Working out at the Gym / how to tell someone they smell

Myhaloslipped

It would incredibly inappropriate to confront her about it and extremely inappropriate to involve the gym staff. Just move or deal with it.

Myhaloslipped

This^ honestly I find the fact that you put something over your mouth and nose kinda ridiculous and rude. It's a gym, people sweat and sometimes smell bad, get over it. If it bothered you so much you should have moved, not degraded her because chances are she already knew she smelled and you acted like a child about it.

agree totally...so rude

+1 totally uncalled for and dramatic as well.

Mrsallypants

Walked into cardio room when it was packed once. It of course was hot in there, it smelled like a gigantic dilated sweaty *kitten* in a sauna in there.

Joreanasaurous

Seriously, it's a gym. People sweat and at times people smell bad. If it was bothering you that much you should have moved to another machine. I'm certain that after an hour on the elliptical you weren't smelling like a bag of roses either...

The point is she smelt like that BEFORE she got on the elliptical . BEFORE. It's obvious that people smell AFTER a work out but BEFORE is just reckless. Change your gym clothes and wash them.Not that hard to do and obtain your hygiene. not rocket science.

I go on an elliptical AFTER I workout as a cool down. And by then I am drenched in sweat and disgusting. Because you know... At gyms you sweat.

f1redshoes

I do gymnastics. Carpeted floor + hundreds of sweaty feet = permanent smell of feet. My brain still acknowledges it if I smell it somewhere else, but it seems to recognise it as a "neutral" smell now because I'm so used to it...

I also dance, and because everyone's schedules are different you can almost guarantee that half the class have been in for a few hours before you get there some days. It's just an unspoken rule that you don't tell them they smell because there's nothing anyone can do about it at that point.

The only exception is if someone's continually coming in "fresh" from home with a bad smell lurking about them, in which case someone (probably the teacher) would have a quiet word so they could do something about it.

BUT - that's a QUIET word, KINDLY, with no one else listening and in a MATURE fashion. NOT acting like an absolute child about it like you did, OP.

fitandfortyish

There used to be a woman at my gym named Onion Vagina. Okay. Maybe that wasn't her real name, but that's what we called her, because she smelled like she washed her vagina with an onion.

How in the eff can you tell what her vag smells like from 5 feet away?

Geez....walk into a teenage boys change room after their hockey game. You do NOT know stank until that miasma hits you. Makes your eyes water....

IWILLBelieveAchieveInspire

While I understand your frustration,covering your mouth and such is a bit much. I personally would've just gotten off the machine and moved on to another one or went to do something else.
This is not an excuse for bad hygiene but some gym clothes retain a funky smell after you have worn them a lot even after being thoroughly washed. My husband is a heavy sweater and I will fully launder his gym clothes daily. After about 4months even with washing his gym clothes they start to retain this really funky smell. The smell isn't noticeable until he starts to sweat and at that point its too late. He's working out and what can he do at that point? When this happens I have to soak his workout wear in borax for several hours and launder it and even then sometimes the clothes are just a write off and have to be tossed. It has something to do with the fabric in the new workout wear today. If you google it this seems to be a common problem. So while you may have assumed she has just worn dirty clothes, perhaps it's just this fabric funk I spoke of. Honestly there are times my husband didn't even notice the smell, it was me who would mention it to him. Would i have approached this women?..HELL NO! Would I have mentioned it to staff?..no.. I would've just moved my workout elsewhere and worked around it. These types of things happen all the time at the gym..sometimes you move because someone smells, sometimes you have to change out your workout order because someone else is using the equipment you want..you have to be flexible when you share a gym..period! Doesn't matter the circumstance.

Pipsqueak1965

I have a slightly similar problem - a class I regularly go to at my gym is being made rancid by a woman who smells like a cheap burger van. The smell gets worse through the class, but you can smell if she is there as soon as you walk into the changing room before she has exercised.

Quite a few people have complained to the gym management but they don't seem willing to do anything. Should I say something? I really enjoy that class and there isn't another class that day I can do.

QuietBloom

You can't tell someone they smell. What you can do, is remove yourself from the area. Pick another eliptical and finish your 40 minutes.

QuietBloom

While I understand your frustration,covering your mouth and such is a bit much. I personally would've just gotten off the machine and moved on to another one or went to do something else.
This is not an excuse for bad hygiene but some gym clothes retain a funky smell after you have worn them a lot even after being thoroughly washed. My husband is a heavy sweater and I will fully launder his gym clothes daily. After about 4months even with washing his gym clothes they start to retain this really funky smell. The smell isn't noticeable until he starts to sweat and at that point its too late. He's working out and what can he do at that point? When this happens I have to soak his workout wear in borax for several hours and launder it and even then sometimes the clothes are just a write off and have to be tossed. It has something to do with the fabric in the new workout wear today. If you google it this seems to be a common problem. So while you may have assumed she has just worn dirty clothes, perhaps it's just this fabric funk I spoke of. Honestly there are times my husband didn't even notice the smell, it was me who would mention it to him. Would i have approached this women?..HELL NO! Would I have mentioned it to staff?..no.. I would've just moved my workout elsewhere and worked around it. These types of things happen all the time at the gym..sometimes you move because someone smells, sometimes you have to change out your workout order because someone else is using the equipment you want..you have to be flexible when you share a gym..period! Doesn't matter the circumstance.

This may sound crazy, but I have found that throwing a bottle of rubbing alcohol into the wash removes all odors as it kills the bacteria that are lingering in the clothes causing the odors. You only have to do this once every dozen or so washes, and it doesn't seem to hurt the fabric any.

KatieLK14

Honestly...I've been that smelly chick at the gym. I'm not about to go home and get new gym clothes just because the ones I have in my gym bag are sweaty from the day before. Everyone at the gym smells, the gym itself often smells stale and sweaty. Sweating and stinking is part of working out.

_lyndseybrooke_

You know what's worse than working out next to a stinky person? Walking into a bathroom stall after some nasty girl that quite possibly has some sort of vaginal infection just used it. This has happened to me quite a few times. Yes, I love when your vagina stench hits me like a brick wall when I go to pee. Soap and water, ladies, soap and water. There's no way these women don't know that they reek.

I would've just moved to another machine. Working out with a cloth over your nose was probably pretty obvious, and borderline rude.

Pirate_chick

Move to another machine. If not elliptical, then the treadmill, stair stepper, weight machines - there is plenty to do. There was no reason you HAD to stay there.

She may have realized she smelled but she wasn't about to let the fact she forget to take out yesterday's clothes from her gym bag make her miss a workout.

If it happens again - then tell the front desk. Otherwise....move on!

this.

allofme32

That is so gross....LOL

Alluminati

Yeah, good luck with that

QuietBloom

I believe this kind of judgement is why people are intimidated by gyms. At least that person is there, doing their thing, trying to improve their life. If it really is disrupting your workout, move.

Honest;ly thats 1 reason i dont go to a gym. planet fitness says judgment free zone but u cant stop someone from judging u in there head. All i can think about is if people are starting at me. Or thinking things about me in there head. lol im very intimidated to go to a gym.

But your name is Fearless...The irony.

Nice shaming. :huh: One way to overcome perceived shortcomings and shyness is self talk. Maybe he calls himself that to give himself something to strive for.

FearlessRob - way to go dude on your weight loss!!

Flab2Fab27

Today, was one of the worst workouts ever. It wasn't because of the machine, the work out, or even my body but a person. My workouts on the elliptical are one hour. I was having a good time, stepped it up from last week with my incline and resistance, and before you know it I had been working out for 20 minutes. I looked beside me and no one was there and then there were three other people on the other side.

This girl all of a sudden came out of no where and jumped on the machine. I instantly smelled this musty, old, week old gym clothes smell. I smelt my self and all of my things and it was HER. I'm thinking no way.

I looked at my machine and I had 40 MORE MINUTES TO go. I WAS NOT going to let this girl ruin my work out, run away, and have to log my calories, completely start over and clean a new machine.

I did EVERYTHING possible. I used my workout clothes to mask the smell, I put them over my nose and mouth. This girl reeked so much I smelt her THROUGH my cloth! I was basically suffocating my self while trying to work out and keep up pace to burn the amount of calories that I wanted.

I turned my head and worked out, tried breathing through my mouth strictly, I eventually just ended up switching hands holding my (sweat) cloth , which still smelt better than her sadly and finishing my workout.

My question is. What do you do if something like that happens?

How do you nicely tell someone that they freaking stink?

Let me tell you, it was one work out from hell. But now I can say I've been to hell and back:P Lets just hope that NEVER happens again.

You don't say anything at all. You don't like the smell, move somewhere else. If it bothers you that much, tell the gym staff but don't tell the person to their face that they stink.

lindsyrox

People don't chose to smell bad and odds are she already realizes she smells. Mentioning it to her would do nothing but make her self conscious/feel bad. I've been in that position before, when you go the gym smelling fine but after the sweat starts up you notice oh crap this top isn't as clean as I thought! Nothing you can do about it. Likewise some people personal biology makes them much more prone to smell 'bad', nothing they can do about it. Just move to another machine and be happy you aren't the smelly one.

moglovesshoez

There's a girl at my gym, she's there every weekend. Drinks diet cherry coke and chews orange gum which merge in with the rather excessive smell of her sweat. The first time I exercised next to her I though I was going to be sick. The next time she came in and got on a machine next to me I just went and used a different machine.