The Forgotten Art of Gym Etiquette

[SmallTownIron]

Yes, we all have seen it. But I want to generate some discussion regarding gym etiquette.

Although I have a lot of work ahead of me and am relatively young, I do have several years of experience in a gym.

Gym etiquette goes a long way in winning the respect of other gym goers, but also adding to the efficiency that everyone else can work out at. I listed a few thins that newer members SHOULD KNOW when they first walk into the gym. Also feel free to comment if you disagree and/or add guidelines I may have forgotten.

1) Use a towel, or wipe down the machine you're using (or both). No one likes hoping on a machine or rack dripping with sweat, or crusty sweaty chalk.

2) ALWAYS re-rack your weights. Even if the barbell had weights on it when you "got there", when you're finished using it put the weights back. One thing that drives me crazy is seeing a female or an older person trying to take plates off a bar that IS NOT THEIRS!

3) Grunting is OK, consistent screaming is not. I'm happy you're pumped up, but it breaks my concentration if I can hear you over my music.

4) If it's crowded let others "work in" with you. This can be hard if someone of dramatically different size, and presumably stregnth, is waiting... but for the most part try to share.

5) Avoid walking in-between the mirror and someone who is in the middle of a set. It breaks their concentration. :banghead::banghead::banghead:

6) If people are waiting for you to finish an exercise, try to keep the chitchat to a minimum. NO TEXTING!

7) If they can't work in, take the time you need to finish the exercise properly, but no more than that.

8) Clean up after yourself. Goes back to #2, but make sure to put towels away, don't trash the locker room, etc...

9) Oh Yeah. If you use the restroom, please wash your hands before going back to your workout

OK, that's all I can think of for now. Again, comments or additions are welcome!

 

[MightyJohn]

Funny read about that: Thomas Plummer, Fitness Business Consultant, National Fitness Business Alliance, NFBA: Thomas Plummer

 

[SmallTownIron]

Funny read about that: Thomas Plummer, Fitness Business Consultant, National Fitness Business Alliance, NFBA: Thomas Plummer

That a good one.

 

[saps]

#2 is my pet peeve. If you're big and strong enough to put them on the bar be big and strong enough to take them off

 

[kid1dakota]

Bro people are just becoming increasingly rude in general as the gym is just people being rude/selfish like everywhere else in life.

you hold the door for people and don't get a thank you.

Let people go in traffic and no thank you waive.

Everyone is on the phone and their little world is soooo important.

the list goes on............

I think in school and work should require sensativity training/classes along with etiquette.Or just like jury duty you get summons to attend.I think its the reason kids are such rude,disrespectful little terds as they do as they see their parents.

 

[hemipower]

Bro people are just becoming increasingly rude in general as the gym is just people being rude/selfish like everywhere else in life.

Gym etiquette goes a long way in winning the respect of other gym goers, but also adding to the efficiency that everyone else can work out at. I listed a few thins that newer members SHOULD KNOW when they first walk into the gym.

Very true! It's so bad that I try to find times to go to the gym (or even new gyms) to avoid all the mess. Last year I joked about teaching/requiring a course on gym etiquette before someone is allowed to start going to the gym.

And, I find people more hardened in general also...much less polite and thoughtful/considerate. Those are things of the past evidently...I was raised differently...or maybe coming from a small town helped also.

 

[thatbloke]

Yes, we all have seen it. But I want to generate some discussion regarding gym etiquette.

Although I have a lot of work ahead of me and am relatively young, I do have several years of experience in a gym.

Gym etiquette goes a long way in winning the respect of other gym goers, but also adding to the efficiency that everyone else can work out at. I listed a few thins that newer members SHOULD KNOW when they first walk into the gym. Also feel free to comment if you disagree and/or add guidelines I may have forgotten.

1) Use a towel, or wipe down the machine you're using (or both). No one likes hoping on a machine or rack dripping with sweat, or crusty sweaty chalk.

2) ALWAYS re-rack your weights. Even if the barbell had weights on it when you "got there", when you're finished using it put the weights back. One thing that drives me crazy is seeing a female or an older person trying to take plates off a bar that IS NOT THEIRS!

3) Grunting is OK, consistent screaming is not. I'm happy you're pumped up, but it breaks my concentration if I can hear you over my music.

4) If it's crowded let others "work in" with you. This can be hard if someone of dramatically different size, and presumably stregnth, is waiting... but for the most part try to share.

5) Avoid walking in-between the mirror and someone who is in the middle of a set. It breaks their concentration. :banghead::banghead::banghead:

6) If people are waiting for you to finish an exercise, try to keep the chitchat to a minimum. NO TEXTING!

7) If they can't work in, take the time you need to finish the exercise properly, but no more than that.

8) Clean up after yourself. Goes back to #2, but make sure to put towels away, don't trash the locker room, etc...

9) Oh Yeah. If you use the restroom, please wash your hands before going back to your workout

OK, that's all I can think of for now. Again, comments or additions are welcome!

THIS, something no one does at my new gym, i have no idea why, it use to eb really big at my old gym (council owned) where equipment and space was very limited, but ever since moving into private gyms i find it very rare to see people share anything

even wen i offer to share equipment im using they look at me strange

 

[nandro]

here's another. don't grab a pair of dumbbells and stand right there and do arm curls. this isn't your private dumbbell rack. stand away so other people can access the dumbbells next to yours.

 

[kinglewy]

My current gym is pretty cool it is one of those 24 hr private gyms where you get a fob key and can come and go as you please.
What about dropping dumbells after a set of dumbell chest presses? There is a sign on the wall that says "dont drop dumbells" but when I do dumbell presses I go kinda heavy and I aint trying to jerk my biceps tendon out of wack like I have done in the past by trying to set them down gently. So when I squeeze out that last rep I let them fall. Other members look at me weird.

So what do you guys think? Is it ok to let the dumbells come crashing down instead of risking injury by trying to come down with them nice and easy?

 

[saps]

So what do you guys think? Is it ok to let the dumbells come crashing down instead of risking injury by trying to come down with them nice and easy?

Yes. I do it too. The worst is decline DB press. There is no way I'm doing say a 260lb weight sit up so I drop them. Now granted they are only inches from the floor but as you say I'm not tweaking my bicep or shoulder so they just drop. Needless to say dropping a pair of 130's from even 6 inches makes a thud but no one has complained too me yet so.

 

[bloodshed]

My current gym is pretty cool it is one of those 24 hr private gyms where you get a fob key and can come and go as you please.
What about dropping dumbells after a set of dumbell chest presses? There is a sign on the wall that says "dont drop dumbells" but when I do dumbell presses I go kinda heavy and I aint trying to jerk my biceps tendon out of wack like I have done in the past by trying to set them down gently. So when I squeeze out that last rep I let them fall. Other members look at me weird.

So what do you guys think? Is it ok to let the dumbells come crashing down instead of risking injury by trying to come down with them nice and easy?

As for that one, I don't think you should just let go and let them drop with no control. I've seen someone do that, and the 115lb dumbbells ended up rolling and breaking someones foot. I drop them to the side, but I control them down so they stop moving in about the same place I dropped them.

One I don't like is curling in the squat cage. we have 1 cage, and 1 rack in the gym I train at. In the rack, you cant go deep without leaving the rack, otherwise the plates on the side of the bar hit the plates that are racked on the side of the rack, so the cage is the only place you can do a real squat safely. If you're curling in the squat cage and nobody is waiting to squat, that's fine. If you have people waiting to squat though, have the decency to look around and see if there is another place in which you could curl, as there usually is one open.

 

[saps]

 

[Nemain]

THIS, something no one does at my new gym, i have no idea why, it use to eb really big at my old gym (council owned) where equipment and space was very limited, but ever since moving into private gyms i find it very rare to see people share anything

even wen i offer to share equipment im using they look at me strange

x2

Its almost like the more ignorant you act the better people respond to you.

I too would offer the tri-pull down to someone waiting, and they look at me like ( I don;t need you, I'll fucking wait till your done and its all mine).. Its like ok????
Even asking for a quick spot is something I hardly see. I notice when I see the young ones come in, and have their little click, how dare you ask one of them for a spot.

I also hate when people leave the gym mags all over and don't put the fucking things back. Not every gym has mags to read, but mine does, and these lil fuckers leave them all over. Take the mag to the treadmill, and stop looking at the picks and chatting in the dumbbell area!!!!!!!!!!


Cell phone talk? I dont mind that, to each their own.. I text too, I'd rather text or read Professional Muscle between sets than looking at other dudes in the mirror!

 

[Uriah]

Yes, I'll let a couple of buck 30's drop if I don't have someone I trust spotting me. Walking in front of me while doing heavy lift, your a f...ing dumbass. Coming up to me after I made a lift and want to tell me that was impressive. Now I have had to turn my music off, ask you what you said, and now my mind is completely screw up for my next lift. DON'T F...ING TALK TO ME when I'm training. Not re-racking weights, If I catch you I will pull your sorry ass back by the ear and teach you gym etiquette. I train alot of Females and this is not only more work for me but also not fair to my clients having to wait. I'm going to stop venting now and blame this on the Tren and Mast (NOT!!!)

 

[Bobby Biceps]

Damn this is a heated topic! I find my jaw clinching as I read it. I get so sick of people leaving equipment sweaty and not putting their weights back. I had to bite my tongue last week after a self important prick who btw could only muster half reps with 135 in bench, left the bench drenched in sweat. The only thing I could think to say was " hey asshole what makes you so special that you get to leave the bench drenched in sweat and your puny weights that you still aren't strong enough to get a clean rep with on the bar for someone else to clean up?!"" Luckily I stopped myself and reasoned in my mind that nothing good will come from a comment like that and everyone will perceive me to be a bully. I'm not sure how to approach this situation kindly, also if I choose to address it there's so many of offenders, when will I have time to workout? I guess I can ask management to do a better job enforcing the gym's rules so members aren't put in confrontational situations with these rude pigs.

 

[PitbullTank]

the one that gets me is the fckn dumbells... god dayummm!.... the weights go in goddam numerical order from light to heavy....they pick up the fckn 25lb dumbells from the rack...walk them to the open bench or whatever...then they rack them right in front of that bench or where they were standing and put the 25s in the 85s slots....soo much tiime spent finding my one db then having to look around for 2-3 minutes to fund the other...that one gets me steaminggggggg...

 

[renewlyf]

To me all those ediquette rules are common sense. That was how I was raised. Like others have said that is what this all boils down to. If someone is raised to be polite and considerate that is how they will conduct themselves in all areas. Selfish rude parents = selfish rude kids that grow up to be the same and continue the cycle.

 

[Stewie]

Do your shadow boxing at home or in area you don't look like a complete jackass, beating the air up:banghead:

 

[PitbullTank]

Do your shadow boxing at home or in area you don't look like a complete jackass, beating the air up:banghead:

hahahaha...4realll....tha ones doing it are always looking soooo bad too, worst techniques ever... kinda amusing watching them really lol...

 

[animalized]

My gym's a mess. I workout first thing in the morning and the plates are everywhere and on every bar, dumbbells are scattered all over the place, pisses me off..

And one thing they need to do is, ask some of the women to COOL IT ON THE PERFUME!!! There's one lady, she wears so much frickin perfume you can be 10 treadmills down from her and it's like you're standing right beside her..YUK!