Onslaught of New Gym Members

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  • phinners
    phinners Posts: 524 Member
    Ps I always without fail clean the gear down. And I havent noticed some people didnt appear to have realised this until theyve seen me do so. Usually its elderly folk who've come in for their cardiac rehab work. :)
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,313 Member
    I hate the gym in January. I live in central London which has real estate prices worse than Manhattan, so having a home large enough for workout equipment is prohibitively expensive. I try to be generous to newbies but am thankful most of them are gone by mid February
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Hollis100 wrote: »

    I'd like to see those images with more realistic messages:
    Tell the obese not to worry what they look like -- they'll fit right in with the regulars who are still obese and load up on Starbucks pastry when they finish.
    Tell the woman in the jeans not to worry about her clothes -- she will never look as ridiculous as the 50-60 year old regular at my gym who curls and coifs her hair and always wears giant hoop earrings while she shows off her body (she looks like an aging streetwalker).

    Wow.
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    No problem with others at the gym, I just don’t like having to wait for equipment. It’s why I joined Anytime Fitness. I go very early. No people, and no waiting. Win/win for me.
  • vollkornbloedchen
    vollkornbloedchen Posts: 2,243 Member
    MPDean wrote: »
    Think of it as an exchange programme. Many "gym" types make their only visits to bars in December and the "bar" types make their only visits to gyms during January.

    I will go and hit a bar instantly ...
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,364 Member
    I’m kinda nervous for January at the gym... mostly because it’s a brand new gym that’s opening on January 1st, so there will be three big groups of people, and none of them will know what they’re doing, where the equipment is etc: the resolutioners, the regulars who just switched to a different gym, and other members of the same gym chain that just pop in to see what the new location is like. It’s going to be absolute mayhem, and I have to go in and be a culprit in that mess to get myself settled and learn where everything is.
  • witriplel
    witriplel Posts: 1 Member
    I’m not sure what type of exercise you do but I found if I moved my strength training to Tues/Thurs/Sat vs Mon/Wed/Fri that I had more access to equipment. Be flexible is key this time of year.

  • jlhalley7835
    jlhalley7835 Posts: 188 Member
    edited December 2019
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  • jlhalley7835
    jlhalley7835 Posts: 188 Member
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    Last few days, calm before the storm
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,024 Member
    sgt1372 wrote: »
    Yes, that's why I bought all of the equipment I need to be able to work out at home alone

    Me three......I realize that not everyone has the space for a power rack etc but I figure that I recovered my costs in about two years by not having to pay for membership etc.

    Me four....my basement gym is all I need and outdoors when the weather is nice.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    sgt1372 wrote: »
    Yes, that's why I bought all of the equipment I need to be able to work out at home alone

    Me three......I realize that not everyone has the space for a power rack etc but I figure that I recovered my costs in about two years by not having to pay for membership etc.

    Me four....my basement gym is all I need and outdoors when the weather is nice.

    Definitely a nice option for those with the space.
  • vivo1972
    vivo1972 Posts: 129 Member
    I prefer going to the gym cos they have better showers than I've got ;)
  • youngmomtaz
    youngmomtaz Posts: 1,075 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Where I'm at it's not the noobies it's the damn trainers that set people up in front of dumbbell/kettlebell racks, on the prowler track, etc.

    Oh yes to this! Soooooo frustrating!!
  • angf0679
    angf0679 Posts: 1,518 Member
    Does go to a new location count as a "newbie"? I want to do a spin class. However, my gym no longer has the 6:30pm time. The Saturday time doesn't work as that's when I do my long runs and Sunday is my rest day.

    I'm looking at going to a location near my work that has a 5:30 class on Tuesdays. I'll get there in plenty of time. I'm off work at 4:30 and it only takes about 15 minutes to get there. Lots of time to do a pre-spin class warm up!

    Though I mostly go for the BodyPump (and hope to start going for spin) class. I run in the great outdoors. The dreadmill is an option when the days might be to bad to get outside to run. I do start my half-marathon training in 3 weeks!
  • size102b
    size102b Posts: 1,370 Member
    I find it hard in the classes as no room but I know come end Jan it’s as it was before
  • Shawnbb72
    Shawnbb72 Posts: 13 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    jazzy550 wrote: »
    I am getting anxiety thinking about all of the new people at the gym. It's already crowded. Does anyone else have issues working out in crowded gyms?

    I just saw this thread.

    I also hate working out in a crowded gym, so I hate this time of year (in addition to newbies there are more people who work out indoors due to weather).

    One issue is that because so many people join at the beginning of Jan and don't stay, the gym's basic model is likely to be based on an assumption of fewer members (but subsidized, remember, by the newbies).

    For me this has 0 to do with whether someone is a newbie or not -- I don't dislike newbies, I dislike crowds. Outside of a few people who often exercise at the same time as me, and of course the trainers I see around, how am I to know who is new, who is just back inside due to weather, or who is just someone I haven't noticed before?

    That I dislike crowds is something that makes me more reluctant to go to the gym in January (although it was relatively empty today and likely will be tomorrow), but it doesn't cause me to be unfriendly to anyone. (If someone made an effort to encourage me and make me feel welcome when new, btw, I'd be super embarassed and feel like I must have been obviously not knowing what I was doing -- this is mainstream gym, not something like CrossFit where the model is different.) I think complaining about crowds is totally fine.

    If anything, I tend to go out of my way to avoid times I think might be crowded, and end up at the time I thought would be dead and be mad (at myself, at the world) that apparently that's when all the trainers work out, so the weights area is crowded.

    I totally agree.
    I just recently started going to the gym before work at 5:30am. It’s much quieter then. I was having trouble getting to the gym. I really didn’t like going after work because I was tired and really didn’t want to work around all the people there at that time. Now that I have been going this early, I find that I have far more motivation to go.
    I went to the gym yesterday around noon, because I was off and had things to do in the morning. The gym was absolutely crazy busy. The experience totally reaffirmed my decision to go so early in the morning.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,932 Member
    edited January 2020
    Things are so different here in Oaxaca Mexico where I live. There were no more people at the gym yesterday than there were pretty much any other day I've gone. In the U.S. people keep to themselves. Here, culturally, people are more social and interactive. Several hellos, a hug or 2 and at least a few hand slap/ fist bump (this is the Mexican guy thing, you slap hands and bump fists. It's the universal guy greeting). At first it took a little getting used to, but now it's pretty pleasant.

    I don't think the whole "new years resolution" is a thing culturally. I'll have to ask some of my amigos.
  • reversemigration
    reversemigration Posts: 170 Member
    The gym at work is maybe slightly busier than usual, maybe an extra person or two. It helps to be a night-shifter, particularly when I go in to workout at 3 in the morning on a day off - I can pretend it's my own personal gym. :lol: Hopefully it doesn't get busier, as there's only one shower....
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    edited January 2020
    mmapags wrote: »
    Things are so different here in Oaxaca Mexico where I live. There were no more people at the gym yesterday than there were pretty much any other day I've gone. In the U.S. people keep to themselves. Here, culturally, people are more social and interactive. Several hellos, a hug or 2 and at least a few hand slap/ fist bump (this is the Mexican guy thing, you slap hands and bump fists. It's the universal guy greeting). At first it took a little getting used to, but now it's pretty pleasant.

    I don't think the whole "new years resolution" is a thing culturally. I'll have to ask some of my amigos.

    This is definitely not just a thing that happens in Mexico (or Oaxaca). There are situations that I've been in in the US where that's a common way for men to greet each other.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,932 Member
    aokoye wrote: »
    mmapags wrote: »
    Things are so different here in Oaxaca Mexico where I live. There were no more people at the gym yesterday than there were pretty much any other day I've gone. In the U.S. people keep to themselves. Here, culturally, people are more social and interactive. Several hellos, a hug or 2 and at least a few hand slap/ fist bump (this is the Mexican guy thing, you slap hands and bump fists. It's the universal guy greeting). At first it took a little getting used to, but now it's pretty pleasant.

    I don't think the whole "new years resolution" is a thing culturally. I'll have to ask some of my amigos.

    This is definitely not just a thing that happens in Mexico (or Oaxaca). There are situations that I've been in in the US where that's a common way for men to greet each other.

    I'm sure you are right but it is pretty ingrained here and other places I've visited in Mexico. Very much a guy cultural thing.
  • SwtHedgehog
    SwtHedgehog Posts: 175 Member
    I agree with the person talking about the crowds that show up. I tend to notixw that in the beginning of the year, there's longer waits for the equipment, a d often, they break down a lot more. Not to mention the lack of consideration (not regulars or newbies specific) to not clean up the equipment afterwards, including leaving Kleenex in the cup holders. So besides the crowds, the germs and broken equipment come as well.
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