Ack vonnie! I hope he sanitized the seat well after that!

I got my first view of a man's genitals as a freshman in high school as a fellow drummer sat on the ground, legs spread, in Umbros and no underwear. Dads need to teach their boys young!!

And this woman I saw...the word "torpedos" comes to mind. I told my friend to please let me know if I ever care that little!

There are Cardio Waves at my gym and when I was first given my induction my instructor warned me about the amount of people who use it totally incorrectly.
There are only 2 of these machines so time is of the essence when on them, and I often have to wait for one to become free. I use it for 6-10mins max.
There is however one man, he seems to go most mornings, and insists on going on one of the machines for 45mins and uses it totally wrong. His legs hardly move up and down, just going really fast, and he never breaks a sweat! It used to really annoy me because he hogged the machine and didn't even use it properly, but now I just smile to myself and feel sorry for him, he is obviously not getting any benefit from it.
When used correctly that machine is a killer....

This whole thread just makes me happy that I go to a Crossfit gym. How well I remember the days at the "regular" gym, though.

ACK - this is exactly what the "put your back into it" guy was coaching his posse to do today. ACK ACK ACK.

^ ^ ^

Ennay: He must be stopped.

Who will take on that mission?

Is there any trainer at the gym brave & committed enough to step forward?

I was hoping and praying that the Physical Therapist who was working out would walk in and see it (only trainer there at that hour) but alas they had finished that nonsense before he was done with his cardio.

This thread is both why I am too scared to go to a gym (people gawking at me and critiquing my every move is just not my thing) and why I think it might not be so bad once I finally work up the nerve (I definitely won't be letting any of my lady junk hang out all over the place, I don't grunt like I'm constipated, and if I don't know how to do something I certainly wouldn't just wing it and hope for the best). Luckily -- or unluckily depending on the perspective -- for me, the nearest gym is an hour away so it's not like I'd be able to utilize it often anyway. *sigh*

There is a woman who sings (very badly) at the top of her lungs at my apartment gym while she runs. She is not well supported and is buxom, but after initial "really? You're going to sing that loudly in a full gym?" sort of thought, I turned up my iPod and didn't worry about it anymore. At least she's working out.

But to all the people who are paranoid about going to the gym - don't stress about it. Just go. Your chub or inexperience is no match for the ridiculousness of some humans.

Seriously, if this guy was just hurting himself I would not notice or particularly care. Its the commandeering the gym, training 5 newbies to hurt THEMSELVES and overall bad etiquette that is wince making. 4 of the people he is training are elderly and never lifted before. These are not people who are going to rebound quickly from injuries he creates in them.

I dont mean to scare anyone away from the gym. This guy has just been in my way now for a couple weeks. I keep waiting for him to volunteer to train me. That would be fun.

Awhile back, two young studly guys at the gym my DH and I go to were competing against each other to see who could dead-lift the most weight.

One guy, who was wearing WHITE pants, strained so hard trying to lift the weights that he pooped himself -- ended up with a big brown stain all over his backside!

LOL now I am going to be very self-conscious when I go to the gym. I am really new to the gym and I am the one that sits and stares at the picture on the machine for 10 minutes before I 'understand' how to use it. I wish people would approach me and let me know if I am doing things wrong

Guys, please don't be discouraged from using the gym because of these observations.

A gym is like an open classroom -- it's a place where people are always learning things. They're all at different stages. It's kind of like those self-directed learning modules that we used to get in school. Or else you hire a tutor to help you. Or you enroll in classes. Or you use it kind of like a library.

So being a beginner & not having it all down absolutely correctly is nothing shameful. At all. It's encouraged. Everyone has to begin somewhere. Everyone in the gym, no matter how advanced, began at some point knowing nothing or very little.

What we're appalled by is downright disruptive or rude behavior. (The gym isn't the only place where we don't want to see some guy's junk lying on the vinyl bench where we're going to be sitting in the next 15 minutes.) These are idiots we're talking about, not ignorant people still learning. There's a heckuva difference between the two. The ignorant learn. The idiots -- well, you know about the Darwin Awards, right?

The guy whom Ennay is talking about is not only an idiot, he's a dangerous idiot. He apparently has no training credentials, no idea of correct form & is in fact teaching people do things in downright bad form, which could result in their injury. He's doing the equivalent of committing fraud by setting himself up as an authority when he hasn't got a clue. That's so different from someone bumbling along, learning on their own, just getting in their own way, working on the learning curve.