Pet Peeves at the Gym

When there are ten EMPTY treadmills and someone ALWAYS has to climb on the one RIGHT NEXT TO ME!!!! UGH!

Yes!! It's like they're purposely trying to annoy the hell out of you:explode:

I sometimes get on a machine next to someone because the show I want to watch *cough-Good eats-cough* is on the tv that's there...so I won't go to one that's so far away I can't see...many people don't do this to bug someone.

People who go to the circuit to use one or two machines for 10-25 minutes...screwing up everybody else who is actually using the circuit the way it's intended to be used.

Amen to not wiping down machines. Gag me.

When people sit on the weight machines for ages without using them and just staring into the mirrors

Hahahahaha! That's both annoying and silly. They sit there and stare at themselves...or dink around on their phones while sitting at the machine.

My peeves are about the gym itself - they always have the music so freaking loud - I wear sound suppressing headphones and I sometimes still can't hear my music over theirs - and when I ask to get it turned down it goes down a notch for 5 mins then its back up again - and I am there to get my session in not run back n forward to the desk all the time - grrr - I feel like a moany old fart asking for the music to be turned down but I don't want to hear their crappy dance music. There are only 3 crosstrainers (ellipticals) and one has been broken for ages - they help my knee and it annoys me that I want to go back to it in between my intervals on other machines and I can't.

It's a small gym, not part of a large chain, there are no posers and nearly all the gym users just come in and get on with it so these irritations aren't a problem all the time - just enough to annoy me. In saying that, the funniest thing I saw was this person I hadn't seen before took all the decent dumbells off the rack, loads of the weights and bars set himself up a circuit down the length of the gym - nothing wrong with setting up a circuit loads of people do their own thing and set up the equipment for it - however... He was so loud and grunted and roared through the circuit - would do one noisy set of 5 then prowl about the gym posing for the next 10 mins then do it again - but he was even grunting in exertion for really light stuff - for example flipping the tractor tyre up n down the gym he was practically yelling - I thought it was funny as this wasn't someone that was just starting out and trying to push themselves - it was someone that was bulging with muscles and clearly no stranger to strength training and should have found that stuff easy. It seemed to me the noise was purely to draw attention to himself.

Great question!

1) It's gross when people don't wipe down the machines/mats/exercise balls.
2) Women who spray heavy perfume in the locker room drive me nuts. One day I was in there and ended up in the line of fire of someone's body spray. It was over-the-top offensive. I understand a small spritz, but a fog of spray in close quarters? Come on now. I was at the locker two down from hers. Maybe it was a subtle suggestion aimed at me post-workout? Ha.
3) Did I mention not wiping down the machines/mats/exercise balls?
4) When people hover at a machine while chatting or flirting with another gym member. The world doesn't revolve around you and I have stuff to do and calories to burn. Move along now.
5) People who take over the entire bench in the locker room. At least pretend like you're courteous and scoot your stuff over an inch or two.
6) In the name of all that is holy, put stuff back where you found it. Don't make me wander around looking for the step or plyo box. I look like a lost puppy that may cry.
7) And this is just a gym suggestion, not so much a pet peeve: I wish the instructors would occasionally ask for feedback regarding their classes. I go to this one class on Monday mornings now and then. The instructor is great, but her music is TERRIBLE. No one should feel like they are in a bad dance club at 5:30 on Monday morning. I've never seen so many people leave a class before it's even over or in the middle of cool down. My first thought in this class was "I imagine this music is used as an instrument of torture at Guantanamo."
8) Ah, and my last pet peeve: When people leave a class early or arrive late. I work in education, so am just sensitive to that. I get that people are trying to get a workout in and have places to be/other responsibilities. If they don't, then shame, shame. I imagine it disrupts the teacher and it certainly throws off my focus at times. (I am probably alone on this one though.)

All in all, I love my gym and all the different types of folks that it attracts. I don't get the sense that people judge one another based on their appearance and that most are friendly and supportive. It's good stuff.

I just use my apartment's gym, but these are my pet peeves there:

People watching stupid tv shows and turning the volume up so loud I can barely hear the music in my headphones.

People who don't wipe down the machines.

People letting their kids run around in the gym, both attended and unattended.

People waiting impatiently for the machine I'm using.

Creepy men.

I think that's all of them ...

people counting reps in the middle of sets.

half squats

smith machine half squats

excessive or weird grunts

makeup/perfume all over the equipment (puke)

not wiping equipment after using (and it doens't have to be the full disinfectant wipey stuff)

dropping weights, particularly dumbells because you are trying to be cool or using more weight than you can really handle

circuit trainers claiming every piece of equipment

folks hogging equipment

doing exercises directly in front of dumbells racks to the point that others can't grab weights in front of you or walk around

folks who do not rerack weights when done

putting dumbells and plates in the wrong spots on the rack

not putting weights on a weight tree correctly (I get full workouts fixing this ****)

I hate it when I'm on the treadmill and a lovely young lady joins me to my left or right and she isn't wearing the right type of support bra. I don't even know where to look, I start looking at the cieling, the floor...I was even examining my nails while running at 8.0. All in the name of not being a creeper.

No deadlifting bar loading thingy.

seriously...only one gym i've ever worked out at had one of those...makes life so nice not having to load a bar full of 25's...

It can't be that expensive either...it's just a little kickstand.

I've never had the pleasure.

but I did wonder why there was a motorcycle paddock stand on the olympic platform in an online video for a couple of seconds.

Trying to do the 30min Circuit training at Planet Fitness (there's an area specifically for this) and someone jumps in doing sets.