I started off today by scribbling down a bit of a deeper post. It was all about self-reflection and growth and stuff that was meant to make you seriously think about this current “chapter of life”. Although I love that stuff (I’ll probably post that up at a later date, and when I do my blog revamp it’ll have its own dedicated category), I also wanted to keep things quite light today. You know life is all about balance. 😉 Instead, if you remember correctly/are a regular reader here – you’ll know that a few months ago I started up a Things We Need to Stop Doing series – I called it a (never that deep) series about things that essentially confuse me or grind my gears or both. Being a true Londoner, I kicked it off with a few tips on London etiquette. Today, after over a year of sighing and rolling my eyes at many situations in the gym, I thought I would write up a gym edition.
Calling all gym goers… do you do any of these things?
Personal space, please?
Is it just me, or do a lot of people at the gym has no understanding of what personal space is at all. There could literally be the whole floor available, and you have come to place your mat right next to my own – why? This always grinds my gears especially if I’m doing big movements because suddenly I find that I start limiting the extent of what I’m doing to avoid I dunno, accidentally kicking someone in the face, just because they had no concept of what personal space is!
Gym decorum – it’s a thing guys
Yesterday I was in the gym and I was stacking a few weights onto the barbell. Of course, to do this I removed the barbell clips. In the space of a few seconds, somebody – with their entire chest – came up to where I was stood and took one of my clips. I had seen this person hovering around me for a while, clearly wishing I would get off of the rack so that he could use the space for his own barbell, and honestly, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Instead of going off on him, I said “okay…”, picked up my other clip and one last clip that I had seen earlier had been lying around and I held them. I made sure to do it in a rush so he knew I was taking them to ensure he couldn’t use them. Now he only had one clip – useless eh? Eventually, he tottered away and bit embarrassed whilst he went on a search for more clips.
Why don’t you ask HIM how many sets he has left?
This one is for the ladies. I often find that if I’m on the cable machine and a guy is on the other side, or if I’m on a barbell and a guy is using a barbell next to me, or anything similar – other men only come up to ask me how many sets I have left, and not said “other guy”. I always think in my head – “why didn’t you ask this dude how many sets he has left? Do you think I’m here to play around and he’s not?!”
It’s okay, I don’t need your help
Another one for the ladies! Now, if someone wants to come up to me to help correct my form, or even help me with, for example, setting up a machine, I totally understand that and I appreciate that. But sometimes people (guys) come up to me to help me with the most menial tasks. Once, someone came up to me to help me carry a 10kg plate! It’s as though they thought I was just a very weak, very little girl ha. I guess these people mean well, but I always have to tell them – “you know what? I can handle this one! Thanks.”
Machine hoggers – it’s a pandemic
One thing that really grinds my gears is when people completely hog machines (or squat racks). I find this happens a lot with the hip abduction machine and the assisted pull up machine – someone could be sitting on their phone for 10 minutes without even completing one set! Or – they could end up on the machine for the full hour such that every time you cycle back to see if it’s free – the same person is still on it… probably on their phones. Meanwhile, you can have someone standing at the squat rack doing everything but using the barbell. It baffles me. In this case I either substitute my exercises or if I’m really not in the mood, I eventually ask them how many sets they have left which often gets them to speed up as they know someone is (im)patiently waiting.
TL;DR: If any such thing exists as “gym etiquette”, let me tell you, many gym goers need to take a class! I find myself getting irritated at one thing or the other in the gym way too often.
Haha, oh boy that’s also one of my pet peeves – when someone is sitting on a machine and scrolling on their phone! arghhhh! This post was so much fun to read through haha; relating to SO many of them!
aglassofice.com x