Gym Etiquette - what bugs you?

This happens to me all the time.....There are 14 elliptical machines available and they choose to hop on the one right next to me.

What really bothered me today as I was pulling into the gym, was someone who had to hurry and pull in front of me, came so close to hitting someone that she dropped her stuff, just to get a close parking spot. It's a GYM, a little walk won't hurt you.

its funny cause we make fun of those people that swim the parking lot like a shark waiting for that easy prey. youre going to the gym, the 300 foot walk is not going to kill you

I should have just run over his little bmw with my charger, but I played nice.

All of this stuff makes me happy to have all the gear I need at home. The people who judge others because they are too fat, too skinny,make too much noise with the weights or don't wear the right clothes, have make up on, don't have make up on, talk on their cell phones, go too fast or too slow on the treadmill, stare at your *kitten*, don't' stare at your *kitten*- can keep it. I'll take my chalky dungeon in the basement and my elliptical set up in front of the TV in the den (where I can watch cooking shows if I want!).

I'm my only judge in my gym, I do what I want when I want and answer to no one but myself. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Some people don't understand different training protocols. If you saw me during my powerlifting days, 5 minutes between sets was normal. It took that long to recover from a set of 500 on squats. It's not circuit training or butt toner squats the personal trainer has you do. It's a full body, maximiumly taxing effort that you don't just pop up from and get under the bar for another set.

3 things, all of which I witnessed in tandem last night:

-Chit chat on a given machine. I dislike when someone decides to lay down on a weight bench like it’s naptime, but even worse than that is when two people decide to carry on a FULL-BLOWN conversation while seated on a piece of equipment, not using it in the least. This is, of course, usually the machine I want. -_-

-Possessive hovering. I’ve gotten lucky at my gym that this has only ever really happened to me once or twice, but I’ve often seen members come up alongside someone who’s occupying the machine they would like to use and straight up hover in that individual’s personal space until they feel uncomfortable enough to leave and go elsewhere. It’s so wrong!! The few times it’s happened to me, I refused to move until I was completely done with my sets, but it was awful. One time, I was using the mid row machine in the gym when this dude came over, put his keys on the top of the machine next to my towel and water bottle, and then literally LEANED against it with his arms crossed. And I had JUST started my routine! Obviously I called him out on it and politely asked him to move, which he did. …About 2 feet away, and with an attitude. *sigh*

-Exhibitionism in the locker room. Yeah, people are naked from time to time in the locker room, I get that. You do what you gotta do to get yourself ready, whether it’s for a workout or for life in general, right? What kills me, though, are the ladies who just wander around in there seemingly without a purpose. I see women sitting nude on benches in the locker room (GROSS) while watching TV and then sauntering over to dry their hair or put on makeup, still without a stitch of clothing on. ……I don’t know. Maybe this makes me a prude, but I seriously think that if you are in a semi-public space, you show courtesy to others by getting dressed when you are free to do so. I swear I once walked in from a workout and saw some lady completely naked, sitting on a leather ottoman in front of one of the vanities, painting her nails!!! O.o Disgusting.

It was either yesterday or the night before that I said that I had NO problems with anyone at the gym. So what happened in yesterday's workout? I got off the track to use a piece of equipment that some girl had just wiped down and vacated, right next to another empty one so my best friend can workout next to me. Right on. But she's left her empty water bottle and sweaty towel in the holder thing. Awesome. Thanks. Didn't realize how annoying something that small could be until now.

I see a lot of posts about people pissed off about others not racking weights. Funny with all the members on MFP that this still happens so often.

My personal opinion is if I have to pick up my weights off the floor or under the dumbbell rack, or breakdown the weights left behind on the leg press, or whatever, I am not racking a damn thing. I am putting things back the way I found them. I don't work for the gym. I pay to use their equipment. I know it sounds ****ty, but my dues should be used to pay for personnel that will enforce the rules and make members re-rack their weights and/or rack the weights for us. Period...

I see a lot of posts about people pissed off about others not racking weights. Funny with all the members on MFP that this still happens so often.

My personal opinion is if I have to pick up my weights off the floor or under the dumbbell rack, or breakdown the weights left behind on the leg press, or whatever, I am not racking a damn thing. I am putting things back the way I found them. I don't work for the gym. I pay to use their equipment. I know it sounds ****ty, but my dues should be used to pay for personnel that will enforce the rules and make members re-rack their weights and/or rack the weights for us. Period...

Let me stop you right there, and just say this: YOU ARE PART OF THE REASON PEOPLE DON'T LIKE THE GYM.

Seriously, how is the situation going to get any better if you're going to pout because you had to pick up after someone else so you could do your workout? I'm not saying you need to go throughout the entire gym and make sure things are perfect, but would it kill you to re-rack a couple plates? It takes me a max of 2 minutes to clean off the power pad/squat rack/bench so that I can use it - hardly worth the cost of hiring an employee

I admit to being an occasional un-re-racker, although I usually catch myself before anyone else has to rerack my stuff.

What I really hate is when the music for the Zumba class is turned up so loud that I can't hear my own music in my earbuds. Our gym is pretty small, so the class area is literally right next to the cardio machines. Annoying as heck.

Because I am tired of always having to pick up after the last person. It gets Old... Very fast. I used to be a real Gym Rat. Always there. Working out twice a day. 90 min in the AM, 90 min after work. Constantly picking up after somebody else mess is a PITA. I am no angel, I make mistakes and forget to wipe down a bench no and then, but I used to spend more time searching for dumbbells that I need because they are on the floor of the cardio room instead of on their racks... I got tired of it. It its not one gym that is like that.... Its every gym I used to go to... I used to run a Gym in Harem for a while for a friend as well. And I hired people to work the floor at peak hours to keep the place neat rack weights when they are left behind. So don't get all high and mighty on me. I pay to workout, not to clean up after others. Don't like my opinion, oh well. Simple answer is: get to the gym before me.

as has been said, youre part of the problem. if people see you re-racking someone elses weights then maybe they will be inclined to do so. you pay to use their equipment not to be a spoiled baby thinking because so and so didnt do it i am not.

if the urinal isnt flushed i sure as hell am not going to not flush when im done. its just common courtesy. congrats you owned a gym that you could afford the luxury of having someone run around and generally babysit adults who by all accounts should know better. not all gyms can do that

Re-rack your f*cking weights! The end.

Amen! Nothing like leaving the bar loaded with 45 lbs plates up on the highest notch of the Smith Machine..... Yes, I can pick up a 45 pound plate, but no, I cannot lift it off of a bar the I can barely reach.

Your biggest mistake is using the Smith machine!