Gym Etiquette - Let's set a good example!

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Alright, in real life I'm a pretty patient person, but lately at the gym there's several categories of people that have been seriously irking me. The people with really crappy gym etiquette blatantly ignoring the rules posted at your gym. I'm sure everyone has dealt with a problem at the gym, so hey, feel free to vent away!

"Can't put my weights away dude" - It's usually the same collection of offenders every week. Apparently this person is too busy to take the time to put their plates away and off the rack OR pick their dumbbells off the floor instead of leaving them out for the rest of us to trip over. Thanks, buddy. The only positive I see is the extra workout I get from picking up your crap and putting it away.

"Pigpen" - The sweaty offender who NEVER wipes down their equipment and leaves a pool of DNA for you to sit in. Nevermind the fact the gym gives you complimentary towels and wipes around the gym!!! I now carry a towel around and lay it down on the seats to deal with this problem...But still...gross. And it's only getting worse with hotter weather. :(

So, what have you seen lately at the gym?
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Replies

  • Hernandezedw
    Hernandezedw Posts: 284
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    A girl took the 10 lb plate off the barbell I was using once. Pools of sweat are kind of gross.
  • Georgeous74
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    Taking a weight off that you were using??????
    Who does that???
    Thats down right weird.
  • starkiss100
    starkiss100 Posts: 235 Member
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    Yeah I've had to deal with a Sweaty Betty at my gym too. Seriously, wipe your sweat up, takes less than 30 seconds to do.
  • Oompa_Loompa
    Oompa_Loompa Posts: 1,099 Member
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    People talking on their cell phones. its annoying. I dont feel like listening to your conversation while im getting my sweat on. Especially if it's in another language.
  • McBody
    McBody Posts: 1,703 Member
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    girls that show up wearing a ton of makeup and then just walk on the treadmill... you're at the gym, get sweaty!
  • Cherese1983
    Cherese1983 Posts: 211 Member
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    Machine Hogs-How about there is a 30 min time limit on the machines when the gym I go to is busy, but there you are just sweating away as your timer ticks well past 30. Ugh!!
  • bgeer34
    bgeer34 Posts: 135 Member
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    I am so happy that I live in smaller town with a smaller gym... I don't see people doing these things... everyone is nice and polite.. once in a while I see someone on a cell phone, but not often and usually it's only for a second or two... and one morning I went in early and the man on the eliptical next to me wanted to be friendly and talk.. so I smiled and pointed at my earphones like I couldn't hear him and he said "Oh so sorry" and that was that :) I do feel bad for those of you that have the less respectful folks at your gyms :(
  • tameka1220
    tameka1220 Posts: 517 Member
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    Yeah I've had to deal with a Sweaty Betty at my gym too. Seriously, wipe your sweat up, takes less than 30 seconds to do.

    "Sweaty Betty" LOL!! Hilarious!!!

    Sneezing and not covering your mouth and loud open mouth burping! I'm serious... lol
  • ericcalaniz
    ericcalaniz Posts: 12 Member
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    Oh man these are my pet peeves. I think I can add about 3 to your list.

    "Can't walk my dumbbells back to the rack guy" - Seriously, bro, you can't pick up your 20 lb weight after you just curled it 20 times (which was probably useless anyway) so you gotta kick it and roll it halfway across the floor back to the rack? Yeah, that's cool that you almost just rolled 2 peoples' ankles in the process, no big deal. Good thing the weight racking fairy was there to rack that weight for you once it hit the rack with a bang.

    "Dropping my weights guy" - Well, this dude just got done benching 70 lb dumbbells but can't get that EXTRA LITTLE bit of oomph out of him to lower them down in a controlled manner, so, well **** it, he just drops them, and scares the **** out of me while I'm going for a 205 bench. Thanks a lot bro, that's why the 100 lb dumbbell in the corner is bent.

    "Supersetting on a crowded gym day guy" - Ok, bud, I know you have your workout planned and all, but if you're going to tie up 4 machines for 15 minutes while you do your (admittedly challenging looking) superset, please do it at 7 AM when there's not a bunch of people in the gym. I'd also like to use about 3 of those machines.
  • Barneystinson
    Barneystinson Posts: 1,357 Member
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    Oh man these are my pet peeves. I think I can add about 3 to your list.

    "Can't walk my dumbbells back to the rack guy" - Seriously, bro, you can't pick up your 20 lb weight after you just curled it 20 times (which was probably useless anyway) so you gotta kick it and roll it halfway across the floor back to the rack? Yeah, that's cool that you almost just rolled 2 peoples' ankles in the process, no big deal. Good thing the weight racking fairy was there to rack that weight for you once it hit the rack with a bang.

    "Dropping my weights guy" - Well, this dude just got done benching 70 lb dumbbells but can't get that EXTRA LITTLE bit of oomph out of him to lower them down in a controlled manner, so, well **** it, he just drops them, and scares the **** out of me while I'm going for a 205 bench. Thanks a lot bro, that's why the 100 lb dumbbell in the corner is bent.

    "Supersetting on a crowded gym day guy" - Ok, bud, I know you have your workout planned and all, but if you're going to tie up 4 machines for 15 minutes while you do your (admittedly challenging looking) superset, please do it at 7 AM when there's not a bunch of people in the gym. I'd also like to use about 3 of those machines.

    Does weight dropping dude also give off a loud "UUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNGHHHHHHHH" noise that the entire facility can hear?

    The afternoon crew at the gym is notorious for that.
  • knittedbike
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    OK - First post but this one gets me going:

    1. People who sit of bits of equipment and watch the telly, chat with their mates, fiddle with MP3s etc, anything but use the machine to get fit.
    2. People who stand really close to you while you are excercising - personal space!
    3. People (here I mainly mean me) who use only the arms and upper-body machines set at stupidly high weights and do one or two reps (grunting loudly) and then sit for ages recovering. This is mainly an aesthetic condition as I'm sure it leads to middleaged men with spindly legs and moobs - as a middle aged woman I think this is criminal ;-)
    4. People who cool down/dry off by standing in front of the fans and blowing their feromones around the room

    Thanks, feel much better now.
  • sophjakesmom
    sophjakesmom Posts: 904 Member
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    We're pretty lucky at our gym. people are pretty polite. I was a bit annoyed, though, when I dropped a 45 lb weight on my leg (still have the bruise 4 months later) and the big guy right behind me didn't even ask if I was ok. :grumble: I know I should have been more careful, but serious, would it hurt to just check if the old lady was ok before going back to your bench press?
  • clipperty
    clipperty Posts: 9
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    Cannot stand people who do not wipe the machines down after u. Just to make you all jealous though, I go to a ladies only gym and have managed to work out my timings to perfection so that the gym is empty. In fact went on Friday and not only did I have the whole gym to myself for the 1 1/2 I was there, I did not even see any staff as they were all in the staff room - bliss!!
  • Oompa_Loompa
    Oompa_Loompa Posts: 1,099 Member
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    girls that show up wearing a ton of makeup and then just walk on the treadmill... you're at the gym, get sweaty!

    OMGGGG i hate that!
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    Girl just there to flirt with personal trainer-
    I see so many girls at my gym that dress up in tight skimpy outfits and wear their hair down(and their hair is long too!) and then half-*kitten* the workout their trainer is trying to give them and just bat their eyes the whole time. I mean honestly.. this is a gym.. not a bar... go get your flirt on somewhere else!

    The rest people have said.. I mean my goodness, who thought that etiquette would be so hard?
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    "Can't put my weights away dude" - It's usually the same collection of offenders every week.

    Tell me about it. I wonder what the collective noun is for these people. There must be one as they are in every gym I have been in. Maybe a "murder of morons" or a "gaggle of gormless gollums"

    The last place I seem to be able to find the plates these days is on the racks. Forget about collars for the barbells. I think I am more likely to see Lord Lucan riding Shergar then come across one of those babies on the racks.

    Another irritation is "don't take your gym kit out of a locker but leave it in there for a week until your next workout so no one else can use the locker" hog.
  • mlweaver89
    mlweaver89 Posts: 35
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    I use the gym available at my apartment complex for my exercise, and anyone who's never been in one of those, I can tell you they are TINY. So it REALLY irks me that there is this group of Asians that come in all the time with two or three very small children. I know they're not there for an actual workout because they bring their kids and are always inappropriately dressed, including sandals. They sit on the resistance machines, of which there are only four, jabbering away in their own language, and never do anything but just sit there and be a nuisance. It's really quite annoying.
  • fuhrmeister
    fuhrmeister Posts: 1,796 Member
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    People talking on their cell phones. its annoying. I dont feel like listening to your conversation while im getting my sweat on. Especially if it's in another language.

    I hate this too espically when I forget my ipod. most of the time it is size zero teen age girls *****ing about how suzie wore the same jeans on the same day or is worried about what tiny halter top to wear on her date on Friday. Please tell me I wasn't like that when I was a teenager.

    I hate grunting drop the weights guy too!
  • Alysgrma
    Alysgrma Posts: 365 Member
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    This is just my two cents and you may or may not agree with me.
    1. I agree when you are done..wipe the sweat off. No phones etc.
    2. There are some people that can only walk or ride bikes at the gym..I am one of them. I have doctors orders to walk for at least 60 min at a certain speed. I am a paying person and doing what my doctor has told me. If you are able to do more then walk or ride a bike then be caring of others needs too, as you don't know what they are going through. Go do the other things and I am sure once you are done the treadmills will be free.
    3. The best example is to be an example. Treat others as you want to be treated. If you are hurt and can only walk on the treadmill would you want others telling you to get off?
  • Purple_Orchid_87
    Purple_Orchid_87 Posts: 517 Member
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    girls that show up wearing a ton of makeup and then just walk on the treadmill... you're at the gym, get sweaty!
    i dont wear a ton of make up, but do only really walk on the treadmill and do a wee bit of sit ups and strength training because of my injury