Gym Etiquette - what bugs you?

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  • mandikg
    mandikg Posts: 2 Member
    I walked in the gym today and found the open machine had a ton of sweat drippings all over it. The lady next to me had a "look" and finally said i think that is sweat someone didn't clean up. It took me time to clean it before i could even start. it is because of people like that ...that i had pneumonia twice last winter. (The first winter i joined the gym) So, now i bring clorox wipes to the gym and clean the machines both before i start and after i'm done. Some people, i guess expect to have their own clean up crew behind them. What pigs!
  • OneDimSim
    OneDimSim Posts: 188 Member
    I'm sorry to sound high maintenance, but I don't understand when I see people at the gym that:

    1) Sweat all over the cardio machines (dripping sweat) and don't wipe them down
    2) Talk REALLY loud on their cell phone. Loud enough to hear their whole conversation
    3) Come in with extremely bad body odor.

    Do you all feel the same way? What else bothers you?

    RANT alert....

    Definitely ONE and THREE -

    I travel for my job and some dumb a**holes (usually GUYS) think they can pack one set of gym clothes for A FOUR day trip! Guess What? Get to sweating again, and it reactivates all of the old bacteria and sweat....not to mention i have to peddle beside you on the elliptical gasping for breath and trying not to puke...NASTY.....

    AND ON #2 - if you can chat on your cell as you work out, you have too much time on your hands and/or you are not working hard enough!
  • Mustang_Susie
    Mustang_Susie Posts: 7,045 Member
    People who come in late to a group exercise class and crowd the people in the back when there is plenty of room up front. You know the rule, it's the same rule that applied in school: If you want to be in the back of the room, arrive early!

    On a related note, there is a woman who comes to my Zumba class, and it doesn't matter what time we get there, she always stands about 18 inches away from me, and every time I have to ask her to please give me a little more space because I am afraid I will knock her in the face with a punch or something.

    Maybe she wants to be your friend:bigsmile:
  • Chadomaniac
    Chadomaniac Posts: 1,785 Member
    what bothers me? people bi^tching and not training ;)
  • Oh this thread just reminded me.. when someone gets on the treadmill right beside me when there is literally an entire row free. What is that? A guy did that to me yesterday, I was the only person in a row of 10 machines and he gets right beside me. It's not a big deal, I just thought treadmills were like bathroom stalls or something, just nice to leave a buffer zone if possible. :tongue:
  • Timehope
    Timehope Posts: 44 Member
    1) People (older women, typically) who want to read while walking on a treadmill -- don't like the ruffling pages -- so they turn off any nearby fans without asking anyone first.

    2) Fat racquetball guys who feel high and gregarious after a game and strew their bags & underwear all over the locker room while they yack loudly before they shower. They also clog up the hallways in my gym, usually at the hour mark when the court rental time starts or ends.

    3) My own stinky exercise shirts. Even $50 anti-bacterial shirts, even washed at the highest temperature settings. They smell great coming out of the dryer but as soon as
    the first gleam of sweat hits them they stink hugely, instantaneously. I read recently someone did a study and found even the most highly touted performance shirts unavoidably develop this problem within 20 uses. Throw 'em out at $50 each? What to do?

    -- Soak 'em in vinegar every few uses. This WORKS! But you do smell like vinegar, though...
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    I'm sorry to sound high maintenance, but I don't understand when I see people at the gym that:

    1) Sweat all over the cardio machines (dripping sweat) and don't wipe them down
    2) Talk REALLY loud on their cell phone. Loud enough to hear their whole conversation
    3) Come in with extremely bad body odor.

    Do you all feel the same way? What else bothers you?

    RANT alert....

    Definitely ONE and THREE -

    I travel for my job and some dumb a**holes (usually GUYS) think they can pack one set of gym clothes for A FOUR day trip! Guess What? Get to sweating again, and it reactivates all of the old bacteria and sweat....not to mention i have to peddle beside you on the elliptical gasping for breath and trying not to puke...NASTY.....

    AND ON #2 - if you can chat on your cell as you work out, you have too much time on your hands and/or you are not working hard enough!

    I always only take one set of clothes. I also rinse everything out with detergent and water though.
  • strikerjb007
    strikerjb007 Posts: 443 Member
    I have been working out at home for over a year now but I used to go to the gym. What bugged me back then, the lack of results (most people are just there) and the smell in the locker room. I swear that place smelled like *kitten* soup.
  • dirtnap63
    dirtnap63 Posts: 1,387 Member
    I walked in the gym today and found the open machine had a ton of sweat drippings all over it. The lady next to me had a "look" and finally said i think that is sweat someone didn't clean up. It took me time to clean it before i could even start. it is because of people like that ...that i had pneumonia twice last winter. (The first winter i joined the gym) So, now i bring clorox wipes to the gym and clean the machines both before i start and after i'm done. Some people, i guess expect to have their own clean up crew behind them. What pigs!


    Im with you on the sweat thing, I really am. But to blame others for your immune deficiencies is a stretch.
  • All of this is why I bought a treadmill, elliptical, DVD's, free weights and proper running shoes for running outside. The comfort of home and the great outdoors!
  • Mustang_Susie
    Mustang_Susie Posts: 7,045 Member
    my urge to kill is also set to people who leave the bathrooms a mess. a towel on the floor, paper towels that are next to the waste paper basket. water all over the sink. ( i especially hate it when i lean against the sink and then get that water line across my nether region.

    LOL!
    You're my OCD twin!!
    I HATE that, especially at work.
    And I'm a nurse...
  • Oh this thread just reminded me.. when someone gets on the treadmill right beside me when there is literally an entire row free. What is that? A guy did that to me yesterday, I was the only person in a row of 10 machines and he gets right beside me. It's not a big deal, I just thought treadmills were like bathroom stalls or something, just nice to leave a buffer zone if possible. :tongue:

    He was probably trying to hit on you or get you to notice him... in which case, keep up the great work! Guys want you haha
  • Viva_Karina
    Viva_Karina Posts: 398 Member
    bump
  • ReclaimingSarah
    ReclaimingSarah Posts: 250 Member
    When doing Planet Fitness's 30 Minute Circuit, I get murderous when people just jump in and get on the machine that I'm supposed to go to next. There is a BIG freakin' sign right in front of it with the rules of the 30 Minute Circuit. If you aren't doing the whole thing, the same machines are on the other side of the gym.

    That, and when people wear strong perfume/cologne.
  • 1. People who wear 5 lbs of makeup on the treadmill. Really?
    2. Men with terrible form who use weights that are too heavy and take 5 min breaks in-between sets.
  • bcassill2013
    bcassill2013 Posts: 72 Member
    People leaving their towels on a machine they're not using, to "save" it for them, while they do something else, but, want to be able to come right back, basically using more than one machine/bench/etc at a time.
  • CristinaL1983
    CristinaL1983 Posts: 1,119 Member
    1. People who don't wipe down machines. Ew!
    2. People who act creepy. Please don't stare at me while I'm working out it creeps me out and makes me not want to go to the gym.
    3. People (usually adolescent girls) who sit on some piece of equipment and text for 10 minutes without ever doing a single rep. Come on! If you can text while working out efficiently or briefly between sets, I don't care. But why do I have to wait forever to use some piece of equipment so that you can plant your *kitten*... Grrr...
    4. People who try to come up and talk to me while I'm working out. I have my ear buds in for a reason!
    5. People who spit on the floor. Just gross.

    They're probably not staring. When people get in "the zone" it can come off as staring. I catch myself doing it once in a while.

    That I totally get. I do the same thing. I actually space out a lot (not just at the gym). I also tend to passingly glance around the gym (a lot). I'm talking about the one's who are definitely creeping. The ones who no matter what they are doing are either staring at you blatantly or in the mirror. The ones who move to a machine or weight rack near you and stare the entire time (after they have been staring from across the room) regardless of the fact that their staring actually makes them look more like they are practicing their contortionist positions than working on anything else. About every 3rd gym visit I abbreviate my workout because of one.
  • AnabolicKyle
    AnabolicKyle Posts: 489 Member
    sweat might even be sterile. Urine is, but most people probably don't want to lay down in either one.

    getting wet from sweat yes, 100% agree. That *kitten* is disgusting!
  • StencilChild
    StencilChild Posts: 60 Member
    I don't mind so much when people don't wipe down the machines, since I wipe them before and after I use them...I guess I am just used to it from highschool! LoL

    What really annoyed me at Planet Fitness, was people in the Express Fitness area NOT following the lights...they would just sit at the machines to do 3-4 sets. This one old guy really pissed me off, I told him to get over to the circuit training machines if he wasn't gonna use the area as intended...thankfully an employee was pretty close and backed me up.

    I know, pretty petty, but still, use the areas as intended people!!
  • carlom18
    carlom18 Posts: 174 Member
    Cell phones are banned on the floor and in locker rooms at my gym. Yay! I think most people are generally good about wiping down equipment, but the biggest problem at my gym is people not re-racking the weights! I don't understand that at all. How can you just walk off after finishing your set like your mom lives at the gym and will pick up after you? Drives me nuts. Other than that, I really like my gym.

    I use my cellphone as a stop watch and on rare occasions for music. But the biggest problem at the gym is the re-racking of weights. people will just either leave weights or mix up weights in the completely wrong spot and being the perfectionist that i am, i just HAVE to fix it =p
  • SomeoneSomeplace
    SomeoneSomeplace Posts: 1,094 Member
    People who don't take their weights off the squat rack.
    Men who insist on grunting and groaning loudly like they're in a low budget porn film
    People who just leave DB lying around, like pick that s*** up and put it away!
    People who stand directly in front of you blocking you from see your form in the mirror.
    People who insist on hogging the squat wrack for 20 minutes when there 5 other people waiting for it. (My gym for 25,000+ students only has 3 squat racks wtf)

    And this isn't really etiquette related but something that bugs me is those girls/guys who have the elliptical on the lowest setting, going 100 miles an hour bent over the machine, or those who grab the sides of the treadmill walking on an incline, or just use machines that are known for giving wildly inaccurate calorie counts without even bother to change the height/weight settings and then going around bragging about how they just burned 900 calories in an hour and yet they barely broke a sweat Lol sorry. But no.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
    Also... when strangers in the locker room feel the need to talk to me when I'm weighing in... I don't have a scale at home, so pop over to the gym before work on weigh in days, strip down to my undies, weigh in, then get dressed and head to work... and without fail, if there is ANYONE else in the locker room they feel like while I'm standing there in my skivvies weighing in, an already slightly awkward situation, they feel like this is the perfect time to discuss the weather with me... wait until I put my pants back on, and I'll be happy to discuss whatever you like.

    scales are pretty cheap and the ones at the gym can actually be off significantly if the wieghts aren't zeroed out each time someone gets off
  • Women who go to the gym with their hair and make-up done; B!tch, you're here to get in shape, stinky and sweaty. This isn't Eharmony. Go home.
  • lucyster92
    lucyster92 Posts: 51 Member
    Personal Trainers trying to flog their wears when i'm trying to get into my zone!
    AND men that stare at me when i'm on the treadmill
  • Our gym doesn't allow kids- but there's plenty of high school-age girls there that sit on the floor mats or weight machines and text!
  • Momiofour
    Momiofour Posts: 155 Member
    Nothing bothers me at the gym. I know people are going to be sweaty and smelly - they are at the GYM!!

    Gym time is me time and I don't like to waste it hating other people working out. I don't really focus on anything else. If I am bothered by something, I move away.
  • lrichardson2360
    lrichardson2360 Posts: 225 Member
    One time at the gym I saw a guy running on the treadmill and he would take a large mouthful of water, swish it around and then spew it out all over himself and the machine. The first time I saw him do it, I thought he'd had an accident and then the third time I saw him do it, I started gagging thinking about getting on any of the machines ever again. I told the managers about it, but they didn't do anything about it. Needless to say, I stopped going to that gym. ICK!
  • jlapey
    jlapey Posts: 1,850 Member
    As for people "just sitting" on the machines, perhaps they are in a rest between sets. 60-90 seconds is no big deal. Now if they rest for longer than 2-3 minutes, they should move on and come back. Someone else could squeeze in a set while they are resting.

    annoyance:

    -"Freestylers" in the 30-minute circuit area. Follow the rules or get out of the way. There's a whole other section of machines for whatever it is YOU are doing.
    -Children playing in workout areas and tying up machines for no reason
    -not wiping the equipment or putting things back where they belong
  • a778c466
    a778c466 Posts: 141 Member
    I got so mad the other day. I was working my *kitten* off on the elliptical, and a Reese's commercial came on. WHY!!!!!!

    Lol. In all seriousness, I really don't ever pay attention to anyone at the gym, I get in, get through my workout and leave. Although if someone was just sitting on a machine not using it, and just socializing I am sure that would be annoying. Not wiping down machines would probably be the only thing that would really irk me.
  • People who worry about what other people are doing rather than just focusing on their own workouts.

    ^^^^^^^THIS!!!!!

    I'm sick of feeling self conscious of going to the gym because I'm worried about what I might be doing slightly different than the average person, and wondering if I may have offended someone in someway by either walking backwards on the treadmill, or taking it a little slower on some of the machines, accidentally showing up to the gym right after work when I have my hair and makeup done for a professional setting, etc.