what do you call these people?

Personally it's their membership why do they need to do what is acceptable to you. You dont know what their situation is. They could be thinking the same thing or worse about you. This kind of attitude is why a lot of people stay away from the gym. Work on yourself and leave other people to themselves.

I'm one of these people. That's why I no longer have a gym membership, just a treadmill at home.

I'll tell you my reasons:

a) I really, really, really hate exercising. No, really. I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns. It hurts, and it gets me nowhere (at least, until recently).
b) I have no idea what to do on those machines. No idea how I'm supposed to sit or position myself so I don't give myself another injury, no idea how many reps I should be doing, or on what weight, or anything like that.
c) If I do one set on something, I feel as if people are looking at me and judging me because I don't know what I'm doing (which has pretty much just been confirmed by your post!), so rather than embarrass myself anymore, I just get off the machine and try to find something I do know how to do.
d) I get discouraged really easily, and feel intimidated, so if I've tried a few machines and can't work them out, I'll just give up and go home after 15 minutes instead of hanging around and prolonging my embarrassment.
e) I have no motivation or will to push myself. I used to have a personal trainer 5 days a week for that exact reason. If I have someone standing over me saying, "get on this, do 5 sets of 20, now!" then I'll do it, and I'll push it hard. If I don't have that person, I simply cannot be bothered. I have no idea why (psychology!).

And the reason I say it hurts is because I have numerous injuries and congenital issues (back problems, neck problems, wrist problems, feet problems, knee problems, shoulder problems). When I try to use machines myself, I am tentative because I have no idea what the correct posture is, and things just hurt when I do them wrong (and sometimes even when I do them right). If I don't have a correctly trained personal trainer with me, I'm too scared to do anything.

The reason I say it gets me nowhere is because I had a personal trainer 5 days a week for about 2.5 years. I worked hard (threw up a number of times, even). I literally lost 6 kgs (almost 13 lbs) the entire time. :sad: And yes, I was following a healthy diet plan very strictly. That is a lot of effort and a tonne of money for practically nothing. Another time, I was on Jenny Craig for 9 months, and I cycled to work and back every day. It was a 30 km round trip with some nasty hills, and I really pushed myself, trying to get quicker and quicker times each day. In all of those 9 months, I only lost 4 kgs (almost 9 lbs) :sad: (that's when I gave up on MFP - I only just returned at the beginning of December).

What I didn't know at the time was that my food intolerances were causing my weight gain/inability to shed weight. I am currently on the elimination diet developed by the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the University of Sydney to work out what it is I am intolerant to (I had other symptoms too, not just unexplained weight gain and inability to lose weight), however, it's suspected to be gluten and lactose. I've been on the diet now for just under a month, and have already lost 7.1 kgs (about 16 lbs). And I have done no exercise whatsoever (in the middle of exams and assignments, and also work full time - treadmill takes a back seat!). I'm now losing weight 16 times faster than before! :bigsmile:

Anyway, I digress. My point was, there are a lot of reasons I was one of those people at the gym, and I suspect there a lot of other reasons that other people are like that. I think you should just focus on yourself, and stop worrying about what everyone else is doing (unless they're stopping you from achieving your goals?) - at least you can ensure your own sanity that way!

I always used to wonder at the chicks that come in in full make up, work out without sweating and leave the gym make up still intact.
:huh:

But at the end of the day, if their money and time being wasted.

Some people really have a sweat fixation lol. So I also wear make up to the gym, and I don't sweat that much. I am obviously doing something wrong....who gives a sh@t what other people look like/do at the gym. Why don't you moaners just get on with your own workouts and stop worrying about what other people are up to.

I can understand your frustration. I had a similar experience at the gym Saturday night. I was sweating my *kitten* off and doing intervals on the treadmill in the ladies area, and there were these two young chicklings (couldn't be more than 18 or 19 years old). They were laying on the floor facing each other on on workout mats texting/facebooking and showing each other pictures. I was there for over an hour and they hadn't done a damn thing.

This isn't a slumber party, baby girls! If you're at the gym, move your *kitten*! If you're going to do stupid stuff like that take it into the lounge area.

It frustrates me, but then again, stuff like this makes me laugh because they're paying monthly membership fees for nothing. I guess that part kind of makes me feel better? But then again, girls like this are in my way and I have to step over them to get to weights.

What are all these people doing? Some days I feel like yelling at the whole gym.