I am probably in the minority, but my ideal gym experience is everyone with their headphones on just getting their workout in. My gym in Athens afforded this experience at certain times, one of my gyms in Knoxville is pretty close, but the gym is frequent the most here is anything but. Courtesy and etiquette are quite uncommon, but many of these pet peeves happen at all gyms at some point. So here are my top 5 gym pet peeves.
- Working out directly in front of the dumbbell rack where others cannot get to the weights. This drives me bananas. Use your brain knucklehead, there is a reason there’s room away from them. In the words of Luda, get out tha way!
- Not wiping down machines after using them. Don’t be gross!! No one wants your sweat on them. There’s four hundred and thirty-three wipe stations, use one. And if there isn’t, well that gym is gross and I’m not going!
- Having cross gym conversations. If I can hear every word you are saying over my headphones turned all of the way up, turn your voice all the way down. No one wants to hear your opinion on the economy. I don’t want to go into the gym and immediately here a dude yelling about how much he hates the government. The gym is a sanctuary, get outta here with that nonsense. Also, the gym playing music so loud that you can’t hear your own. My current gym is the only one I have been in that does that. Its absurd.
- This is kind of an extension of 1 but lack of spatial awareness. At my current gym, there’s a guy that uses the wrong side of a pull down machine so much so that he completely impedes multiple other machines. Bro, come on. The day before writing this a guy was doing lunges down the main walkway in the gym. He then laid down an ez curl bar in the dead center of the walk way. Are you dumb sir?!
- Doing too much weight that you lose control and cause an earthquake in the gym. This usually involves a dude with not quite enough clothes on in his early to mid 20s. Its usually pretty easy to pick out the person that’s gonna let all the plates drop on lat pull downs or have the dumbbells bouncing across the floor because he needed an ego boost. I’m no expert, but I find lifting goes way better for you when you do what you can do. There’s nothing wrong with doing less weight slowly and correctly.
Sorry for the negativity in the blog. I know the gym isn’t a library, but I don’t think being courteous of those around you is too much to ask. I have written a few on positive gym experiences, so maybe tomorrow’s blog will be a top 5/10 things you love to see in the gym.
Below is the picture of the bar left in the middle of the walkway. That is the main path in the gym. The dude was sitting on the machine pictured to the left (not using it).
Put Your Shoes On 