Annoying Gym Behaviour - Mk2(?)

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122293179#Comment_122293179

In a busy gym you shouldn't expect to have a piece of equipment to yourself for an extended period of time.

Gyms are shared spaces, asking to work in is a solution but some people refuse this.

I see people pulling cables with 12kg on them then taking 4-5 minute breaks to look at their phones between sets, when I want to use that equipment I've no issues asking how long they're going to to be and if needs be asking what their logic is if they're not being reasonable about it.

Gyms could do with giving their staff better training/instructions around dealing with members behaviour in general, a lot of younger people seem to never had heard of the concept of gym etiquette.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294418#Comment_122294418

You seem to have missed my point. I specifically referenced being considerate of others when the gym is busy.
The entire point is that the appropriate length of time is dependant on how busy the gym is. If it quiet and there are multiple cable machines, using a machine for longer is more appropriate. If it's busy, and there's people waiting, then obvious you should try be quicker.

There was no mentioned of it being busy in the OP - it may have been, but it was declared as inappropriate regardless. The point is that it depends on the situation.

silverharp

I would never hog a machine between 6 and 8pm , sometimes I can do multiple exercises on a Smith machine but if I did it would be 9 or 10pm or mid morning at the weekend, but and it doesnt happen often but a bunch of teenagers surrounding the single Bench press is a bit much

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122298597#Comment_122298597

Nor do I. The only equipment I camp on for any length of time is the squat rack/platform. And even that’s only because there’s 4 of them.

If I had to do some boring rehab for 30 on a leg extension, I’d try find a quiet time in the weekend.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300259#Comment_122300259

I used to do a routine I found with those cable arms and it could take 40min but there were 2 stations plus normal cable machines so didnt feel I was putting anyone out.

I do find the odd time that people hog the Smith machine too much (and there is generally only one) with long gaps between the odd set they do lol, in such situations its safer going for an off peak time anyway

Black Sheep

There's a friend of mine who will use an adjustable cable crossover / adjustable pulley machine to do chest, shoulders, triceps in succession. He likes the resistance profile.

There's another guy in the gym who comes in to do a Starting Strength routine, and he'll use the same rack/platform to perform all his compound lifts.

So in both of the above examples, you have someone that will be on the same equipment for a protracted period, even with normal rest periods.

I don't think it's straightforwardly inconsiderate behaviour. If the gym has a number of racks / pulleys then potentially no issue arises.

If it's peak time, and the gym has 8 racks, and they're still all occupied, then that situation changes, although I would also say there is a question to be asked about whether the gym is oversubscribed. But yes, I would try to be briefer and I would ask anyone hanging around did they want to work in.

If I were in a rack, squatting, and because the gym is clearly so busy there was a queue of people waiting to use it, and I decided that I would only do one top set, it would still take me a while to do a few warm-up sets and then do my heavy work set. The rest would be shorter for the first couple of warm-ups, but yesterday I worked up to a 5rm paused box squat, and that took a while.

I do see people going from exercise to exercise, and doing three sets of everything, no warm-ups, 45 seconds rest apiece, and they're gone.. That's certainly handy for everyone else, but it's not a great way to train so we've got to also be realistic about the time it takes people to get something out of a piece of equipment.

If I'm the guy waiting, then as I see it I have two options:-

You ask to work in, if it's practical (It wouldn't be practical to work in with me on a heavy paused box squat, unless the other party was using a similar weight and also squatting, IMO). People on this thread get really antsy about the issue of working in, but let's remember that in the real world it is the norm and I don't think I've ever had an issue with it.

Or you change your workout. You could reverse order, and see if the rack / pulley station is available later. This is no biggie. If it's still not available, you potentially have to look at subbing movements that are "same but different". That cable chest press might become a dumbbell bench. The barbell squat might become a machine squat, or a heavy unilateral lower body lift or whatever.

Really if the non-availability of equipment is an ongoing issue though, it's either time to move to a bigger gym, or train at a different time or look at a home training set-up.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122305419#Comment_122305419

Ill find the routine, I dont do it anymore , the guy is a bit of a douche but I think it looked sound and it was easy to play if I needed a reminder but it would keep me at the same station for over 30min

https://youtu.be/astkPvep0DU?si=TayP6hTSO6p3aO-1

xckjoo

There was a guy that started showing up regularly towards the end of my own sessions that stank to high heaven. Not sure if he was one of those "no wash" people or just didn't wash or change gym clothes during the week, but it was getting so bad it was hard to be there when he was. Regular looking dude. Skinny middle aged guy. He also used the two noisiest machines in the place. Some kind of arm thing and a step thing. Never really saw anyone else using them and not sure what they're for but they're crazy noisy when they get going.

TBH it was only the intensity of the smell that made it annoying. The rest just added to the oddity of the situation. It was honestly hard to breath when you got near him.

gym_imposter

Few days ago, two people ( male and female circa early forties) had a ten minute conversation across the gym with each other, wasn't even about exercise, more " do you know who died recently" kinda thing

Harmless but became annoying

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122305419#Comment_122305419

Just finished a training phase, about start a new program, so testing week. Has a low volume session planned, mobility, HB squat max, incline bench max. Took my time on squats. Head over to the only incline bench to finish and see 4 guys are using it. After 10 minutes of waiting, did around 3 sets between them. So not even one each. And looked like first set warm ups (load and intensity) , so was about to leave assuming they'd be an hour getting to to work sets - when they just said they were done.

Went from empty bar to top set in 9 minutes. Speed running PRs FTW.

Black Sheep

I do think it's possible to overdo warm-ups and running up to a top set, for me it's pretty body part specific. If it's a heavy deadlift or squat it's going to take a while. I'm a comparatively weaker presser so I possibly could do significantly fewer sets when working up. Not sure about nine minutes though! Well done anyway.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122309051#Comment_122309051

I’m usually economically with warm ups for max efforts. 5x, 3x, 2x, then singles. But I’d take prepped rest between the “hard” singles.

yesterday I was just fed up waiting. And didn’t really care what I maxed at. Took bigger jumps and less reps. Worked out. /shrug

Warbeastrior

How do you tackle someone working in if they have longer rest periods than you. Happened me recently, I had a 90s rest period and they seemed to have longer which meant that they were only half way through a set when I was ready to go again.

Black Sheep

If it was a big compound movement it wouldn't be a big enough deal for me to worry about. I guess depends... resting something like 3 minutes versus 90 seconds... I'd probably just accept it, take the extra rest and crush the work sets.

On an isolation movement or if it's warm ups then certainly shouldn't be taking an age.

If they were really sluggish I'd just start pushing a little bit, "cool, I might go again now if that's ok". They'll get the message.

If they've let you work in I'd be mindful of that too though.

silverharp

from general "twitter advice" it seems like taking longer breaks between sets for big heavy movement is better for performance than rushing things , intuitively seems sensible

Black Sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313023#Comment_122313023

You can do better than general twitter advice!

But yes, if someone really wants to get the most out of a set and their goal is strength and/or hypertrophy then too short a rest period is detrimental. The main downside of too long a rest period is just inefficiency. Hard to write specific times in stone, though.

fatbhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312531#Comment_122312531

The onus is on the person working-in to inconvenience the other as little as possible, so I'd advise saying that due to different rest periods, the person working-in needs to wait/rest till the other person has done two sets.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312531#Comment_122312531

If you’re 90seconds. And they’re 2mins, it’s irrelevant. If they’re 3+ mins then do two sets.

degsie

Why do people find it necessary to bring bags into the gym? For heavens sake there is even a gym rule about not bringing in bags in case somebody trips over them. Brainless!

corks finest

Ive noticed similar dirty devils in the mardyke Arena gym,

Few thank God but smelly feckers,

Noticed a few fellas just spraying themselves rather than showering,

Can't understand it,and what's more not old guys.

reclose

Since we’ve moved back to the more trivial stuff.
Lads going around with their hoods up working out.
Dragging your bag around with you is a strange one too.

BlazingSaddler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122315886#Comment_122315886

with headphones on top of the hood! Irrationally annoying!

mindhorn

A guy in the place I go to deadlifts and squats in his bare feet. And he stands on plates when carrying out these lifts. I got a good look at his feet today as he was propping them up on a barbell whilst stretching. I wouldn't mind (well, I do) if they were in good enough nick but they looked manky enough.

Strumms

the bag draggers are weird phenomenon… signage everywhere of ….‘strictly no bags on the gym floor, please use lockers provided, thank you’….

Loads of lockers, you have to walk past the locker area to access the gym, your membership card that you have to use get into the gym opens and locks the locker with a single touch. So literally zero inconvenience…

Someone walks around a corner, catches their foot in an bag strap some goon left beside a treadmill… could really hurt themselves…

fatbhoy

There's a couple of smellies in my gym too. One is the smell of underarm BO infused into his polyester top. I don't think he washes it much. The other guy is a different smell, just general stale body smell, mixed I think with tobacco. Something like that.

Then the other thing that annoys me is this girl who supersets different exercises. Today she had the squat rack, and was flat BB benching with it. Fair enough. But she also had a BB setup in front of the bench, doing deadlifts or bent-over rowing, not sure. Point is, she'd do a set of benching, then do the DLs, then back to benching. Two BBs used up. Now, there's only a certain number of BBs in the gym, and when it gets busy all the good ones can be used up. In fairness to her, she'd grand about letting you share. If you asked to share the bench for chest say, I reckon she'd let you work in; same with the DLs. But it annoys me kind of. Even when the gym is empty it annoys me 🤣. I just have a thing about people doing supersets, or a load of different exercises in rotation, if you get me. I think I mentioned before on here about this guy who had two squat racks, side by side, on the go at the same time, doing different exercises in each: like in one, maybe incline bench, and in the other, squatting. Something like that. More amusing than annoying (probably only because the gym was empty; if it was packed and I needed one of the racks I wouldn't be shy about letting him know).

Another one was dopes unloading BBs on squatting racks: low IQ person removes all the plates from one side, bar flips violently and hits the deck with huge force, anyone passing by could be seriously injured or killed, happened umpteen times. My gym had to put up signs telling people to alternate sides when removing weights.

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122315962#Comment_122315962

For a lower body session I could be carrying a belt, chalk, straps, squat/deadlift shoes, headphones, and a logbook. It's part and parcel of taking lifting seriously, and much easier to carry with a bag. if it's positioned neatly next to you then I don't see a problem.

as_mo_bhosca

Would you not wear them instead? Go back to locker/ bag area for stuff you need or to put back what you're done with.

This is a fine example of " the rules don't apply to me" attitude that is the main reason for this thread.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122316357#Comment_122316357

I see the odd person take up a Smith machine and dump their gear—too much , but I have a light bag but its for a bottle of water, a logbook, and a couple of "tools" for the gym. things would get forgotten otherwise

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122315962#Comment_122315962

Lockers are for your belongings while you work out. A bag on the gym floor would be for things that you use during the workout.

Depending on what I'm doing. I might have some micro-plates, chalk, wrist wraps and my notebook. It's far easier to keep that tidy in a small bag.
Leaving a bag behind a treadmill where somebody might step off and trip is careless. But weights areas typically have equipment around the place that people could trip on if they were not careful. People should stay aware.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122316474#Comment_122316474

You might wear the belt for squats only. Straps for deadlifts, etc. You certainly see people where all the bells and whistles for every exercise and set. But that's not somebody who knows what they are doing.
Walking back to the locker room to chalk between sets would be ridiculous.

Not sure how that's a "rules don't apply to me attitude". Different places have different rules.

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122316474#Comment_122316474

It’s not ‘rules don’t apply to me’ if the gym doesn’t have a policy against it. I wouldn’t train in a gym if they did. 

I actually think this and several other issues raised in this thread more so highlight the difference in understanding of gym etiquette between people who are less and more experienced in strength training.

Examples would be carrying equipment in a bag, video recording your sets for technique analysis, spending more than 15 minutes on a rack etc. Go into a serious strength training gym and this is standard.

Granted there are always sound and less sound ways of doing the above.