Working out at the Gym / how to tell someone they smell
Replies
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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 to a boxercise class before I go into the gym and I know by the time I get there I'm already very sweaty - luckily half the class is there so I know they are not judging me for having minging clothes.0 -
I was in the studio last week, and this guy just reeked of perspiration - so I just told him: "Buddy, your body odor is really offensive. I bet you're just using deodorant. Go buy some anti-perspirant. I even have an extra one in my gym bag that you can have".
He said "Okay", so I gave it to him and went without for one day. I didn't really have an extra but just picked one up at Walmart for $0.99.0 -
I'd hold my nose and say loudly "Fck! What is that rancid stench????" :laugh:
Only kidding, I'd move machines and if it happened several times more with the same person over a number of days I'd talk to the staff.
Maybe the person forgot their clean gym gear but didn't want to skip a workout?
Personally I am clean when I begin a workout, but train so hard that I smell pretty disgusting after, especially after eating a load of garlic the day before. I figure I train hard, I stink, people will just have to deal with it!
Another thing to consider is that this person had a mental health issue. Many people when seriously, clinically depressed stop looking after their self care. Perhaps this was the person going to the gym for the first time to make changes, lose weight and help their mental health recovery. Just sayin'.0 -
my advice... get a stronger stomach!
Im a country lass, i went on a midnight walk for charity with my city friends... we walked past a field of cows... "OMG it stinks, can you smell that!?" actually nope i couldnt i hadnt even noticed im that used to the smell of manure... a icky smell i think ooh that doesnt smell so good then get on with life...
OR... move to another machine! putting things over your nose is just ridiculous and rude!
She was probably well aware that her gym gear wasnt squeaky clean.. but better to not miss a workout and smell than to miss it completely ...
People generally know when they smell and dont need someone else embarrassing them.... at the gym you are going to sweat and you are going to wiff as long as she took a shower after... that would be my biggest concern...
*sniffs herself*
coconutty...
x0 -
I would have moved if I had that much more to go...but I usually go during the dead part of the day. Maybe switch the time to when it's less busy? 11a-2p is slow around my gym. If you asked the staff I'm sure they'd tell you the slow time.
You could also ask the staff:
"Excuse me can you tell me when the non-smelly-*kitten* people are usually here?"
This!
I agree with this 100%.0 -
This has happened to me with a girl i talk to at the gym. I really have to control myself, because i get nauseous, but i would never tell her or complain to anyone about it. I think if you cant take the smell just move to another machine.0
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I have been there! Their are some nasty grungy people! some don't even wipe the machines when they get done! I wipe the machine before and after I use it.
I remember this guy when I played high school football that was a dirty slob! we had 2 a day practices and we wouldn't wash his stuff! I finally told him if he didn't take his stuff home on a normal basis and wash it I was going to have the whole front line beat the hell out him! he got the message quick.
People are rude this day in age and don't care! I am feeling your pain:-)
George0 -
Not everyone's workout routine revolves solely around the elliptical. She could have been coming from another machine or from the weights section. I get on the treadmill after a big session of heavy lifting and am drenched in sweat usually (though I am not on the treadmill for long).
Just move to a different machine and take it up with staff if it happens on a regular basis.0 -
legit lol followed by a snort.Here's what I'd like you to do. This is guaranteed to solve the problem.
Next time you're on your machine and stinkypants comes in and gets on the elliptical next door, act like everything is normal. Then, when she's not looking, you need to remove a $5 spot from your bra. Keep them tucked in your bra cause that's hot btw.
Drop the 5 spot so that it lands right underneath her feet. Temporarily remove your home-made gas mask long enough to gesture to this stank of a lady.
I
"Excuse me miss? I think you dropped that five dollar bill down there".
Now when she bends down to pick up the five spot, you need to quick get off of your machine, and pull your pants down. Slide your butt crack all up and down her back, sort of like how a dog wipes his butt on a carpet.
When she gets up, slightly irritated, stare intently at the 5 dollar bill and then rip it out of her hands.
"OH SNAP! I guess this was MY five. My bad"
Then slap her across the face, pull your pants up, and head over to the squat cage for some barbell curls.
Me too! Lol0 -
Good advise if one does not want to move to another machine. Thanks.0
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THIS!!!Who cares you're there to workout not sniff everybody out. If it's as horrible as you claim then you should have moved, it's not that hard.
Don't be such a baby about it. Just move. Those calorie counters on the machines are not accurate anyway so why you even make that an issue to me looks like an excuse to be a ***** about it.
We have a man at my gym who smells so bad he could part the red sea. When he walks over to a group of people you can see them all wince, turn their head, scrunch their noses etc. But its a gym for crying out loud. If this man works out near me (and he has) I just get up and move on or suck it up. Grow up and get over it.0 -
Yes I must agree...just about everyone smells at the gym, including the gym! If you look cute and smell nice, the you aren't working hard enough!! 0
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Show some class, respect and some sensitivity....don't take it upon yourself to "enlighten" them. Trust me, there IS no "nice way" to tell someone that they smell. The real motivation behind your wanting to tell them is not to help them: it is to make them suffer as you perceived you have suffered.
It is not your job to inform the individual of this: tell the gym staff and they will deal with it. In my opinion, unless the individual asked you for your opinion about it outright *or* if you are a doctor and there may be an underlying medical issue, it is never acceptable to tell another individual such a thing, not matter how unpleasant it may be for you.
Again, let the gym staff handle it.
PS: Yes, one would think that everyone would shower first and show up in clean clothes, smelling naturally deodorized etc, however, this is not life. Changing other people's behavior is not the point: changing OUR behavior and mindset is.
Very well said!!!0 -
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.0 -
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.
Anyway, some people smell. I just move away. Maybe you could have a stink-off with this woman and teach her a lesson?
ROTFLMAO.....0 -
Sorry, I would have just moved. This has happened to me and I have a weak stomach, better to move to a new machine that throw up all over myself and I smell.0
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Why are some of the comments so hostile? I thought one of the reasons for the existence of this site was to be supportive and friendly......not rip others to pieces!!0
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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.
Honestly its ridiculous and rude that I had to endure that horrendous stench! NOBODY should smell like that BEFORE they even work out! It's disgusting. WASH YOUR GYM CLOTHES
When I work out I do about an hour of weight training BEFORE I even step foot in an elliptical for some cardio. And by that time I'm drenched in sweat. So how are you so sure that she didn't just bust out some major reps before she came next to you!?0 -
agree totally...so rudeThis^ 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.
I would agree. You don;t own the gym, not up to you to enforce the rules that you see fit.
The irony, at the gym Saturday, on the corss trainer and what happens ? I had to laugh0 -
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.
Anyway, some people smell. I just move away. Maybe you could have a stink-off with this woman and teach her a lesson?
ROTFLMAO.....
Onion ? that's not so bad ! I love onions and far better than the disgusting gag inducing disease ridden germ ridden organism ridden ***** smells ! I'll settle for Onion smells anytime over mixture of *kitten*, urine,10 year old dead fish and rotten cheddar cheese.
I too would never workout in the presence of such stinkers.
You should have changed machines. I would have done so, you can do so discretely, as though you finished
As a guy I can barely handle someone elses farts let alone sweat or feet smell motherf*ckers, so whenever there is a situation like that I just move. Whatever you do don't confront the stinky person ! If it is a really bad intense smell that can be smelled a mile away and the whole gym smells then you can talk to the gym staff. People do smell to some extent but there is a minimum amount of hygiene !!! I workout with lots of people and not everyone smells ! Most of the DIRTY smelling people at the gym are women, surprisingly.....you'd think they would take a bloody shower, wipe their arses properly and change their clothes once in a while but apparently it's too much to ask for some.........Breaking a sweat and a discrete smell is normal, but if you can smell it from another machine and it is so bad that you want to throw up, then it becomes a hygiene problem.
Women should wash their C**** more often and guys should shave their armpits, *kitten* and balls change their clothes and put deodorant if they have a tendency to smell...... There are steps you can take to take care of your hygiene before going at the gym!!!! Who the bloody hell wears the same clothes ??? Whenever I go the gym I NEVER *EVER* wear the same clothes ! everything gets washed !!!!! If you can smell people's arseholes, ****s, balls, armpits, vaginas etc it's not normal, it means
people don't take care of their hygiene !!! Of course there are exceptions, some people naturally smell bad and should NOT be ever allowed in gyms !
Also that girl with onion smell, probably from the STDs she acquired from banging all the guys she met at the gym.
When this motherf*cker goes to the gym, he wants to concentrate on working out and having a good time, not smelling other people's SH1T, if I wanted to smell people's *kitten* I would go move to a 3rd world country where showers and soap were not invented yet.
Oh there is always the type of guy who works out at the gym and you can smell their feet from a mile.......they probably
wear the SAME pear of socks and dirty sneakers unchanged for the past year and same underwear too!
Some guys really f*cking stink too.........Luckily many female species too, so it's a match made in heaven LOL
So all you stinking *kitten* dudes and ladies why don't you get the *kitten* out of the gyms and go work out in a pigpen instead
where you bloody belong !0 -
It would incredibly inappropriate to confront her about it and extremely inappropriate to involve the gym staff. Just move or deal with it.0
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agree totally...so rudeThis^ 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.
+1 totally uncalled for and dramatic as well.0 -
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.0
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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.0 -
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.0 -
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....0 -
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.0 -
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.0 -
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.0
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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.0
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