask "Hey bro could I borrow these or take these, or are you going to use these." I always ask before I take from other people.

The other one that really pisses me off, is those people who are doing the Iron man Challenge in the gym taking up 4-5 work out stations jumping from one spot to another to another. WTF is that about. But damn don't get caught up trying to use the machine when they walk off to use another one lol.

Hahaha... I totally hear you buddy.. some of those guys doing those crazy circuits need to shouldn't go to a regular gym... Maybe a crossfit gym would suffice..

[DRAXXIS]

There's this stupid ******* old guy who is in the locker room every ****ing day and is always singing out loud for the full duration of his time there.

Lol, quit being a priss. The gym's full of douch bags; it's just the way it is.

[igsm1969]

Haha I'm guilty of this a few years ago. Was raining outside and wore running shoes to gym. Squeakiness ensued. Gave zero ****s and did my 30 mins. Now I switch shoes @ the gym.



Sounds like a smaller Uni. Even one smaller college I attended for a little while had an entire separate gym complex just for the athletes. That would be brutal for anyone that is starting out to even go otherwise because of that intimidation. Damn...

It is supposed to be for the staff, students, athletes and even open up to the community. It was just built and the director claims it is state of the art. The showers they put in either run all hot (scalding) or ice cold and I have said something several times about it. The treadmills speed up and slow down without warning, and the pneumatic systems lose air pressure making it just about impossible to use the system to add resistance to already loaded equipment or for training for power. I told a few people they can only call it state of the art if it works.

[c-diddy]

Some creepy old guy at my work gym always used to stand there at the showers looking at me as I showered.

He was a bald dude with tats so not sure if he was some skinhead that hates minorities or if he was some *******.

[macsm01]

Don't sneak through when people are loading up bars. Go around. If I elbow you somewhere you don't want to be elbowed or bump into you it's your own fault.

[HaronLaurence]

Some creepy old guy at my work gym always used to stand there at the showers looking at me as I showered.

He was a bald dude with tats so not sure if he was some skinhead that hates minorities or if he was some *******.

I've got loads of guys like that in my gym. Short, fat, old guys, and they spend like half an hour showering, then another half an hour just walking around naked in the locker room. When you walk in the shower room you've got all of them staring at you, it's really annoying. And often I have to shower next to one because there's not enough shower heads in there.

[FitnessFan76]

The thing that annoys me most is when the bar in the squat/bench rack is left fully loaded with 20s. I mean, come on guys - those 20kgs are as light as a feather to you - how long would it take you to remove them? Even worse than that is when the damn bar is left higher up the rack - I'm not that tall(!), so my only option then is to ask someone to help. Same when someone leaves a loaded bar on the floor.

[NickCaissey]

They like to talk while they have all the equipment near them like they own all of it where I used to go. I can understand if someone asks you about one particular set of equipment if you're just standing there if they could use it for a set and say no because they aren't done. but when they have a dozen things near them and they verbally attack someone trying to ask politely to use one.

Hi everyone, just want to share some of my dislikes of the current gym I am going for my workouts. I'm actually quite tempted to mention the name and the location of the gym but opted to hide this information first. I will probably disclose the name if I can't bear with the members anymore.

I will list down a few things I find them EXTREMELY annoying and irritating. Please see below:

1. Members throwing/chucking heavy dumbells after completing a set. Althought the gym floor is covered with rubber mats, I feel chucking the weights is very dangerous for other people because the weights might crash on their feet or something like that. What a bunch of inconsiderate monkeys, I remember one of the gym instructors politely told this jackass to put down the weights with cautious, and he got offended and told her that he did not need to waste his effort since he has completed his set. What an ass!

2. Not putting weights back to its respective racks!!!!!! This really pisses me off a lot. Whenever I step into the free weight section, I see dumbells lyinig around on the floor and the racks are empty. This is really selfish of them. They want to save their strengths for subsequent sets; hence, choose to neglect the weights they have used and leave them there so the guys around him will trip and fall horribly!!!!! I also hate hyprocrites who claim that they hate people who don't put their weights back and even claim they are responsible members who put weights back after using them. A few days ago, I saw the same MOFOs who left the weights on the squating rack and never came back!!!! Ahhhhhhh I'm so mad while writing this now.

3. Screamers. I just can't avoid/ignore them. Groaning is acceptable but screaming your lungs out??? I think if they really want to show their masculinity by shouting out loud? Please do that at a karaoke joint.

4. Gym instructors who only talk to the pretty ones. I notice this and it personally disgusts me the most!!!! I always see guy instructors chatting up with chicks on the treadmill, while ignoring a poor lady who obviously needed some guidance from "qualified" gym instructors. Some of them even abuse their authority during personal training sessions such as putting their palm on the lady's buttocks "assisting" her in her stretch. Seriously, I was in the States for 5 years and I know they can be sued for sexual harrassment. But then again! The women in my country are so dumb and naive they seem to like the attention they are getting from the instructors

5. TAKING 10 MINUTES REST PERIOD. Sorry for the caps but I'm actually getting quite pissed as I am writing this. :P I am not condemning people who like to socialize at a gym. When you rack up weights on the smith machine and decide to have a quick drink at the cooler I am fine with that. But doing a quick warm up set of 10-12 and then chatting up with some so called buddies for like 10 minutes enrages me!!!!!!! I don't mind if they do that during non-peak hours but doing that during peak hours deserve to soak themselves in acid!

There are still so much more and I should stop here. Must go back to work before my manager finds out I have been doing nothing but writing hate mails.

Please share your views as well. Looking forward to your feedback.

Take care.

[jzmac15]

Purchase some noise canceling earphones

[FitnessFan76]

Purchase some noise canceling earphones

Or turn the music down a bit; if others can hear your music especially over the music in the gym itself, then your music is probably too loud and you're going to damage your hearing long term.

[TheBudoka]

Hate people that feel the need to drop heavy dumbbells hard enough to break the floor in my gym. Seriously a part of the free weight section is sectioned off now because of these idiots. Can't you at the very least lower them close to the ground and then let go?

[FitnessFan76]

One particular thing I find to be bad etiquette is when groups of people pretend they’re the only ones at the gym or have a sense of entitlement to the equipment.

I went to my university gym one morning on a chest day and hopped on a treadmill for a few minutes to get warmed up. The gym was pretty much empty; there were a few people in the cardio area and one or two guys in the free weight area so I was pretty confident I wasn’t going to have to compete for equipment. After less than a minute on the treadmill I notice this group of guys come in followed by some middle aged guy with a clip board. I thought ‘wtf? Who are these people? I’ve never seen them before…’ I finished up my warm up a few minutes later without giving it much thought and made it over to the free weight area on the other side of the gym. I could not believe what I saw. I literally stood there for trying to comprehend what was going on… They had re-arranged the entire area, and they were using almost every piece of equipment. There were six of them plus what looked like their coach and they were using three of the three power racks, three of the four bench presses, one of the two benches that incline, one dumbbell for each of the weights from 40 to 80 lbs (so one of each of 40,45,50,55,60,65,70,75,80, leaving no available pairs of dumbbells for anyone else in the 40-80 weight range), and to top it all off… the coach was using two of the five flat benches available, one to sit on, and the other to write on his clip board (You have a F*cking clipboard!!! Why do you need a bench @sshole!!!). They had completely re-arranged the area and built this bench press barrier/wall around the power racks to deter people from going near them. Once again I thought ‘who the f*ck do these people think they are? All this equipment for six people and two benches so their coach can have a desk?’ Luckily my chest workout doesn’t use any set of dumbbells under the 85’s so I was ok and I was able to find the equipment and benches I needed only because these jack-@ss idoits did such a good job of intimidating the four or five other (clearly new to the gym) guys that they were just wandering around the free weight area probably too intimidated to use anything.

After about forty to forty-five minutes of equipment hogging, obnoxious yelling, and weight slamming constantly reinforced and encouraged by their coach this group of douches were done. Their coach gave them a ‘good job today guys…’ speech and then told them to put the equipment back where it was found and left. These guys half assed putting everything back they re-racked weights in the wrong spot, put the bench presses back all f*cked up, didn’t unload the Olympic bars, or clean up all the chalk they spilled and just left the gym looking like $h!t. I felt bad for the new guys who had decided to come in the morning probably because (like me) they are trying to avoid @ssholes like this who usually go in the evening only to be bullied and intimidated off equipment anyway. After I finished my workout and was leaving the locker room, what really made me mad was that I noticed the probably 5’4”, 110 lb, girl, who was the gym attendant that morning was re-racking, rearranging, unloading plates, and cleaning up the mess that these jerks left behind.

That's disgraceful - everyone's paid their membership so no one has the right to 'wall off' an area like that. If the management's got any balls at all, they'll get banned.

[macsm01]

The thing that annoys me most is when the bar in the squat/bench rack is left fully loaded with 20s. I mean, come on guys - those 20kgs are as light as a feather to you - how long would it take you to remove them? Even worse than that is when the damn bar is left higher up the rack - I'm not that tall(!), so my only option then is to ask someone to help. Same when someone leaves a loaded bar on the floor.

This is the #1 pet peeve of any gym trainer, gym rat, or owner. People don't strip bars and either don't rerack weights or put them in the wrong place. I will say this though. In many gyms it's common courtesy to leave weight on certain stations. For example: One gym had four 50kg plates on a leg press machine and people were not supposed to take them off.

Hate people that feel the need to drop heavy dumbbells hard enough to break the floor in my gym. Seriously a part of the free weight section is sectioned off now because of these idiots. Can't you at the very least lower them close to the ground and then let go?

Really depends on the exercise. Some guys are tools, but other guys are just doing olympic style lifts. My gym went the other route and banned everyone from doing olympic style lifts because too many people were complaining.

[FitnessFan76]

This is the #1 pet peeve of any gym trainer, gym rat, or owner. People don't strip bars and either don't rerack weights or put them in the wrong place. I will say this though. In many gyms it's common courtesy to leave weight on certain stations. For example: One gym had four 50kg plates on a leg press machine and people were not supposed to take them off.

That's fine if there were other leg press machines designed for people who haven't yet got the legs of a WWE wrestler.

[aaaaaaaaaachooo]

Saw a old/outta shape guy doing flat DB flyes yesterday with the 30's and he THREW them when he was done. Unreal.

*Repped*
Pure AWESOMENESS. lol

[macsm01]

That's fine if there were other leg press machines designed for people who haven't yet got the legs of a WWE wrestler.

Different gyms cater to different clientele. 400 lbs on a leg press machine is considered a light weight. Power lifters stack the machine. Tree trunk leg guys over 1500 lbs, some can do over 2000.

[ironmaniac508]

This is why I have a gym in the garage lol. I used to go to a nearby golds gym that was very bodybuilder and crossfit friendly, they had a whole room designated for crossfit. Anyway 2x a week I would do some tire flips as a cardio finisher in the crossfit room, usually for interavals like 1 min on 20 secons off or tabata, and I did this for months without anyone bothering me. There was this scraggly older guy, looked like an anorexic drug addict lol actually a distance runner, complained to the receptionist about me flipping tires etc etc. The kid comes in and tells me what is up, I tell him I will stop so as not to risk him losing his job and then he tells me the guy reads while he is on the exercise bike......I said to him tell the guy I will buy him a library card if he wants to read, plenty of books there lol. However I asked the receptionist what time the guy usually comes in and I would go in a bit later to avoid that guy and I would ask if the guy was at the gym, if not tire flipping lol. But I never seemed to be able to avoid the pain in the butt so I said forget this place, where I receive a lot of attitude from other people as well, and never renewed my membership and invested in my garage gym.

I have literally everything; heavy bag, power rack, adjustable bench, powerblock dumbbells, gymnastic rings, bars, weights, farmers walk handles, sandbag, prowler, bands, stereo....list goes on lol.

[FitnessFan76]

Different gyms cater to different clientele. 400 lbs on a leg press machine is considered a light weight. Power lifters stack the machine. Tree trunk leg guys over 1500 lbs, some can do over 2000.

Oh... OK.

This is why I have a gym in the garage lol. I used to go to a nearby golds gym that was very bodybuilder and crossfit friendly, they had a whole room designated for crossfit. Anyway 2x a week I would do some tire flips as a cardio finisher in the crossfit room, usually for interavals like 1 min on 20 secons off or tabata, and I did this for months without anyone bothering me. There was this scraggly older guy, looked like an anorexic drug addict lol actually a distance runner, complained to the receptionist about me flipping tires etc etc. The kid comes in and tells me what is up, I tell him I will stop so as not to risk him losing his job and then he tells me the guy reads while he is on the exercise bike......I said to him tell the guy I will buy him a library card if he wants to read, plenty of books there lol. However I asked the receptionist what time the guy usually comes in and I would go in a bit later to avoid that guy and I would ask if the guy was at the gym, if not tire flipping lol. But I never seemed to be able to avoid the pain in the butt so I said forget this place, where I receive a lot of attitude from other people as well, and never renewed my membership and invested in my garage gym.

I have literally everything; heavy bag, power rack, adjustable bench, powerblock dumbbells, gymnastic rings, bars, weights, farmers walk handles, sandbag, prowler, bands, stereo....list goes on lol.

Although I enjoy going to the gym, I don't enjoy having to drag into town every time especially if the weather's bad. I'd have a garage gym in a second - if I had a garage. All I'd need is a squat/bench rack, a barbell and some weights - I'm doing All Pro's so no machines needed.

Edit: Actually I'd have a heavy bag as well - nothing like whacking something if you're feeling a bit pissed, eh?

[dabears8273]

People monopolizing mulitple pieces of equipment is really bad etiquette. When they get really aggrivated if you ask them if they are done is pretty funny though.

[pistolpete888]

There's a problem with so many kids thinking that they are something special. Yes, you are important to yourself and the people you know, but to the strangers and companions at the gym, you're just another person. So please stop being so inconsiderate and pick up after yourself you lazy pricks. Or please bring your mom to the gym, this way she can pick up after you like you were raised how to do and think. Hopefully shes hot too...

[Woofwolf]

I was at the gym in the early hours of yesterday. I am currently following the 12 weeks extreme transformation (a bit of applause there lads and lass! thank you thank you.). Straight to the cliff: I got my towel, shower gel and boxer and headed towards shower. Just as I hung my towel over the shower stall, I experienced an extreme urge to go for a wee. So I went to the toilet and as I was on my way there, I passed this guy, whom was going towards the shower section. Instantly I sub-consciously thought: bet he's going to go into my shower stall. Why? because I'd smell a cockiness when we intersected. Needless to say, when I got back my hypothesis was 100% correct. Out of 2 empty shower heads he thought it was appropriate showering on the one that was in use. It was blatant that someone had left their stuff there. By the way the toilet is literally 9 yards from the shower room.

I walked in and took my stuff. He'd a thick East European accent! I let him off the hook, because I noticed him doing the squat in the weight lifting room earlier and boewy that guy is going to SNAP soon!

[speedjason]

If i were you, i would really have helped the person bro, i generally used to help a dude who worked at my previous gym few years ago, he was extremely thin and i was few of the guys who used to go late in the evening and finish till the time is close to closing hours.

its good to cuz it works out your muscle. you go to gym to workout right? if people cant unrack, they might as well dont lift.

[DivineArc]

I actually have a couple of short stories of my own about bad gym etiquette.

They're the usual weight slammers who are somewhat hilarious to look at considering when I'm done with my sets, I put the weights down like a normal person. Not someone whose holding a par of flaming cobra wrapped dumbbells. And then there's the screaming loud talking guys that I can hear through my headphones. I know my headphones are semi cheap headphones I bought from walgreens but jeez to hear your obnoxious laughs and groans when you're lifting? Then there's the oh so common people who just leave 70-85 pound dumbbells laying around. That's seriously dangerous and shouldn't be allowed to be honest.

On to my special story; There were two women who came into the gym. When I first saw them I thought to myself "Well they're making the first step that most people won't even bother to make by donating some time to treat their body right" Until I saw them get on the machines. Myself personally am going through a dumbbell process to regulate my muscles and joints to get used to the motions so I'm more of a dumbbell guy at the moment. But these women were special. After they were down with the machines(no cardio included on their part of course) they went over to the dumbbell weight rack. They pretty hogged all the weights from 5-15 doing the stupidest, most uneducated, pathetic excuse of form exercises that I've ever seen. They just had dumbbells in their hands and started doing random crap like turning their torsos and swinging them around. All right in front of the rack's mirror that everybody uses to see if they're doing the workouts right. And after they were done throwing their asses in everyone's faces(Which was pretty much what they were doing)fishing for attention, they started hogging the weights and taking pictures. That's when I just told myself "This is why I don't care for cheap 24/7 gyms" It was so sad, I couldn't exactly get angry, I just laughed at how sad it was.

Oh and when some random muscle headed sad soul had to steal my "AccuMeasure MyoTape MT05 and AM-3000 Fitness 3000 Personal Body Fat Tester Kit" out of my gym bag. Best part is, they left the instructions. At least take that too so I feel like I lost the damn things somewhere else, like at home or something....

[FitnessFan76]

All thieves are idiots - gym or otherwise.

[EYZE]

They pretty hogged all the weights from 5-15 doing the stupidest, most uneducated, pathetic excuse of form exercises that I've ever seen. They just had dumbbells in their hands and started doing random crap like turning their torsos and swinging them around. All right in front of the rack's mirror that everybody uses to see if they're doing the workouts right. And after they were done throwing their asses in everyone's faces(Which was pretty much what they were doing)fishing for attention, they started hogging the weights and taking pictures. That's when I just told myself "This is why I don't care for cheap 24/7 gyms" It was so sad, I couldn't exactly get angry, I just laughed at how sad it was.

I see stuff like this all the time, people who are clearly new to the gym but are way too comfortable that they are doing exercises wrong while being obnoxious and looking for attention.

I also find people who think just because they are really smart at something else, they assume they must be an inherent genius when it comes to exercise really annoying. I see people all the time at my school gym that seem to think just because they have a 90% average or a high GPA while studying accounting, that they somehow also have a PhD in Kinesiology. These ‘expert on everything’ type people who are so insecure they feel stupid if they’re not the smartest person in the room. They've discovered that you are better than them at something and can’t deal with it so they pretend to be an expert in the thing you are better at (weightlifting, exercise, cardio, ect) in an attempt to feel smarter. I’m not taking advice from someone who isn’t in better shape than me. You shouldn't be giving acquaintances or friends advice on how to do bicep exercises when yours are barley 10’. It’s bad etiquette at the gym to give advice to someone who does not ask or want it.

[varundbest]

its good to cuz it works out your muscle. you go to gym to workout right? if people cant unrack, they might as well dont lift.

Yup, certainly...

[HumblyMuscles]

This is why I have a gym in the garage lol. I used to go to a nearby golds gym that was very bodybuilder and crossfit friendly, they had a whole room designated for crossfit. Anyway 2x a week I would do some tire flips as a cardio finisher in the crossfit room, usually for interavals like 1 min on 20 secons off or tabata, and I did this for months without anyone bothering me. There was this scraggly older guy, looked like an anorexic drug addict lol actually a distance runner, complained to the receptionist about me flipping tires etc etc. The kid comes in and tells me what is up, I tell him I will stop so as not to risk him losing his job and then he tells me the guy reads while he is on the exercise bike......I said to him tell the guy I will buy him a library card if he wants to read, plenty of books there lol. However I asked the receptionist what time the guy usually comes in and I would go in a bit later to avoid that guy and I would ask if the guy was at the gym, if not tire flipping lol. But I never seemed to be able to avoid the pain in the butt so I said forget this place, where I receive a lot of attitude from other people as well, and never renewed my membership and invested in my garage gym.

I have literally everything; heavy bag, power rack, adjustable bench, powerblock dumbbells, gymnastic rings, bars, weights, farmers walk handles, sandbag, prowler, bands, stereo....list goes on lol.

Good stuff, I've got a home gym too, and I'm always adding new stuff. Can't say I'm into tyre flipping though! Although my spare 4wd wheel is in the corner of my gym.....

[jeighty9]

Someone keeps wearing glitter to the gym. Hard to be srs while im shimmering like a rainbow.

[CreativeFe9]

totally agree with u !
great article

[cdevocht]

arghh so many people throwing weights....all the loose dumbbells >