Gym pet peeves!
 

I didn't see a thread like this but if there is one then maybe somone can direct me to it. For those of you who belong to a gym what types of things REALLY annoy you that other people do? Vent away!

Here are a few of mine.
Today I go to do my upper body workout and I'm doing bicep curls with 15 lb. dumbells and some girl comes up to me with her 5 lb. dumbells and tries to convince me that I will get bulky if I lift with heavy weights! :mad: First off it's a myth, second of all don't interrupt me to voice your opinion about my workout worry about your own, and thirdly even if it were true not everyone shys away from their muscles! I just said "right", rolled my eyes, grabbed the 20 lb dumbells and cranked up my music.

Another annoyance is when I get to a machine and someone across from me gets annoyed that I got there first. So she decides to just stand in front of me and stare at me giving me dirty looks until I'm done. I would have gladly shared the machine with her but she was being rude.

Anyone else want to vent?

Well, I'm spoiled rotten with my gym, but GOOD for you on the 20s! :carrot:

When I belonged to a gym, my biggest pet peeve was the folks who gathered up ALLLLLL the equipment they'd need for an entire hour workout, sequestered it on a mat, and glared at you if you asked if you could borrow it.

OK, this was really just one person in particular. But I kid you not, she at one time was preventing anyone else from using 2 Bosu trainers (of 3 in the gym), 1 pair each of 5, 8, and 10 lb dumbbells, a stability ball, 2 medicine balls in different weights, a weighted bar, and the only adjusting bench in the women's fitness room. And I asked once if I could work in on the bench, and she said no, even though she was off doing crunches on the stability ball at the time.

I wonder if the tiny weights thing is having a resurgence. I first started weight training about 1991 (dang, imagine if I had kept it up all this time!), and always lifted as heavy as I could, and never heard I should lift lighter or worry about bulking up.

Hmmm. Number one pet peeve :chin: Oh. I know: cologne, aftershave, perfume, or any scent at all. I can rerack weights, I can readjust a bench or wait my turn but when someone is lifting next to me or doing cardio and it smells like a crowded elevator on a Monday morning, it can ruin my workout.

Attitude would have to run a close second. Okay, maybe that would be first and the scent thing second. Egos need to be left at the door. No one is all that, and if they are it's only for the moment because there is always going to be someone stronger, faster, fitter, skilled, or whatever who may walk through the door next. :devil:

GypsyLove: It sounds like you really had a bad experience today. :hug: I hope that this isn't the usual culture at your gym. Just do your thing and do it well. At the end of the day, it's the result that you want that matter. :^: Just don't find a bench next to me and be wearing scented lotion or anything. :rofl:

I live in a really active area, so there is very very few overweight people at my gym. I am probably one of...maybe five (not including DF though). So I get lots of cocky stares while I am doing equipment. I go during hours it's not so crowded to avoid that as much as possible. It discourages me and makes me not want to be at the gym. I wish they knew I've lost 50lbs and I am redoing my life style.

Lydia227, there are only a few people floating around like that in my gym, for the most part people are friendly here. I wanted to tell her soooo many different things but I bit my tongue and just decided it wasn't worth it and went on with my workout. The gym is my happy place so I try my best to keep it that way. :)

OMG! The perfume thing bothers me so much! It makes it hard for me to breath and makes me want to gag. It can stop my workout dead in it's tracks! I have to go find another section of the gym to workout in when that happens.

Perfume at the gym or anywhere for that matter, bothers me...

Gym management of course want us to wipe our cardio machine after we've worked out, they give you a spray bottle and a hand towel but rarely change the towel, so it's wet, full of germs, so all I'm doing is spreading the germs, gross!!! When it's wet like that I refuse to touch it and don't clean my machine...

I also hate when someone spits their gum in the fountain bowl, it's gotta be the teenagers there at night, another discusting thing...

Oh, it's gotta people who don't wipe things down. Now if you you're doing a 5-10 min warm up and don't drip sweat all over, I'm not too bad, but we religiously have one guy who sweats through all his gym clothes, and then, not only does he not wipe off his treadmill, he goes and uses a stability ball and doesn't wipe that - ewwww! The perfume one gets me too - usually the gals on the treadmill about 2 mph, reading a magazine. And - though they never break a sweat - they never fail to wipe down the machine. :rofl:

I am afraid to say that I don't have any complaints about other fellow members at my gym (for fear that I will jinx myself). But hoarding equipment would annoy me and don't get me started on cologne/aftershave/perfume. I happen to have a acute sense of smell and even the tiniest dab of cologne is detected by my nose and I perceive it as if the person would be in a CLOUD of fragrance - although I am the only one who can smell it and others can't.
(I must have been a dog in my previous life).

There is only one guy at my gym that I noticed he often sits on machines (resting) for like .... 5 minutes. But I don't see him there often and so far it really has not been a problem for me but I just noticed that it was his habit.

Oh, the chick who would want to convince that I should lift heavier than 5 lb would seriously crack me up.

I get kind of cranky when I venture into the "big boy's weight room" and am downright hovered over when I use a bench and am asked repeatedly, "are you using that? Are you done yet? Are you using that?"

I use the bench for all of 5 minutes. Let me be. KWIM?

My beef is the boys (I workout at the university that I work at)that load up the squat machine with 100 lbs weights and don't remove them. I'm going to break a toe one of these days. Sometimes I ask one of the boys to remove them for me...

I don't like it when women dry their pubic area with the dryers--I am sorry but it grosses me out when I am just trying to get my makeup on!

Another reason that I drive home to shower. Sheesh, they really do that?

:faint:

Never thought of that use for hair dryers. That is downright, disgusting. I would walk out never to return. I thought people walking on the floors and showering in bare feet gave me the heebie-jeebies.

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

:rofl: 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. :eek: :barf: :eek: :barf:

I had no idea about the alternate drier usage either. :eek: 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 :soap:

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

The woman who walks for 10 minutes at 2mp on the treadmill, and then wipes it off as if it were going out of style. The same woman who uses the weights machines, does the exercises wrong (which is pretty hard to do, but she manages), does 5-6 reps and then frantically wipes and sprays. The same woman again, who 90% of her work out is weights because "you really don't need cardio. Weights burn more calories, so cardio is pointless".

-The guy who lifts everything he can and lets everyone know about by shouting in pain and counting. "1....AHHHHHHHHHHH.....2.....AHHHHHHHH"

-The guy who hoards everything he needs for the hour. Umm Can I use that? Since it's just sitting on the floor? Oh yeah, you can't hear me because your music is too loud

-The guy who runs and sweats all over his work clothes. Why not bring something to change into?

-The snobs that are already fit and need to make you feel inferrior because you are not. But it doesn't get me down.

LMAO. Especially about the comment of "towel drying doesn't do enough for you?"

I agree about the perfume, but don't be so quick to knock people who read magazines and don't go super fast! I do hard workouts sometimes, but when I have a magazine or a book to read, I often go to the gym to read instead of just laying around at home - even a light walk while reading burns more calories than nothing!

Tony Gentilcore's blog post on a similar topic

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/en...t-guy-or-girl/

Okay, I will admit to only having seen the dryer thing ONE time. Just to be clear, it was the wall attached dryer that was being used for the purpose--the hand dryer thingy. It was so vividly disgusting, it isn't a site I will likely ever forget. I no longer have a gym membership for so many of the reasons listed here.

Lord, once was enough for that.

Ooh, I thought of another pet peeve . . .
 

4. When swimmers don't recognize that they're wet - - yes, I really think they don't realize they're wet - - and they spread their soaked towel, sopping wet swimsuit and wet selves on the benches in the locker, making it impossible for me to sit down or place my belongings on a dry surface. :mad:

i already posted this in EXERCISE place here ... but here is my only pet peeve :

when you have been runnin hard and loooong on a treadmill and you are all sweatty, the old woman comes and turns the fan off because she wants to get on a near-to-you machiene and do 1.5 miles per hour walk. .... and you realize its probably 100F in the gym and you cant run anymore... or do anything anymore... and you cant even say anyhthing because you are out of breath... and when you are ready to say something she is just ignoring you.

I had the same exact problem when I used to go to the gym. There was a clear sign on the locker room door that said something along the lines of using the family locker room if you have children under 12, especially boys. Of course people didn't listen, and I'd see boys in there. They enjoyed staring; it was very creepy. I usually had to go in the 18 and older area, but that usually didn't help because the elderly women loved having conversations in the nude. Well, I give them kudos for being that comfortable at least.

All I have to say is: Wow, are you guys making me appreciate my gym a LOT. I'm just stunned at some of this behavior. People can just be pigs, I guess.

Re: the really light handweight thing: yeah, it's in vogue again. <rolls eyes> Do a Google search on "Tracy Anderson" -- she's a trainer who's tight with Gwyneth Paltrow, has been on Oprah's show, etc. and she spreads the gospel that women should never ever lift anything heavier than a 3-lb. weight. Which fits in very nicely with our lifestyle of 3-lb. babies and 3-lb. bags of groceries, I guess.