Gym etiquette:
JCKuethe
Posts: 3 Member
I find it amazing that virtually every free weight bar/machine (i.e. Hammer Strength equipment) is left with a load of weights on it.
First of all, this is inconsiderate for the other people who wish to use the equipment. Sure, a lot of us are strong enough to unload the bar to set it up for our workout but consider those who aren't. At my gym there are many young people and ladies who use all the equipment and why should they have to take several 45 lb plates off just because the person who used the equipment was too lazy to re-rack the weights. I have often helped others do this as they are not able to handle the large weights alone. Come on man, step up and put away what you use.
Secondly, the people who leave weights on the equipment are shorting themselves of what I call the "hidden workout". You are there to lift weights right? How about the extra lifting you get when taking the weights off the equipment and putting them back on the rack? These movements are still a part of the workout and will give you additional strength training benefits in addition to making you look like a considerate person. I wonder if the people who are too lazy to re-rack the weights they use also cruise the parking lot looking for the closest parking place; just saying.
First of all, this is inconsiderate for the other people who wish to use the equipment. Sure, a lot of us are strong enough to unload the bar to set it up for our workout but consider those who aren't. At my gym there are many young people and ladies who use all the equipment and why should they have to take several 45 lb plates off just because the person who used the equipment was too lazy to re-rack the weights. I have often helped others do this as they are not able to handle the large weights alone. Come on man, step up and put away what you use.
Secondly, the people who leave weights on the equipment are shorting themselves of what I call the "hidden workout". You are there to lift weights right? How about the extra lifting you get when taking the weights off the equipment and putting them back on the rack? These movements are still a part of the workout and will give you additional strength training benefits in addition to making you look like a considerate person. I wonder if the people who are too lazy to re-rack the weights they use also cruise the parking lot looking for the closest parking place; just saying.
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Replies
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This was a problem at my gym a couple years ago (more with the dumbbells, I believe) so the staff began putting up signs: "If you're too weak to rerack your weights when you're done, please let one of the girls at the front know and they'll take care of it."37
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At our gym there are a certain number of entitled jerks that think because they pay dues, the job of the staff is to be their personal servants. We also have a bunch of high school and college kids whose mommy and nanny have picked up everything thing they’ ever dropped in their lives. Worth noting that the jerks who trash the weight room are virtually 100% male.3
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If I am waiting for a piece of equipment and the person doesn't unload it, I will ask for it to be cleared.
If it has just been left for a while, I take carrying those 45lbs plate across the gym an added extra in my workout.
(NB I can only farmer walk 2 35's, the 45's are individual. Small old woman syndrome )
When I first started lifting at the gym it use to irk me, it would make my session a grumbling, begrudging one. Once I decided that attitude was only hurting me, and made it a plus in my mind, my workout became a lot more serine.
I am inclined to suggest posters be put up similar to the ones in @malibu927's post. That would be hilarious.
Cheers, h.6 -
If it's a couple of 15kgs on a bar, I'll clear them no problem. I don't want to be the aggy girl in the gym.
And if stripping someone else's bar gets me the plates I need for *my* workout then that's absolutely fine by me. (Sometimes there's a bit of a scrum for the tiny plates - never seem to be enough 2.5s or 1.25kgs in my gym - so you have to go and hunt them down if you need them.)
If someone leaves like 80kg on EACH SIDE of their bar when I want to use it empty for overhead press then I'll be tapping them on the shoulder and asking them to clear it for me...!!
And if someone does it persistently, particularly one of the PTs when they're with a client, then I let whoever's on the desk know. Normally they come and help, and then have a word later.2 -
I don't mind. MORE GAINS FOR ME!3
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My opinion, if you can't re-rack your weights, you shouldn't be in the gym.6
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Doesn't happen often at my gym. The public shaming and burpee punishment are enough of a deterrent1
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Reracking others weights left behind doesn't bother me...I consider it an extra workout. But folks in my gym tend to meander between sets, so it is sometimes annoying when you walk in and can't easily determine which rack/bench is available.3
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MotherOfSharpei wrote: »Reracking others weights left behind doesn't bother me...I consider it an extra workout. But folks in my gym tend to meander between sets, so it is sometimes annoying when you walk in and can't easily determine which rack/bench is available.
This aggravates me. When I can't be sure if someone is between sets or failed to re-rack.1 -
MotherOfSharpei wrote: »Reracking others weights left behind doesn't bother me...I consider it an extra workout. But folks in my gym tend to meander between sets, so it is sometimes annoying when you walk in and can't easily determine which rack/bench is available.
This aggravates me. When I can't be sure if someone is between sets or failed to re-rack.
I'm a "meanderer" between sets on certain machines. What I do is leave my phone on the bench with a countdown timer very visible (I use the Strong app to track my workout). I'm also never far away and try to pay attention to anybody paying attention to where I'm at. I'll often let people know they can work in if they seem to be waiting.1 -
MotherOfSharpei wrote: »Reracking others weights left behind doesn't bother me...I consider it an extra workout. But folks in my gym tend to meander between sets, so it is sometimes annoying when you walk in and can't easily determine which rack/bench is available.
If there is no bag- or no water- or no nothing there- I assume someone left it.
My gym is a bag gym- almost everyone has a bag- or stuff- so it's pretty clear for us to tell whose using what (usually)
but you do the look around- catch the eye of the nearest guy to the equipment- point at it with a quizzicle look and when he shakes his or her head no- go forth and lift/2 -
Doesn’t happen at mine either. Folks cleanup after themselves like adults. My gym is also 90% active duty USMC and get called sir more then I can count. So likely not a normal atmosphere.1
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what bugs me more is when people put their plates away but don't put them back on the correct organized rack, so i have to remove several 45# plates just to get to the 10# buried underneath.6
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Nobody does this at my gym but honestly Idgaf it’s not like it takes that long to take them off myself1
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Cutaway_Collar wrote: »You can approach a damsel in distress struggling to rerack the weights a meathead left behind and then romance may blossom?
Literally how I met my boyfriend of almost 4 years.4 -
MotherOfSharpei wrote: »Reracking others weights left behind doesn't bother me...I consider it an extra workout. But folks in my gym tend to meander between sets, so it is sometimes annoying when you walk in and can't easily determine which rack/bench is available.
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How about a group of power lifters sitting around waiting while a group of women tie up a power rack doing squats with two 10 Lb weights on the bar? I maintain that this equipment was never intended to be used to do squats with 20 Lbs.4
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Carl_Carlson wrote: »How about a group of power lifters sitting around waiting while a group of women tie up a power rack doing squats with two 10 Lb weights on the bar? I maintain that this equipment was never intended to be used to do squats with 20 Lbs.
I don’t understand this. Someone who is new to lifting and can only squat with 20lbs on the bar doesn’t have less of a right to use the rack...
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Carl_Carlson wrote: »How about a group of power lifters sitting around waiting while a group of women tie up a power rack doing squats with two 10 Lb weights on the bar? I maintain that this equipment was never intended to be used to do squats with 20 Lbs.
If they are using the squat rack for its proper purpose, I really don't see your problem. Should everyone who doesn't lift as much as you concede equipment?
Also, I don't really see the need for gendered insults, as misusing gym equipment is a universal thing.9 -
Some of the "etiquette" questions often are more "gym rules" than mere etiquette. I think a lot of gyms have something like this in their rules somewhere! Pick up your toys!3
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