Gym Pet Peeves (healthy, regular, motivation, clothes)

[Northside904]

Originally Posted by Flyover_Country

I take it you work out at a gym frequented by the frat boy and roid rage set? Been there, done that. They all sit on the benches and brag about how much they bench press and then maybe an hour later actually do any bench pressing. The frat boys bench press maybe one 45-pound plate on each side (135 pounds in total) and say how they are the s**t for bench pressing such a massive weight. The roid ragers put on something stupid like five plates, grunt and hoot a lot, lift off and then have the bar fall straight down on their chest because they obviously can't lift anywhere near the 500 pounds they put on the bar. They then have their buddies lift it off of them and then jaw-jack around for another hour about how they were "so close" before letting anybody else use the bench.

My gym is independently-owned, it's more of a weightlifting gym but it's open to everyone. We don't have a lot of rules except no intimidating other members, re-rack your weights and wipe down equipment after use. We have local amateur bodybuilders/powerlifters that come through and train but they don't do any of that grunting/hooting and hollering nonsense. In their words (and I agree), that's lame. Inhaling/exhaling in between sets with a LITTLE (low volume) grunting is enough. I'd rather work out at a gym where people actually take working out seriously; I feed off that environment. A lot of these big-time gyms are nothing more than social clubs (Gold's, Bally's, 24 Hr. Fitness, etc.) Some Gold's Gyms have that old-school weightlifting feel: old-school weight plates, dumbbells, leg-press machines, there's hammer strength curl machines; etc. The cardio equipment is the only thing that's new. Gold's Las Vegas is a great example: Old-school weightlifting combined with new school equipment.

[sailordave]

Originally Posted by Northside904

My gym is independently-owned, it's more of a weightlifting gym but it's open to everyone. We don't have a lot of rules except no intimidating other members, re-rack your weights and wipe down equipment after use. We have local amateur bodybuilders/powerlifters that come through and train but they don't do any of that grunting/hooting and hollering nonsense. In their words (and I agree), that's lame. Inhaling/exhaling in between sets with a LITTLE (low volume) grunting is enough. I'd rather work out at a gym where people actually take working out seriously; I feed off that environment. A lot of these big-time gyms are nothing more than social clubs (Gold's, Bally's, 24 Hr. Fitness, etc.) Some Gold's Gyms have that old-school weightlifting feel: old-school weight plates, dumbbells, leg-press machines, there's hammer strength curl machines; etc. The cardio equipment is the only thing that's new. Gold's Las Vegas is a great example: Old-school weightlifting combined with new school equipment.

When you said old school, you reminded me of an old PE coach. He had a piece of wood with a hole drilled through it. A rope was passed through the hole and tied off. Other end of the rope was attached to a steel plate. We held the wood out in front of us and rotated the wood to raise and lower the plate to work out our forearms.

[SwedishViking]

I hate the "modern" gyms where a conference for kinder-garden-teaching seems more likely than a workout. Followed a female friend to one of these joints the other day and I'd have a hard time calling it a gym. All the machines were "functional training" with hydraulics dampening the movements in all directions and when they reached bottom with its "silent cushioning system",
signs that said
"most of the effect is gained on the first set, so follow our method and only do 1 set/exercise" (they had a catchier frasing but this is basically what it said)
"please do not use the free weights unless supervised by a personal trainer"
Highest dumbell was 22 lbs, even if I dropped one on my head how much damage could it do?
The only barbell was a 15lbs hollow-bar smith, with max-capacity 185 lbs...

Needless to say I'm not gonna pay that place another visit.

[Northside904]

Originally Posted by sailordave

When you said old school, you reminded me of an old PE coach. He had a piece of wood with a hole drilled through it. A rope was passed through the hole and tied off. Other end of the rope was attached to a steel plate. We held the wood out in front of us and rotated the wood to raise and lower the plate to work out our forearms.

That's a great way to work out your forearms. I'll give that a shot

Originally Posted by SwedishViking

I hate the "modern" gyms where a conference for kinder-garden-teaching seems more likely than a workout. Followed a female friend to one of these joints the other day and I'd have a hard time calling it a gym. All the machines were "functional training" with hydraulics dampening the movements in all directions and when they reached bottom with its "silent cushioning system",
signs that said
"most of the effect is gained on the first set, so follow our method and only do 1 set/exercise" (they had a catchier frasing but this is basically what it said)
"please do not use the free weights unless supervised by a personal trainer"
Highest dumbell was 22 lbs, even if I dropped one on my head how much damage could it do?
The only barbell was a 15lbs hollow-bar smith, with max-capacity 185 lbs...

Needless to say I'm not gonna pay that place another visit.

REALLY?....Really....REALLY?....Really. Normally I'd say you have to be kidding me but you're dead serious. Wow, if that's not an example of a watered down so-called "gym" I don't know what is. I'd say "If you call this a gym, this is a sorry excuse for one." The worst they can say is "If you don't like it, go somewhere else". I'd retort with "Trust, I will. This so-called gym is an embarrassment to the health club industry."

[Badger]

Originally Posted by UrbanAdventurer

people who block the water fountain while chit chatting. Cmon, other people want to use it.

Other than that there's just your usual cadre of characters like you see at any gym. But they don't really bother me that much.

is it also considered rude to stand in front of someone doing an exercise so that they are blocking your view and you can't see yourself and your form in the mirror? because I hate it when that happens, I never do it and assume it's common courtesy .

[SwedishViking]

Originally Posted by Northside904

That's a great way to work out your forearms. I'll give that a shot

REALLY?....Really....REALLY?....Really. Normally I'd say you have to be kidding me but you're dead serious. Wow, if that's not an example of a watered down so-called "gym" I don't know what is. I'd say "If you call this a gym, this is a sorry excuse for one." The worst they can say is "If you don't like it, go somewhere else". I'd retort with "Trust, I will. This so-called gym is an embarrassment to the health club industry."

I didn't say anything I just argued with my friend why my gym was better. (it's the largest fitness-center in my country and is very well-equipped)
But IF i was in the health-club industry I would definately be angry to be associated with being in the same business

A new irritation is that they changed one of the smiths at my gym for a new smith that is much higher, but also much more instable, it feels like it's about to break when you load on enough for the shrugs...

[Northside904]

Originally Posted by SwedishViking

I didn't say anything I just argued with my friend why my gym was better. (it's the largest fitness-center in my country and is very well-equipped)
But IF i was in the health-club industry I would definately be angry to be associated with being in the same business

A new irritation is that they changed one of the smiths at my gym for a new smith that is much higher, but also much more instable, it feels like it's about to break when you load on enough for the shrugs...

Wow, that's really ridiculous they would do that. As stated before, most of these gyms are pathetic. It's quite the contrary at my gym, all our Smiths are heavy duty machines that can hold quite a bit of weight; which is good for those who want to push it to the max on shrugs and squats.

[Loka]

My biggest pet peeves at the gym are people who don't clean the machines after they use it, people who sit on a machine to talk on the phone/chitchat with their friend, and the worse to me is guys who keep staring at me or try to talk to me while i'm obviously busy working out.

[yayoi]

I can't tell you how many times I've seen people sitting on machines messing with their phones. This one guy was at the cable lat pull-down station texting on his phone. I got there after he did and yet I managed to finish my whole set before he even finished playing with his phone. Sometimes I wish the staff at my gym would tell people to work out or move on. Thank goodness I mostly use free weights. You hardly ever see people on phones there.

[sun queen]

Some sweaty person working out on the machine then using their sweaty towel to wipe it down. Ick

I also can't stand gyms that offer a bucket of damp towels to wipe down the equipment. Why not anti bacterial disposable wipes