[MotoMichelle]

Originally Posted by FB

Oooh Mollymom- I'm the opposite! I think the treadmill is harder! I did 70 minutes on the elliptical today and was staring in awe the whole time at the crazy runners.

Ohhh me too! I can do the elliptical for quite a while, but if I start running on the treadmill I'm about to die after 4-5 minutes.

As to the OT, I love to sweat at the gym!! And I get very sweaty too. I will usually do some time on the elliptical or do a mile incline walk or flat jog/walk mile and then I get on the sweat making machine, also known as the stairmill. Holy cow does that thing make me sweat!!

BUT, when I'm done and all sweaty I'm like %@$#! yeah! It feels so good to have pushed my body.

So stand tall in your sweatiness!

[jamsk8r]

Here's one for you, from the free weight room...the mirror lovers. You know the ones, because they are so in love with themselves, they have to look in the mirror to do any kind of exercise, and if you walk between them and the reflection they love, they act like you just threw off their whole workout. Hello, curlboy? If you're that needy, don't put yourself in front of the DB rack! LOL. Personally, I can't fathom why the free weight room needs 3 mirrored walls. I've yet to run across even one exercise that required a mirror, and I just find them distracting (not to mention embarrassing, because no matter which way I turn, my butt is to the room, lol).

[Jadeybaby]

Originally Posted by mamaspank

I want to start off by saying, I love to sweat. I don't feel like I have worked out until I break a sweat. I actually would go so far as to say that I think my skin looks its most radiant after a run or a couple ball games. There, I said it. Sweaty guys, don't even get me started. So HOT!

I completely agree with you, especially about guys

[zinkemomx2]

Originally Posted by jamsk8r

Here's one for you, from the free weight room...the mirror lovers. You know the ones, because they are so in love with themselves, they have to look in the mirror to do any kind of exercise, and if you walk between them and the reflection they love, they act like you just threw off their whole workout. Hello, curlboy? If you're that needy, don't put yourself in front of the DB rack! LOL. Personally, I can't fathom why the free weight room needs 3 mirrored walls. I've yet to run across even one exercise that required a mirror, and I just find them distracting (not to mention embarrassing, because no matter which way I turn, my butt is to the room, lol).

That is probably the only thing I hate about the free weight room. How the **** am I supposed to dead lift or do bent over rows with my butt everywhere I look.

[PhotoChick]

You know the ones, because they are so in love with themselves, they have to look in the mirror to do any kind of exercise

A lot of us look in the mirror to make sure we're keeping form and when someone walks between us and the mirror it *does* actually throw us off.

It's considered a breach of etiquette in the free weight area to break someone's view when they're in the middle of a set. So yeah, I'd get testy, too.

You're supposed to wait until they're finished or walk around behind them.

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[FB]

Originally Posted by jamsk8r

(not to mention embarrassing, because no matter which way I turn, my butt is to the room, lol).

That really did make me lol! I use it as kick my own butt off workout inspiration.

[Kristen87]

I used to get super dirty looks from the 90 pound girls at the college gym for actually working out as well. The gym there was always a fashion show, where girls would go to try and pick up guys. I stopped going eventually because I was tired of people looking disgusted by me and I got a membership at an independent gym. You can only hear so many "ew, that's so gross"es before it gets to you.

[denialisnthappiness]

Ah I sweat like the proverbial... it drips off my elbows... my hair is like I've just come out of the shower by the time I'm done... not a pretty sight but then I'm not there to be pretty It's just ''one of those things''. My father sweats a lot too yet I have a friend who is as dry as the desert!

Not many things bug me tbh... although I do get irritated when people run on the treadmills and overstep so that they basically hit the front of the treadmill base and not the belt... bang bang bang is all you can hear

[Pink Geranium]

1. I sweat a lot at the gym. When I'm running. Doing yoga. You name it. I guess I sweat when I swim too, but I don't know about it as of course I am wet. I personally feel happy about it as I know it means I'm getting somewhere. So I say, come over and stand by me and we'll sweat and feel good about our efforts together! Anybody who objects to sweat or even notices it in a gym or on someone who is exercising, I think maybe they are confused about how exercise and the body work!

2. Treadmill - I am one of those who puts the treadmill on a high incline. At this point I need it to be there to get any effect from it, and I have to hang on to it because of balance issues (I hang on to it when it is level, too). I don't like the treadmill much, but I do not always have a choice of machines to use, and if I'm going to do the work, I'm going to WORK! I'd rather run or walk outside but I don't always have that choice, either.

I notice the things others do to exercise and have learned after a couple years at the gym, there are many styles, etc., - because people have all different goals and abilities. If I see someone doing something interesting or different, I ask about it. I've gotten some good advice that way.

[PhotoChick]

I notice the things others do to exercise and have learned after a couple years at the gym, there are many styles, etc., - because people have all different goals and abilities.

Exactly!

I think what irritates me about threads that talk about what irritates you at the gym (*grin*) is two-fold:

The first is that so many people on this site have posted that they are scared to go to the gym because they don't want to be watched, judged, etc. And it's really hard to justify saying to them "most people don't care about what you're doing since they're focused on their own workouts" when the very next thread is "OMG someone was doing something weird and it pissed me off!!" or "OMG can you believe that people actually do that at the gym??" How can we encourage people to go to the gym on the one hand and on the other, complain about things that actually don't impact you at all?

Which is #2 - I'm amazed at the number of people who don't just complain but are actively annoyed at things that HAVE NO IMPACT ON THEM. What does it matter to you if the guy on the treadmill is at 100% incline, hanging on, with his feet dangling? Does it really hurt you at all? What does it matter to you if the ab obsessed guy preens in front of the mirror as he does his curls? Does it hurt you at all?

I totally get being annoyed by things that impact you. I would say 99% of the things that annoy me at the gym are based on people being selfish or thoughtless: Talking on your cell phone while you workout (so loudly that I can hear you over my iPod). Not wiping down the machine and leaving streaks/puddles of sweat. Hogging the swiss ball to sit on and chat while your friend is doing crunches. Not re-racking your weights when you're done, so I have to go searching for a 20lb barbell. Not un-racking your weights when you're done so I have to remove 80lb from the bar before I start my squats.

But when it's things that have no impact on you at all ... then you're just being judgemental and ... IMO ... rude.

<rant for the day>

.

[lovnmom]

Unfortunately I live in the middle of nowhere and do not have access to a gym, but thanks Photo for an enjoyable read....I always love how you say exactly what you are thinking..I miss you at the 40's chat immensely. It sounds like you're doing terrific. WTG!!

[jamsk8r]

Photochick, I get what you're saying, but what I'm saying is, if a person needs a line of sight to a mirror to do curls, they ought not to do them in front of the ONE DB rack, because when there are 4-5 people there doing that, as their usually are at my gym, it makes it nearly impossible for anyone else to get to the DB rack without breaching the line-of-sight etiquette. I'm just saying, they could take it to a place that isn't blocking a piece of equipment, and that would be good gym etiquette, too.

[PhotoChick]

they ought not to do them in front of the ONE DB rack, because when there are 4-5 people there doing that, as their usually are at my gym, it makes it nearly impossible for anyone else to get to the DB rack without breaching the line-of-sight etiquette.

Totally agree. Blocking equipment is rude. But that wasn't what you said in your original post. What you said was:

the mirror lovers. You know the ones, because they are so in love with themselves, they have to look in the mirror to do any kind of exercise,
[...]
If you're that needy,
[...]
Personally, I can't fathom why the free weight room needs 3 mirrored walls. I've yet to run across even one exercise that required a mirror

You weren't really talking about someone blocking the weights. You were being really rude about people who use the mirrors in the weight room to monitor their workouts just because *you* don't think there's "even one exercise that requires a mirror." (And you'd be wrong about that, but that's another thread.)

If I were a newbie to the gym who was just learning to use the weights and had been told to watch her form in the mirrors, your little rant would really have embarrassed me and made me reluctant to go back to the gym for fear someone was thinking exactly that about me .. that I was some self-obsessed fattie who had to stare at myself in the mirror.

And it's all well and good to tell people that they shouldn't worry about what other people think when they're working out, but you know as well as I do that when you're new to the gym you're afraid everyone is looking at you and judging you for being the "fat chick lifting weights". Then to read something like what you wrote on a support board about exercise ... that would make me never want to go back to the gym again.

Seriously. People need to THINK about what they write here. This *is* a support board and before you go all nasty about the things people do at a gym, maybe stop a minute and think about if what you write might impact someone reading here ... who will start to feel really self conscious about what they do at the gym and who might decide that it's not worth going back.

PS - lovin - thanks for the kind words. I guess my saying what I mean can get me in trouble sometimes, but some things I just feel strongly about. I'll wander back over to the 40s chat and say "hi".

.

[Lyria]

I'd probably annoy just about everyone by the sounds of reading all this lol. Oh well.

I sweat like a pig - AND LOVE IT!

I run on the treadmill at about 8 mph and my shoes DO make a bit of noise...i.e. a lot of "whack whack whack" and some of the treadmills are squeaky at that speed

I love to have the incline up anywhere from 2-8 if I am doing intervals...although I don't hold onto the rails when I do that.

I DO check my form out in the mirrors when I am using the free weights because I like to make sure that I am hitting the right areas.

But basically...bottom line...I just LOVE LOVE LOVE going to the gym and getting all sweaty and tiring myself out. Love it!

I haven't noticed any dirty looks...but that could be because I am to self focused to notice.

Oh! Almost forgot that yes...I have actually answered my phone whilst on the treadmill BUT I was still running on it...they're usually work calls and I have to take them (unfortunately)

=)

[ImpalaHoarder]

I dunno, I actually kind of like it when I sweat more than anyone else in the room. This actually applies more to fencing classes than treadmilling, but it makes me feel a bit better when my form is starting to fall apart a bit due to exhaustion, or when I can't quite keep up with the group- I'm working harder than they are, and that's why I tire myself out quicker, I'm not just lazy. I mean, I should know that already, but it's nice to have evidence.