Annoying Gym Behaviour - Mk2(?)

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121043743#Comment_121043743

It’s what I ‘ could ‘ do indeed. But it’s still annoying behaviour. I don’t go there to negotiate with or talk to anyone…Usually one other rower is free but apart from inconveniencing me, they shouldn’t be inconveniencing anyone…..

brownej

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121110297#Comment_121110297

Is it your favourite rower?

joe199

People on phones browsing while sitting on bench or machine doing a set every 5 or 10 minutes, gym staff need to clamp down on it asap it's ridiculous the idiots

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121140060#Comment_121140060

Just ask to work in with them.

Black Sheep

I understand the idea that some people going into gyms don't want to have to talk to anyone, especially not to ask for something and maybe some of them feel really anxious about the prospect... But actually, it's better for everyone if people in gyms communicate, it makes for a better atmosphere and everything becomes accessible rather than people competing or queueing for equipment, and not really acknowledging each other while it's happening.

Your training is an individual activity, but gym use is not, really. We're all in there together, sharing the equipment, and it's more practical if people acknowledge each other, cooperate and have interactions. Asking to work in is reasonable, it should be normalised rather than seen as either an imposition or something to be annoyed about having to do.

Now, there's also a beauty to the solitary peace of training in your home gym, but there pros and cons to both.

Black Sheep

I do have something to give out about however, for the first time in a while...

There's someone in the gym - clearly a new person, because it's a recent development - who is putting hex DBs back in the wrong order. Not just putting the light DBs in among the heavy DBs, but managing the unusual trick of mixing up individual DBs. So you grab a set of 14kg DBs, and you might discover you've got a 12 and a 14. I'm not even sure how this happens, it's actually easier to keep them in the right order than scramble them so deliberately.

callaway92

Not quite annoying behaviour from others, but moreso the Gym owners etc.

Drive me nuts when a Treadmill or Cross Trainer has an awful squeaking or slamming/bumping noise off it and they never bother to fix it.

Happens the odd time where I'd be 500m or 750m into a planned 2km run on a treadmill and I hear the banging through my headphones and it completely makes me self-conscious etc!

At what point do they say 'ya we better get that fixed'...

brownej

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121142485#Comment_121142485

Have you reported it to the gym reception. Alot of the time they ignore stuff until somebody points it out, at least in my gym anyway.

callaway92

Yeh, now admittedly I said it in a 'jokey' kind of way to one of the guys I get on with there, with a 'jaysis that first treadmill does serious thumpung' when running on it. Whole place could hear' ... not sure if anything further was done with what I said though!

ButtersSuki

Had forgotten about this thread but glad to see it's still going.

Didn't particularly annoy me but I just found it a little unusual: I was on the treadmill and the lady beside me had a portable fan plugged into the USB port on her machine. This type of thing:

She seemed to howvere spend more time adjusting it to try and make it stay in place than running. Was a first for me seeing it anyway.

ButtersSuki

I'm sure it's been mentioned before but saw a young-ish lad yesterday mixing a can of Monster with his protein powder to make his shake. I cannot even begin to imagine how disgusting that must taste.

Black Sheep

I've never seen Monster mixed in with protein powder, but people have been mixing soft drinks with protein shakes for a long time... It's more of a US thing, though - google mixing protein with 'soda'.

JayRoc

I used to know a lad, a hurler from down the country, that mixed his protein shake with a can of Amstel lager instead of water.

I mean, Amstel is vile on its own....

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121140060#Comment_121140060

Earlier… there are two lat pull down gizmos… one is being used, second free one, I’m beaten to the free one by seconds , no problem, I begin to use another piece of equipment…

your man does about 7 or 8 minutes, I’m comfortable doing my own thing, until yep.. he stops, but out comes the drink, phone ( which is in contravention of the rules, unless paired with a headset / earphones for music ) and he’s just scrolling, texting and smiling away, legs crossed looking fondly at his screen not giving two fücks…still sat on the machine…. It’s all I want to do before home….. I end up doing 15 minutes on the treadmill… so he’s sitting there doing nada for 7 or 8 minutes…it’s not getting the breath break, I’d have no issue there.

Get your breath for 40 seconds, get up, get off of your arse, get the wipe, get the sanitizer, sanitize the machine and take your dumb fûck self to another piece of equipment, the cafe, or home, wherever…..

callaway92

Y’know what could’ve been a good idea? Growing a pair and asking if you could use it.

reclose

wrong post.

reclose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121140060#Comment_121140060

Irritating me big time lately. Mostly very young people around 18.

Black Sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195531#Comment_121195531

I don't agree with the tone of the post saying 'grow a pair', above, but - yes - you should have just asked to work in.

This is obviously a recurring issue for you, that seems to cause you a bit of annoyance.

You're putting all of the blame on the gym goers because they are taking an excessive amount of time on equipment, and scrolling on their phone, and are thus "inconveniencing" you, but I put it to you they might say they thought no-one was waiting to use the equipment after them, so they took their time. If you didn't speak to them, how were they to know? Are they inconveniencing you, or are you inconveniencing yourself by not taking the obvious step available to you to resolve the situation?

reclose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121196648#Comment_121196648

I agree you should ask to work in but some people won’t let you.

Also if you are in a public gym you should have the awareness that other people might want to use the machine and not be taking the piss with 5 minute rest periods scrolling.

There’s no way I’d be sitting on a machine that long even if it was empty. You’re there to work out.

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121198925#Comment_121198925

I’ve been training a long time, have never once had someone say that I can’t work in.

The only exercises where you’d be pushing your luck is on something like a barbell squat, where you could need significantly different weights or rack height.

But for something like a lat pull, it’s literally as simple as slotting a pin in a different hole while the other person rests. There is no good reason anyone could have for denying you that.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121199248#Comment_121199248

There's a few people in my gym who regularly refuse to allow people to work in.

This tends to happen on the dual cable machine. These guys are masters of taking four or five minute breaks between sets to gawp at their phones and wander off from the machine only to rush back and stop others from using it (if there's nobody at a piece of equipment it's a fair call to assume it's available for use).

Most people are happy to let others work in but this small number of people are just disgusted by the idea.

One guy will take a bench from the free weights area (which is typically packed and in doing so he's clogging up two pieces of equipment) and drag it over to the machine and spend 45 minutes at a time on it, a good 30 minutes of that is looking at their phone and telling anyone that approaches that they won't be finished for ages and that it's too awkward for them to work in.

The staff are useless for dealing with these type of issues so some of us have said things to him ourselves but the compulsion for some people to treat the gym as a personal space instead of a shared one is something that's crept in over the last few years.

There's no instruction to younger members on basic etiquette or seemingly basic use of equipment (one teenage lad broke his ankle lifting an overloaded trap bar a year or so ago).

Over all the basic experience of using the gym has gotten worse in recent times, a number of gyms closed in the general area leading to the remaining gyms being over crowded, great for the operators revenue but a nett loss for long term members jostling for space on the gym floor with gormless phone addicted young adults who generally either don't know any better or just don't care one way or another.

So while we all can say working in is the accepted solution in these situations, there's cohort of people who don't really understand the concept and aren't willing to accept they don't have sole ownership of equipment.

Black Sheep

I've never had anyone refuse to let me work in either, in 20 years odd of training.

Anyway, at least we've established people saying no is still the exception rather than the norm. I'd still venture to say it's very very rare.

It does sound like a very chaotic gym environment. There could be liability issues for the gym, if it's really as much of a free-for-all as described.

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121199465#Comment_121199465

Jesus.. I'd tell them exactly where to go, but I appreciate that's not something everyone is willing to do.

Your only options in that scenario is sub in a different exercise, or go to a gym with better culture where that malarkey isn't tolerated.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121201006#Comment_121201006

I don't mind having a word with people in those situations although I had one lad get thick with me a few years back when I went to use a piece of equipment that he then claimed he was using as part of a super set, he had been standing on the other side of the gym looking at his phone for a good ten minutes prior to this, plus the place was busy so super sets are a bit of a cheeky thing to be trying to do in that setting anyway.

I've spoken to the staff and suggested they put a few signs around about basic etiquette and not sitting on equipment for unreasonable lengths of time, this would make it easier for staff no enforce if they can point to signs stating policies as I understand a lot of them are young people themselves and probably not that confident in those situations.

reclose

Most people will let you work in but some won’t.

I will say it to people if they are at it every day and it’s stopping me doing what I want to do but I did have one occasion where a bouncer from a nearby club lost the head to the point where it was looking like it was going to end up being a fight.

He regularly super settled on 3 things at a time and no one was allowed near any of them until he was finished.

Similar to the other person’s experience he could be ages getting back to the first machine that you’d nearly have your 4 sets done by the time he got back.

reclose

Has long rest periods become a thing? I see it a lot now where people are taking approx 3-5 rests between sets. It’s fairly inconvenient in busy gyms.

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121203160#Comment_121203160

3-5 minutes can be appropriate for heavy multi-joint exercises like squats, deadlifts etc. Usually more so for people who are quite strong.

For something single joint and lighter like leg extensions, curls etc. it's rarely necessary to rest that long.

It's probably more to do with people's addiction to their phones.

Mr. CooL ICE

Never experienced a denial of working in. I try to train at quieter times anyway, but when i ask to work in, i base my rest periods around whoever got there first, i.e. I'll wait until they get their set in before I start.

Mr. CooL ICE

One thing popped into my head and I've never been 100% sure if i was in the right or not.

Gym had two standalone benches; one comp style and another cheaper commercial style (no safeties, rigid pin slots). Both were free so i started on the comp style one. Two lads training together started working on the other bench but came over to ask if we could swap. I said no. My reason being that I was by myself and wanted the safeties and as they were together, they could spot each other. They seemed annoyed but didn't make a scene.

Was my reason justified?

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210441#Comment_121210441

I don’t think you need any reason other than the fact you’d already taken the bench. I wouldn’t expect someone to give me a bench just because it’s the one I want.