Annoying Gym Behaviour - Mk2(?)

There's a few repeat offenders that leave a water bottle, or a weight (lol) on a bench to try to retain it while they piss off and do something else.

I take it as a challenge and try get in and finish my 3 sets before they are back.

I wouldn't move a towel, seems less appropriate. But conveniently, somebody who is considerate enough to use a towel is unlikely to go awol for 10 minutes.

I've been known to leave my water bottle/towel on a bench while I run downstairs to the toilet for a whizz. Never gave it a second thought to be honest. I do this not because I want to hold the bench but because it feel daft carrying a towel and bottle up and down to the toilet unnecessarily.

A walk across the length of the gym floor (20 seconds) , down two flights of stairs, another 20 seconds to the bathroom. 60 seconds taking a whizz, 30 seconds washing hands, and back up 2 flights of stairs. All in all that 4-5 mins but there's never a shortage of benches in the free weights area of the gym.

There's a guy in my local gym that does his entire session of foam rolling and mobility work using the only cable crossover machine in the gym. I thought he was playing a prank at first and started laughing expecting him to be in on the joke but he's there every few days doing the same thing completely oblivious to how inconsiderate he is being.

I do wonder what these people are like in their work and home lives. Their behavior in the gym can't be the exception to how they usually conduct themselves.

In the gym this week a bloke was using 3 machines. A rack set up for bent over rows I think, leg press and one of the cable pulleys.

Towel and phone at the rack, he didn’t use it in the 15 minutes I’d seen it. Towel and water bottle on the leg press, nothing at the cable pulley, I guess he was out of things to use.

Then left without taking his weights off fc the barbell at the rack.

He was simultaneously foam rolling and holding on to a cable for extra stretch. To his credit he is in great shape and works hard when he is lifting but no excusing the behavior on his mobility days.

The first treadmill I get on tonight…. The console is disgustingly filthy… some brownish looking sticky liquid has been spilled all over it… probably a protein shake…. accidents happen ok, but what sort of mongrel spills a load of drink on an expensive piece of gym equipment that fellow members will subsequently need and doesn’t bother to grab a damp paper towel and wipe it clean… ? treadmill was literally a 15 second walk to the water font which has a paper towel dispenser over it… so between getting off the equipment, going to get the damp paper towel returning and cleaning…. Probably a 90 second trip / job… but the mongrel couldn’t be arsed, thanks !

Seeing that in my dressing room. Painful - scrawny feckers taking body photos in the big mirrors. Just gives a completely uncomfortable vibe in there.

Sometimes it's worth paying more or travelling further afield to train in a place where the standards are higher.

100000%, This too about an hour ago in mine. 1 lad on the cross trainer, 3 stood around it leaning on the free neighbouring equipment, and blocking access again into it…peak time, place is packed I’d already used it so nothing to me but seriously… all 4 fellas staring lovingly into each others eyes and whooping & giggling like simpletons at each other. I wouldn’t mind but there is a waiting area outside, coffee shop downstairs and a pub next door…. 🤦🏻‍♂️

2 tonight and secondly a weird one…… there is a corridor that separates the cardio and another section that has leg curl, leg press and some other machines….. the area as the whole gym is, is busy. One fella around 45, decides to forgo the entirely free aerobic studio next door and is walking up and down doing walking lunges… hits the end, turns and back…. Repeated multiple times…. He’s getting serious looks of derision as he gets mighty close to people who seek no more than to transit the facility safely and getting a bucketful of looks of ‘ some fûcking weirdo here ‘….quite appropriately… dangerous too as after reaching the end he does a sort of Basil Fawlty Nazi turn on a sixpence impression and anyone behind him has to move quickly…

mad…… lots of phone / social media use everywhere too… I had a great workout but it’s just getting silly how inconsiderate people are getting there, and elsewhere too reading this thread.

I've no issue with people taking a video of themselves for a form check or whatever but is it necessary for someone to record themselves literally doing every set and rep of a workout? There are two separate parties in my gym - a girl and a couple who I see do this regularly.

In the gym on Sunday afternoon and the couple were on the squat rack in front of me. They've the phone set up on a fcuking tripod stand thing that's over a metre high pointed at them recording everything they do. After that I see them move onto the leg extension machine and the guy is recording every set the girl does, alternating between having the phone in his hand and docking it on the tripod stand. FFS is it just me or is that a bit much? No doubt these clowns see themselves as some iNfLuEnCeR tryhards.

Another girl I also usually see do this albeit not with such an obnoxiously large tripod stand. She uses a smaller one that looks more like a hands free phone cradle for a car and places it on the ground angled towards her for every set. Then she watches it back straight after. As I said, no issue with doing a form check but it's absolutely unnecessary after every bloody set for every exercise. Especially when she does it while using machines, whatever about the more technical lifts. It starts to venture more into being egotistical and image conscious at that point rather than checking form/technique.

I don't particularly feel comfortable being in a gym where there's a good chance I'm in the background of someone's video all the time. Have sent an email to gym management asking what their policy on video recording is and currently awaiting a response.

My Gym has banned recording and pic taking thank God!

The latest annoyance for me is people going onto a bench/machine and going straight onto their phone for a few mins without doing a single rep.

That's normal. I do it when I'm going from one exercise to another immediately and on my rest time and checking weight / reps from the previous day on my notes app to ensure there is some progressive overload.

Speak up and ask can you work in. Most people have no issue.

If the gyms empty have at it.

If it's busy, have some consideration.

Even if you have to check your program for every set. That takes 3 seconds tops. Nobody should notice you doing that. And once you’ve checked the first set is probably light. So wouldn’t expect people sitting there for a few minutes before unracking.

and I say that as someone who takes the rest I need between sets and have no issue having my phone out while I take it.

You have to remember this thread is for stating annoying gym behaviour, it’s not about genuine solution seeking.

If their wasn’t a thread here I certainly wouldn’t be creating one to post my slight grievances in the gym.

Yeah fair enough! By complaining about the complainers I am merely maintaining the cosmic balance

People that are using two machines in alternation, and don't let any else use either.

People reading books on exercise bikes

Women that seem to more dressed for a night of clubbing make up etc, and doing the minimum amount clearly only there to be "seen".

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On the post about young lads looking at social media on phones and hanging around. If the no cameras in gyms rule was properly enforced, it would mean no more mobile phones - problem solved they would actually have to train instead of doss. Leave your phones in the locker etc instead.

Supersets. Absolute BS approach. Especially if they're SS on a cable machine and I want to work in, and they say, oh no sorry I'm SSing. Die.