Post Punk Kitchen Forum

unfortunately all of these people go to my gym, i think (but this video makes me laugh):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-91_iXATY8

This is why I run outside at 6 in the morning. I hate people!

I've been considering joining a gym again and this may have cured me :)

I'm also quite picky when it comes to gyms and the one near my house has a pool, a variety of classes, etc but the free weights section is tiny. I exercise at home but somehow I think my workouts were better when I actually went somewhere.

i think the really good thing about this thread is that the things that really bothered me before pale in comparison to what others deal with, and i'm really grateful for my gym- the trainers are nice, friendly but don't talk to me about "nutrition", and when i started doing upper body stuff recently, there was much less yakyak about me doing it than i expected. i was pleasantly surprised!!!! and if i didnt have the gym, i would not be exercising, period. so all in all, i'm glad i got it.

It's the complete opposite for me. I joined a gym at the beginning of the year but quit after a month. I kept having to fight people for space and machines - totally not worth it. Plus, when I work out at home, I have absolutely no inhibitions and don't worry about what other people think (because nobody can see me!), so I end up putting a lot more effort into the work.

This is me, too. At home I can wear super short shorts and a sports bra, crank up the air and fan as needed, and not be so concerned with all my squishiness showing/contorting. I would never be that comfortable somewhere else. And if I fall on my face from muscle failure or exhaustion I laugh instead of feeling stupid (yes, this happens fairly often...I do maintain good form and safety, though)

It's funny how everyone is so different. I'm just glad to see so many active people :)

People hogging the Olympic bars and taking aaaaages between sets at any given time of the day, people taking the limited amounts of kettlebells into other rooms for extended periods of time, some of the treadmills giving me static shocks, the gym moving the equipment around into silly new layouts that don't provide enough space for people to exercise. Also there are a group of men who like to openly ogle the women in the zumba class on a Sunday afternoon - this really annoys me!

I haven't been for months and need to start going again.....

I wish those guys had been at my gym, would have been quite entertaining. Maybe it was just the time of day I went, between 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.
Middle age guy who goes hell for leather on the weight machines, then collapse in a heap out of breath on the floor. Not that he bothered me, I just always wondered what the hurry was as he wasn't exactly on short visits to the gym when he was there.

Yesterday there was a woman on the track who was walking and texting at the same time. I say walking, but she was really barely moving at all, and many times she'd just stop in place (right in the middle of the two lanes) and just stand there while fiddling with her phone. It was crowded last night, so it was hard for anyone who was running or walking at a regular pace to avoid her, and there were many near-collisions because she didn't act like she was aware of anyone else on the track and we had no idea what she was going to do whenever we ran up near her. It was so frustrating, and a lot of people were pretty close to telling her off. I know that everyone works out differently and that should be respected, but this was pretty silly.

I loved the youtube video you referenced. Thanks so much. "Don't drop the weight on the floor" = BANG :-) Hilarious.

YES! But the same goes for if people choose the toilet or shower cubicle next to me when all the others are empty. I just can't understand why someone would do that!

(Yes, I guess I am one of those "this planet is too small for me" people).

YES I totally agree. Whenever someone does that, I just. . . why?! Are you going to try to slip me secret messages under the stall?

Ugh, new pet peeve. Young bro-dudes who work out in groups and hang around the machines I wanna use. They take turns amongst their group and hang out between each person's reps. I wanna use the machine, you apes.

This never occured to me as being something that mattered... the stalls are all private, aren't they?

1, 3, 5!!

* People who cut their toenails in the locker room and leave the clippings on the floor
* People who comb their hair and leave it in the basins
* People who ask me to move or try to talk to me while I'm spotting my training buddy on the bench press (and we do serious lifting, I absolutely can not take my eyes off her for safety reasons)
* People who ask me (I'm always with my training buddy alternating our sets) when we'll be finished, we say "we have 2 more sets each plus rests in between so perhaps another 10 minutes" and they just hang around looking annoyed when they could go and do something else
* The guy who asked me to move over so he could use the mirrors when a) I was in the middle of a set; b) I was there first and c) he could have moved to the other mirror
* The trainers who are 'training' the clients and saying good job keep it up but the clients have really poor form which could cause serious injury
* People who spray perfumes/etc in the changerooms (locker rooms)
* People who don't re-rack their weights. I have sometimes had to miss out on a particular exercise because I can't remove the weight plates on my own
* My buddy and I are grunters (we lift heavy enough to make pretty loud noises, we do body builder style sessions at times). The staff and some of the male patrons have been complimentary but some of the females have rolled their eyes and sniggered to their friends. Ladies, we're not faking it. Do you think I like to grunt and blow snot out my nose and across the room from the effort?
* People who are chit chatting whilst sitting on a machine I want to use and not letting anyone else use it, because they need it to talk for ten minutes

My gym is pretty good though, I go during the day so there's never an issue with people hogging machines.

I go to the council-run gym in town, at about 9/9.30 in the morning usually, so it's usually bro-free and just full of buff pensioners and parents who have just finished the school run. Consequently, it's pretty good most of the time. However, gym time is my time. I have no problem with quickly saying hi to someone I know, or having a small amount of polite banter if you're near someone, and I have no issue with people giving me helpful comments (and mostly, they are helpful), but try to start a conversation with me and I will kill you with my mind. If I'm sweating so much it's forming a puddle, now might not be the right time to talk about the ill-placed windows.

People who exceed the "Please limit use of machines to 25 minutes when others are waiting" rule. Especially girls with perfect makeup who are moving really slowly on the stairclimber. I mean, just do it faster/harder for less time, geez.

The other day someone was humming in the locker room, and it just really got on my nerves. I don't think it's rude, per se, but it was a bit odd. Also, I'm a grump.

Not really an etiquette thing but a pet peeve: I hate when all the showers are filled with hair. I don't entirely understand what people are doing in there.

I go to the gym pretty much every day after work. I have to race there to beat traffic and get a ticket to a class.

Geneally, I have to pee really bad when I get there. Go into the bathroom AND EVERY SINGLE STALL IS TAKEN BY PEOPLE CHANGING.

Ok, some people are shy in the locker room, but come on. The toilet is for going to the bathroom. Get over it. nobody is looking at you. If you are really shy, like put a towel around yourself or something, I see people doing that.

I used to have this co-worker that would always change in the bathroom stall in the locker room. She says all of her friends do it because they are sure that 'all the lesbos are checking them out' Ugh. A lot of my other co-workers agreed. Sure, the gym is full of lesbians trolling for booty in the locker room. Please. That is wrong on about 1000 different levels.

I don't care if people are naked. It's a changing room. but a few months ago there was this woman WAXING HER PUBES in the locker room. Not only gross to watch, but pretty unsanitary! Women shaving (outside of the shower) is pretty gross too.

I think that most people, particularly gay people, have a kind of switch between sexy nakedness and pragmatic nakedness. If you go to the gym, you will change with other people. This may be titillating or embarrassing the first few times, but after your tenth unwanted viewing old man scrotum or pendulous ladyboob, you realise that no one cares and no one is looking. "Casually" say in front of her one day that every time someone changes in the bathroom stall, you wonder whether they are hiding some awful tattoo, like a badly spelled tramp stamp or Mickey Mouse next to her vagina.

Also - THAT IS GROSS. I would have told the gym staff if I'd found someone shaving their scrotum in the changing room, which I guess is the male equivalent.

Yeah, someone went and told the gym staff. I was too dumbfounded (and in a huge hurry) to do anything at the time. Bleh.

New annoyance. I didn't realise people really did this.

If you are using a piece if equipment, you are not also using a different one three metre away, unless a part of your workout involves telekinesis.

Oh yeah, someone was doing that last week. I sat down at a machine, and the dude next to me (also on a machine) was like "hey, I'm using that". I ignored him. Douche. Its IMPOSSIBLE to be doing 2 things at one time!