Top 5 gym pet peeves

I've tried a few gyms before (LA Fitness, Bally's) and sure enough, there were pet peeves a-plenty from them.
Currently, my workouts are either when I walk with my dog OR when I work out at my employer's small gym - and I do appreciate the convenience of having the small gym at work, but I also have some pet peeves from there.

1. Not wiping down equipment when done with it. I don't care if you used the equipment for 30 seconds. I've no idea if you are sick, maybe covering it with medicine, or maybe you're feeling healthy, but your kid or significant other at home is sick and you're carrying the germs around. Wipe your equipment down, whether you sweated or not. If you want to use your towel first to soak up any major sweat drips first and then use the disinfectant wipe, that's fine. Just remember the wipe should be the last thing you touch the equipment with.
2. Properly dispose of the damn disinfecting wipe after using it - don't be so lazy as to not walk the wipe to the trash can! Really!
3. Makeup - if your makeup is staying on, fine. But if you're heavily made up, dragging your hand across your sweaty make-up laden forehead - pulling off both sweat and makeup - please don't fling the sweat/makeup from your hand across the machine or floor of the facility and especially don't leave it there to soak into a carpeted floor.
4. Hogging any limited resource. Meaning, if there is only one water cooler, please fill your water bottle and move on - don't stand there drinking half of it down while others are stuck behind you. Ditto for the restroom and shower - our gym has ONE ladies restroom, with a single curtained shower stall. I went to work out before work one morning - wore my work clothes in (the best way to make sure I have everything) and figured I'd change in the restroom. Unfortunately, someone had decided to lock out access to the entire ladies' restroom for their thirty-minute shower/hair drying/dressing routine by locking the door from the inside - and either didn't hear or refused to acknowledge others knocking on the door. Sorry, but the shower area has it's own curtain for privacy, the toilet stall has it's own door, only leaving the sink area as the "common" area. You really shouldn't need to lock the entire women's restroom/changing area so that only you are in there. As there was no one in the actual gym at the moment (and that door does not lock), I ended up having to skip my workout and change into my work clothes in the actual gym, hoping no one of the opposite gender would walk in.
5. Using the other gender's facilities - I also found out that the guys tend to like to use the ladies' restroom and shower area. The placard on the door does say LADIES. The next time I walk into the LADIES room and see some guy peeing - and not even bothering to shut the stall door - I don't know what I'm going to say, but it won't be polite.
6. Pushy trainers (from the LA Fitness & Bally's days) - I'm sorry, but if you're charging $60/hour for personal training time, ask me once if I'm interested. I say no, please move on and stop trying to sell to me.
7. People who can't bother to be polite, both inside and outside. At the gym, I might say "hi", just to acknowledge that you're there or to let you know that I'm waiting for a machine. Doesn't mean I'm hovering, if you are on the only one of a particular machine, and it's the thing I'm there to use, I'll wait a respectful distance away - but close enough so that anyone else arriving after me realizes that there's a wait for the machine already. Outside the gym, if I'm walking with my dog, I'll typically call out a friendly "Hello" to anyone approaching us - it's both my way of being polite and letting you realize that I have a dog with me so that you can give us a bit of distance. But please, don't STARE and SCOWL at my dog - you're signalling to her that you are potentially a dangerous person. Likewise, if you are running up from behind us, the damn street is about 25 feet wide and there's almost no traffic on our road. Do you really have to come running up behind us and try to pass within one foot of us?
8. People who are walking and not paying attention to where they are walking or what's in front of them. I am short and due to knee problems, I tend to take smaller (shorter) steps than most people. One woman actually walked directly into my dog from behind us, kicking my dog's rump with her knee, because she was staring at some piece of paper while walking and causing my dog to leap forward to avoid being hit by this woman's legs again.
9. Walking on the stretching mats with filthy footwear. There's a sign that clearly states that the stretching mats require either socks or indoor-only footwear. If I can see grass stains, grease and dirt on your shoes, there's a good chance that they are NOT indoor-only footwear. People use these mats to do pushups, stretches, etc. We don't want to be putting our hands and faces on the mats if you're tracking in debris from the road or yard.
10. Being judged because I walk slow or take a couple minutes between sets. I walk slow because it reduces the impact on my knees, which you can't see have no cartilage and kneecaps that don't sit where they are supposed to, predisposing them to dislocation. If I feel that a 2.75 mph is my limit, but my goal is to walk, say, two miles, don't judge me. Don't presume I'm lazy or not willing to work out; I am just at a different level. Your level may not be appropriate for me. I'm 50; when I was in mid-20's, I was told I would be lucky if I wasn't in a wheelchair by the time I'm 40 due to the damage done to my knees from an injury in high school. I'm not in a wheelchair and I'm on my feet, so cut me some slack.

This one I HAD to mention:

Ladies~~~~~you know the machines we use to work our outer and inner thigh.......the ones with the padding on the outside and the padding on the inside of the thigh area?

The CREEPY guys that sit on the machines in front of you and just watch you workout on those machines!!!! Blech! :huh:


I had a guy do that yesterday to me and I wanted to be sick! I could not finish using the machines....I had to get up and walk away.

THIS. There are more than a few that fit the old creeper persona at the gym by my house. I've found that meeting their eye contact and giving them an ice cold stare-down tends to drive them off. Apparently, they want to creep discreetly.

Everyone who's not me x 5

And those who think that wiping the equipment down with the same sweaty towel they wiped their face off with counts as cleaning! NO!!! You are just smearing your own sweat around. You need the paper towel AND the disinfectent to clean the machine.


Ok...done...thanks...

This is the BEST statement EVER!!! I am so grossed out by other peoples sweat on my gym equipment and don't trust the gym to provides ACTUAL disinfectant that I BRING MY OWN CONTAINER OF CLOROX WIPES! True Story! I carry a travel pack in my gym bag with me from machine to machine. My friend loves to follow me on the machines she says, because she knows they are clean.!!!

This one I HAD to mention:

Ladies~~~~~you know the machines we use to work our outer and inner thigh.......the ones with the padding on the outside and the padding on the inside of the thigh area?

The CREEPY guys that sit on the machines in front of you and just watch you workout on those machines!!!! Blech! :huh:


I had a guy do that yesterday to me and I wanted to be sick! I could not finish using the machines....I had to get up and walk away.

My gym deals with this by having those machines face the wall so no one can be in front of them! Clever!

1. Women who wear their "perfume" to they gym......I can't say how many times I have wanted to say something to these women that their choice in perfume makes it really hard to breathe!
2. People who don't wipe their machines down when they are done...I now wipe before I get on and after I get off, that way I know it's "somewhat" clean
3. Women who think that they own the whole Group X classroom floor and when Zumba is going with 30 other women they decide to use a 10 x 10 box and will just run you over
4. Women who don't wear underwear to the gym and they are in front of you in a Group X class and their workout pants are constantly riding up in their a** cheeks the whole class.....yes she is 6 ft tall and stands right in front of you and you can't miss it. GROSS!!!
5. The gym having a FB page but NEVER updating or if you ask a question, never responding!

Just thought of one:

At my last gym, 15 min into a 30 min sauna a guy came in and grabbed a seat. No big deal.

2 minutes later his teenage kid came and had a 3 min conversation with him, from outside the sauna, with the door open. Let all the hot air out.

After telling him "in or out, quit letting the hot air out"

5 minutes and two trips to fill up the water bucket, it was finally back up to temp.

Oh I absolutely LOVE when cutesie girls go to the gym with their hair down, cutesie clothes, make up, and walk on the treadmill at 3.0 mph without breaking a sweat. You're obviously here to get a good workout. NOW GET OFF THE TREADMILL SO I CAN USE IT.

I most definitely agree with this. There was a girl at my gym who showed up with SPARKLES on her face daily, hair done somewhat nicely and I don't recall her ever breaking a sweat. Ridiculous.

Screw you guys, I look cute at the gym and work harder than almost everyone else in there. By the end of the workout, I'm sweaty but my makeup (usually) hasn't budged. I work out in the morning, and just wear my makeup from the previous day. When I lift, I leave my hair down. Apparently there's some huge judgmental female rule against this. It f*cking hurts my head to lie on a bench with a giant lump of elastic digging into my skull. I wear cute workout clothes. It takes just as long to put on something cute as it does to put on sh*tty clothes. Why does looking good equate to weakness/laziness? I'm stronger than a lot of the guys and I have actually broken a treadmill while running at its top speed. There's so much hate on this site about makeup at the gym.

Before you go getting your panties in a knot, maybe you should read that we are both mostly judging the girls that get up to put themselves completely together before going to the gym and then DON'T BREAK A SWEAT. No one said that you had to look like a slob. I, too, go to the gym with the make up from the night before but I most certainly do not primp myself to go there. I don't care if your hair is down or up but it you look like you did it just to come to the gym and barely do anything, that's when you're being judged.

I'm not wanting to get into the whole "makeup" controversy, as I personally don't care either way. I think its a non issue (I for one went to the gym after work and of course was wearing makeup). But I just have to say -- generally speaking-- Sleeping in your makeup and still not washing your face in the AM before going to sweat :huh: My skin is breaking out just reading about it! :laugh:

Another peeve is seeing someone who is heavier than me not doing the right things for their body. Saw a woman weight lifting A LOT of weight when it was obvious that she should be fat burning before adding muscle, but I don;t wanna say anythingcuz she might wanna be a heavy weight lifter and I don't wanna offend her but if shes trying to lose weight the way she was doing it was not gonna work

How judgemental can you be! I'm overweight but I love lifting so it's lucky you don't say anything to these courageous women cause if it you said anything to me I'd accidentally drop a dumbbell on your foot. You don't know what their goals are - they could be a powerlifter etc. I'm not waiting till I lose the excess weight before I start lifting.

Another peeve is seeing someone who is heavier than me not doing the right things for their body. Saw a woman weight lifting A LOT of weight when it was obvious that she should be fat burning before adding muscle, but I don;t wanna say anythingcuz she might wanna be a heavy weight lifter and I don't wanna offend her but if shes trying to lose weight the way she was doing it was not gonna work

How judgemental can you be! I'm overweight but I love lifting so it's lucky you don't say anything to these courageous women cause if it you said anything to me I'd accidentally drop a dumbbell on your foot. You don't know what their goals are - they could be a powerlifter etc. I'm not waiting till I lose the excess weight before I start lifting.

And also they might be being sensible and combining strength with cardio. You dont lose weight and then work on muscle, you do them together so they meet in the middle

Another peeve is seeing someone who is heavier than me not doing the right things for their body. Saw a woman weight lifting A LOT of weight when it was obvious that she should be fat burning before adding muscle, but I don;t wanna say anythingcuz she might wanna be a heavy weight lifter and I don't wanna offend her but if shes trying to lose weight the way she was doing it was not gonna work

You clearly have no freakin idea what you are talking about. Just because we are large (or obese) doesn't mean lifting (or lifting heavy) doesn't work for us. Lifting weights isn't all about big muscles. It has a place in EVERY persons w/o, no matter what their size is.

/end rant

The post that was ranted about is totally stupid and ignorant. It deserves several more rants. That is all.

I have to agree on everything - although no one's ever tried to pick me up at the gym, I would not be receptive anyway - and I must add (or reiterate if someone in 9 pages of comments has said it) that I hate it when people who stink get on a machine near me. Dude/Dudette, you effing REEK, gtfo. And I'm talking about the body spray/lotion/cologne people, not the normal sweat/bo we've all got going on after a good workout! I have a very sensitive sniffer and often have to leave a machine if someone's doused themselves in stink. Blech. :sick:

What are everyone's biggest pet peeves about the gym? Mine would be.....

1. My biggest one is......When people (when I say people it's guys 99% of the time) talk to me. Leave me alone please, I'm not friendly, I'm not at the gym to make any new friends. I want to focus on my workout & go home. I purposely walk around the gym without making eye contact with anyone & I keep a stern look on my face & try & look as unapproachable as possible. But, the brave ones still bother me. Then when I tell them that I'm married they have the nerve to ask me where my wedding ring is! Why would I wear my beautiful wedding ring to the gym while I am lifting weights & can scratch it all up?

2. People who hog machines while they are sitting there texting or talking on the phone. If you aren't using the machine then move!

3. Don't hover over me while I'm using the machine, when I'm done it's all yours. But hovering over me is just going to piss me off & it creeps me out as well.

4. People who don't wipe down the machines after sweating all over them, rude!

5. When people try to hog 1-3 machines at a time. How is that fair?

I agree with you on all, but #5 - are you talking about someone that is doing a circuit routine? I do resistance training 3x/wk and always do 2-3 circuits....I go in the afternoons when the gym is less busy so hopefully no one cares or is waiting on one of the machines I'm using. I do a combo of free weights/medicine ball/machines. And I go fast, I don't take long breaks in between. I'm there to do my routine and go home.

The creepy old man who always says "21's 21's" to me when I am trying to get through my bicep 21's... then seeing him at a local cafe the next day and he says it again.... CREEPY MUCH!!!