Well, it's not the gym, and I don't mean to offend the swim-team Mom , but lap swim at our local HS pool follows swim team practice, and by the time I walk in the locker room, the floor is 1" deep in water. Really, I have to roll up my work pants and take off my socks/stockings before I enter. Those young girls toss wet suits all over the floor and the benches - there's hardly a dry place to set anything down. And not to pick on the MS/HS kids - I used to swim at the University pool when I worked in Anchorage, and the college girls were just as bad - and they had a wringer to run their suits through. Grrr

And I've never seen the hair dryers used that way - pool or gym - but, yes, ewwwww. I prefer to shower at home anyway - I like my own towels and I can just put on my sweats or jammies and chill.

People at my gym are really nice. It's attached to a hospital so there are a lot of older people but also a lot of young people (no teenagers, I think you have to be 18 to join). I don't find that people do anything annoying. They even put their weights back most of the time. There are some people who exercise in dress shoes and jeans which I think is silly but it's no bother to me obviously.

No offense taken, Pat and I totally agree. The team she's on now at the college is better than at the Y bc it's only swimteam and not the mom's trying to get their kids dressed after lessons (screaming, cranky, tired kids) but yes, the tweeny girls are horrible. I used to go in to speed my dd along, but I can't stand it now and told her she's on her own and I won't help her with her stuff anymore. It just gets really loud too. But you know, you never appreciate stuff at home or otherwise until you are old enough to have to have paid for it yourself. At least I do hang nearby and spent enough time with dd that she knows what's cool and what's bad behavior in there, but most parents hang out in the carloop and don't bother with managing their kids behavior. Which is a whole - other- thread!!! lol

that is hilarious, what nerve, I also go home to shower...

My gym pet peeves:

1. People having louder than loud conversations, especially on their cell phones. How can they even work out effectively if they have to be able to talk?!

2. Sweat-drenched equipment. Are they really unaware that the machine is dripping from their visit?

3. People who just sit on the equipment, having louder than loud conversations, or diddling with their iPods, or reading a magazine. Seriously, move already! This ain't the library!

And now I'm going to avoid the dryers because of the alternate usage I knew nothing about until now.

I had no idea about the alternate drier usage either. Wow--you learn something new everyday!

A few pet peeves:

1. The masters swim team women (yes, adults!) that cannot be bothered to put their stuff in a locker and instead use every available surface of the four tiny benches in the locker room to hold their gigantic bags (seriously, I could pack for a week-long trip with the size of these bags--they're only swimming for an hour or two, how can they possibly need that much stuff).

2. People who make comments about the exercises my trainer has me do, while I'm doing them, especially if it's pretty clear they couldn't do them themselves.

3. People who just sit on a piece of equipment without using it. Either use it or get off it so the rest of us can use it. I'm not your mom; I shouldn't have to remind you to share.

4. People who leave their garbage behind.

Until this morning I had no complaints about my new gym, or fellow gym-goers. Now...

1. Get off the cell phone or off the treadmill. Who are you calling at 4:45AM? No one I know would answer that call.
2. Why did you bathe in perfume?
3. If you must talk on you cell, and wear perfume, could you find a treadmill that's not 6 inches from mine? Especially when the other 30 treadmills are not in use.
4. Do not stand 2 inches away from my bench when I'm lifting, move back some. There's plenty of room in the free weight area, lots of mirrors and only 3 of us working out.

I think if I ever do shower at the gym, it will be BYOD. Bring your own dryer.

I'm inadvertently a culprit on the perfume/spray thing. In my case it's body spray that I put on ONLY in the morning. I work out on my way home from work in the afternoon, and when I sweat the smell of the spray comes out. It's not fresh, and I never use a ton (at least I don't think I do!)...it just seems to start being noticeable more when I sweat...

Same thing happens the day after I wash my hair with a certain shampoo. If it happens to rain or whatever, I smell the shampoo even though it's been HOURS since I washed my hair the night before...

My #1 relatively new gym pet peeve: My gym was bought last year and moved locations to an old pharmacy building the new owner already owned. The new gym is one big building, so they put in a section of hard wood floors and office-type divider walls (only ~8 feet high, ceilings are ~20 feet high) to section it off to have a yoga/stretching/etc area away from all the weights and machines. They got a new woman to offer cardio-kickboxing in that area. She got these "great" new mics that plug into the music system. So now if you're in the entire rest of the gym you not only hear the music the kickboxing class is playing clashing with the music playing in the rest of the gym, but the instructor's voice is piped in really loud on top of all that. It annoys me so much I leave the gym, no matter what I had planned for my workout! My iPod can't even drown it out!

I agree with all the cell phone comments, sitting on the benches doing nothing comments... I'm one of the only women who uses the free weights section. I'm either ignored (which is when I have to ask, "Are you using that? [piece of equipment that you've been lounging on for 15 minutes]"), or I'm hit on. There isn't much in between. Geez.

All of these things listed are why I have stocked my garage up with exercise equipment...

I am probably going to have to join a gym sometime in the next year since I don't think I have the room for the freeweights I want to start working with. I used to be a member at Bally's and don't have a lot of fond memories... Guess I should start shopping around now. First thing I'm going to do when I scout each location is check out the women with the hairdryers.

I am actually in discussions with my gym right now to cancel my membership because it is not clean (dust bunnies everywhere), not enough cleaning stations - not that the members use them anyway - people talking loudly and rudely on their phones and the grunters. They are arguing it all with me and I am pushing it as far as possible.

I have already gone to another gym where if this occurs it is fixed immediately. I'm paying for two memberships which is silly but I could not stand going to the other gym. So we will see what happens.

Oh and people that sing a loud to their music...and I mean loud!

Oh and the people that go to the gym to pick up people (aka wear total nighttime make-up and hairdos) - it's often these women and/or men in some cases that really take up unecessary time on equipment and leer at you. GROSS!

People who don't obey posted signs. I go to a centre with lots of various fitness things & the ladies locker room clearly has signs that say "children under 12 are to be in the family faciliies" & almost everytime I go there are lots of little kids screaming etc & their mom "over talking in baby talk" to them. Drives me crazy - really, you cannot miss the sign & they just ignore them. Very rude!

Im still grossed out by the hair dryer thing....YUCK

I have spent a LOT of time in gym change rooms and have NEVER witnessed that behaviour with the hair dryers! Plus I think it's just weird - towel drying doesn't do enough for their pubic hair??

Oh my YES! It took me a year to find a gym. It's funny, in the beginning of my fitness quest, I would have been awestruck by the flashy big box gym. My requirements were easily met by a health club. Four or is it five now, years later my needs were different. I looked at the crowd, what they were doing, how hard did they work, would I be able to be comfortable here...I needed a place where I wouldn't stick out if I wanted to experiment with the creativeness of functional training and/or sit on a bench bench press heavy. It took a year but I found it. Many of the other members absolutely amaze me! I'm learning from them as well from the staff. They're awesome.

My suggestion would be, if you want one, is to look at all of the fitness options in your area. Think about what you are currently doing in your routine and could that translate in the new environment. Also, this is very important, think about an area in which you would like to learn/grow. Check out small independent gyms that focus upon that style/technique of training an see if you could "marry" your current style while integrating some of the new things they have to offer. In most cases this will mean hiring a personal trainer in addition to the gym membership fee. However, it such an added value to your workouts. It more than breaks up the monotony of doing the same thing over and over. I would say that I have been inspired to keep learning and reaching instead of just stagnating. And trust me, stagnating is one of the worst things that can happen to an exercise plan.

Wow, sorry I got so far off topic folks. Anyway, yes. Shop for your future gym. It's an investment in yourself that deserves research

Okay. You can all return to your previously scheduled Gym Pet Peeves.