Don’t be this Gym Guy/Gal…..Please!!

47 Reader Comments

1. Josh on
   

   Haha, great article.
   I work out at Gold’s Gym so I can relate to a lot of these.
   It’s hillarious seeing people texting while “exercising” on cardio machines.
   And the personal trainers who can’t seem to find any exercises that don’t have to use a swiss/bosu ball.

   Sorry, but btw – “calogne” = cologne.

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2. Mike OD on
   

   Josh – texting on the cardio equipment, wow. Yeah…like because people on MySpace/Twitter/Facebook need to know what you are doing right then and every other second of the day! If I owned a gym, I’d have a no cell phone rule. Got the spell check working now, thanks.

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3. skustes on
   

   Nice post Mike! My gym is full of people that can’t unrack their weights. And I typically make it known to them that it’s unacceptable if I catch them. I was waiting on the bench press one day and a guy wandered off, leaving his 45s racked. I watched him do some other stuff for a few minutes and finally wandered over and asked if he was done. He was….so I said “Typically it’s considered polite to unrack your weights when you’re done.” He didn’t have much to say….that was fun.

   Cheers
   Scott

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4. Primal Chap on
   

   2 classics that got me recently:

   1. Old lady standing on a power-plate machine, a disinterested look on her face, while all the wrong bits wobbled at everyone else in the gym.

   2. Old guy on the ‘arm-bike’, book in 1 hand while the other rotated the thing at about 0.5 rpm

   No risk of any health benefit being gained by either.

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5. carlos on
   

   HAHAHA! I love this article. I live in a college town and going to the gym seems to be the melting pot for tons of guys with ELS syndrome. It is hilarious. The extension of that is the girl who spends an hour and a half getting ready for the gym and shows up in full make-up, perfume, matching spandex, and spends a half hour on the treadmill at 2.5 mph watching one tree hill and/or gossip girl.

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6. Mike OD on
   

   Primal – I guess reading while doing an arm bike kind of defeats the purpose…..kind of like using one rollerblade on a treadmill (although not sure how that would turn out).

   Carlos – Yes ELS is a sad disease…but I have hope there is a cure! The realization for guys that women are not really that impressed by their wingspan….and if women are not impressed….then why are they flaring lats to other guys? Protecting their territory around the calf machine?

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7. Joe on
   

   These scenes are all too common in Golds. part of the reason I mainly work out at home. Too bad I don’t have a pool at home to do laps.
   Here’s one to add on the list.
   Throw down weights Guy:
   At the end of the set you throw down the weight acting as if you accomplished some amazing feat. Not only do you jack up the equipment, but you potentially injure everyone around you.

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8. Mike OD on
   

   Joe – good call….I would label him the “shot-putter”….as they try and eject the weights as far as they can. Not a very smart (or considerate) thing to do with others around.

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9. Kurt on
   

   If you go to a crossfit gym you will not see any of these things!

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10. Cody Maloney on
    

    I am in college and workout at my school weight room. There are so many guys who wear dego tees there. And the worst thing for me is people who want to talk to you when working out. I always see my buddy there and he wants to talk when I just wanna get my lift done. Its so annoying.

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11. skustes on
    

    Primal Chap…nice stories. Gotta love the arm bike. The only time I used one of those was right after shoulder surgery…it’s what the PT had me doing. Similar to the guy reading while working out is the guy at my gym that reads the paper between his sets.

    Carlos, I used to see them all the time in the college gym. So amusing (and cute, typically).

    Kurt, grunting (but only when warranted) is the only thing I’ve ever seen in the CF gyms I’ve been to. At least there’s some places left where people know gym etiquette!

    Cody, WTH is a dego tee? I can’t stand the talkers!

    Cheers
    Scott

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12. Cody Maloney on
    

    A dego tee is that same thing as a wife beater.

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13. Rusty - Fitness Black Book on
    

    Mike,

    Great call on so many poor behaviors. I HATE it when people wear bluetooth headsets anywhere. Can’t stand it…except when driving (if you don’t drive a car with built in blue tooth).

    Joe is right about Gold’s. That place is full of idiots for the most part (some good people mixed in, but tons of guys without a clue). Joe…good thing people like Mike and myself are trying to kill this bad behavior and call these guys out.

    I have another Pet Peeve…the receptionist who is so busy with her personal phone calls and acts bothered that she has to scan your card (don’t get me started on gym employees…LOL!)

    Rusty

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14. Mike OD on
    

    Rusty – Ha, I know about gym employees…..including the one at the gym I train at now who incurred $1500 in long distance charges while she was “supposed” to be working. Nice huh?

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15. Hannah on
    

    Oh man… I was at the gym last week and some old guy came over to the dumbbell rack where I was obviously in the middle of a set. He picks up the weight I was using but instead does it with one hand. After my set is done, he says something like, “can’t lift as much as I used to, after I got surgery…” I just turned and walked away. I was done with that exercise anyway.

    I’ll do some small talk with people I know, but strangers coming up to me? No thanks. Like you said… gym, not a nightclub.

    I text when I’m warming up on the treadmill…after that, honestly, it’s hard to. I also watch tv though. ): Don’t know how terrible that makes me, haha.

    But yeah, I hate when people don’t unrack their weights…people did that in highschool all the time, especially on the leg press… like 5 45s each side… come on. I can hardly pick up a 45 – but I’m working on it (:

    Good post!!

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16. fabelfisk on
    

    Great post

    And just let me be very clear on this: Guys with “wings” is just so incredibly un-attractive. I’d go as far as to say repulsive. So unless you’re Michael Phelps, please, just don’t waste your time building those funny muscles.. Go slim down or something instead! You’d be way better off (at least if trying to pick me up – OUTSIDE the gym)

    But actually, I must say I’m quite happy with my gym. I guess it’s not one of those “hard core” gyms where muscle mountains gather to show off. I mean, of course there are a few of them, but at least they have the decency to put the heaviest plates back in their place.

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17. vman on
    

    the marathon man:

    theres a guy that goes to my university gym and he’s in there around 4 hours each day, 7days a week. always the same routine, same weights, same half rom.

    only found this out when one day I left the gym just as he was going in and I went home, had food, had nap, got my books and headed back out to the library (which is found next to the gym) and the guy came out. my food and nap took around 4 hours.

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18. Mike OD on
    

    Hannah and fabelfisk – Thanks for telling it like it is from the female point of view…guys in the gym need more of this brutally honest advice!

    vman – that reminds me of another one I forgot “The Twizzler Guy” as he is now known at the gym I train at. One day while training a client I heard a wrapper sound over and over….finally saw some guy who was taking out a packet of twizzlers from his pocket while sitting on the leg press machine and eating them….the same guy who works out for 2+ hours 5x a week, doesn’t want to take my advice on working out less (and focusing on eating right) and has had the same belly for the last few years. Could also call him the “Break Even” Guy, the person who just spends hours a week in the gym to try and make up for eating crap…and just hoping to break even at best in the results column.

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19. Tyson on
    

    Great post! I would like to add under the clothing section – spaghetti tank tops and mipples (man nipples). Both are inappropriate for the gym.

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20. Nick Raybourne on
    

    Mike,
    You did a formidable job – fun too – of describing the idiosyncrasies of the human race using the Gym as a backdrop. Let me know if you figure out how to change human behavior.
    -NR

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21. Son of Grok on
    

    I have missed all these guys since abandoning the gym… oh wait… no I haven’t. Lol, the screamer always reminds me of Arnolds story in Pumping Iron about the Posing routine.

    Oh.. don’t forget teh flex guy. This guy has to do a posing routine in the mirror after each set. Sometimes he feels the need to remove his shirt and do so. This is often right out in the gym itself. No sillt privacy needed here.

    And the high five cowboy. Hits a hard set (often while grunting or screaming) and then celebrates by cheering and high fiving every buddy he can find in the gym.

    The SoG

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22. vman on
    

    lol Son of Grok. flex guy is hilarious! theres one at my gym.

    he does a set of decline ab work in between every set of exercises for the rest of his body and after each ab set, checks his abs out in the mirror.

    he thinks he’s the top dog and he asked to work in with me for push press. permission granted and he had to belt up, chalk, the whole nine yards just to push press 70kg ( he was a big guy, way more than 80kg i think), i pressed it raw, no aid or equipment. never asked to work in with me since.

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23. V on
    

    Similar to throw-down weights guy, but a bit less egregious is the guy who has no control over his weight at the end of an exercise and simply lets it fall to the ground from its highest point on the last rep (or last half-rep, since he didn’t bring it down…). Most amusing when this guy takes a look around to see if people around him noticed how much weight he just couldn’t hold up anymore

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24. Mike OD on
    

    Tyson – I agree, mipples are not what we need to see.

    Nick – Not sure I can change behavior through “force” but rather open up some people’s eyes and let the change come from the understanding within….as that is lasting change…like if you finally realize something is making you look stupid and are not impressing the ladies, why on earth would you continue to do it?

    V – the only time that is accepted…is if you are in a powerlifting gym using olympic weights….but that is a gym made for that kind of throwdown. One worse….is the people slamming down the machines on the last rep, like everyone needs to know how heavy their set of flys were.

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25. Val on
    

    I’ve seen all of the above in the many gyms I’ve been a member of. I get tired of guys looking annoyed at me like I’m in their way because I’m using what they must see as “mens” equipment (bench press, squat rack, the real dumbbells instead of the colorful plastic-y ones that seem to be intended for the women). Just because I can’t lift as heavy doesn’t mean that I don’t deserve to use that stuff—I know what I’m doing and I don’t waste any time doing it. I also love to see the “momentum guys”, which are the ones that use too heavy of a weight and then swing it back and forth using as much momentum as possible. One guy does this on the bicep curl machine (the one with arm pads at shoulder height). He uses as heavy as possible and stands up from the seat and sits back down as he begins to curl for each rep. His body weight is lifting the weight for almost the whole rep until he sits down and then he only has one-fourth of the curl left—if he even finishes the rep as intended. I’ve seen him do this on other machines—he lifts his butt completely off the seat when using the leg extension machine.
    Basically, if any man goes to the gym and hopes to impress a woman, we aren’t impressed, or at least, shouldn’t be. If women are there for the right reasons (ourselves), we really aren’t paying any attention to you until you do something that makes you look like an ass. Then we really aren’t impressed.

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26. Mike OD on
    

    Val – “we really aren’t paying any attention to you until you do something that makes you look like an ass. Then we really aren’t impressed.”…..love that! Well said. Bravo.

    ahhh….the memories are coming back now…..I remember:
    - The Bengay guy…made the gym stink every time with that lathered all over his body
    - The Spandex guy – not a good look unless you a biking
    - The Improv guy – one who makes us his own ideas thinking he is knowledgeable…like lying down, putting his feet on the smith machine bar and doing calf raises….seriously…why?

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27. Fitness-siren on
    

    Sadly, I was one of those people who used to “wander” in the gym. Thank God those days are over. And really guys, re-racking the weights is not courtesy it’s mandatory! I don’t mind taking off those 45-lb weights off the squat rack anymore because now I can carry them, but when I was starting out, I didn’t want to injure myself by putting them back myself.

    Ugghhh, I hate perfume/cologne mixed with sweat. I’d rather smell sweat than the two combined together.

    I hope people really listen up

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28. Sue on
    

    Un-naturally over-sized, out-of-proportion muscles look so unattractive!!

    I hate women who go to the gym in full makeup, dressed int their best workout gear and don’t even break a sweat! Also, hate the false-nails!

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29. Katrina on
    

    I’ve never been a part of a gym, but these must be cliche because I’ve seen most of the ones you listed in movies and on TV.

    And you wanted a womens opinion on one of ‘those guys’? I personally do not find extremely buff guys attracted. Especially if they dress/act the way you described, makes them seem really into themselves, vain.

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30. Dave - The Intelligent Workout on
    

    One time at my gym three beefy dudes were dumbell bench pressing and working their way up from 100 to 150. They left those ten dumbells litered all over their area. It was incredibly rude and definitely a pain to re-rack.

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31. Steve A on
    

    Great article. Not re-racking the weights is the one that annoys me the most. True story from my gym, one of the trainers loaded up a barbell to 405# and did one set of “shrugs” and then left it there for the next person to put away the plates.

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32. Reader on
    

    Like you, I absolutely hate:

    The screamers (in my experience, always men). They seem not to realize that they come off as complete amateurs;

    The guys who throw down their weights;

    The guys who fail to re-rack their weights;

    The people who monopolize the only piece of equipment for long periods time and won’t let you do a quick set during their rest periods;

    Men in grungy-looking street clothes even though there’s a sign saying gym attire is required; it’s depressing;

    Men in short shorts and visible jockstraps. Nauseating. And one reason I don’t do group classes. The teacher and some students were offenders.

    In truth, I really don’t like going to the gym. There’s a certain level of grossness that you have to contend with.

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33. Reader on
    

    A friend of mine who always believes everything she reads was disappointed some years ago to find out that her gym really wasn’t a good place to meet men. First of all, she lives in New York, where single women vastly outnumber men and of course a lot of the best looking guys at the gym are likely to be gay.

    Secondly, if people are anything like me, a woman who does not look like a model, they’re self-conscious, don’t think that sweat and exertion is particularly appealing (at least not on them), and they just want to get in, work out, and leave. In fact it’s rare that I see a guy I would actually be interested in at the gym.

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34. Josiah on
    

    My big pet peeve is the power rack abusers. I hardly ever see anyone actually using the power rack for squats or presses. Its always shrugs, bicep curls, or some other strange concoction.

    One day I saw a big meathead guy (sometimes you just know) heading for the squat rack while I was warming up on the bike. My first assumption was he would be doing bicep curls or shrugs, but alas he set it up to do squats. Upon further investigation I saw he was actually just doing 1/4 squats. So I totally agree with you on that one. 1/4 squats at 315lbs are not impressive. Lower the weight and do them right please!

    And please, don’t use the squat rack for bicep curls!

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35. Chuck Kechter on
    

    Excellent post!

    Most of what you wrote is why I built a gym in my basement!

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36. Dave on
    

    Okay……what about if I’m dumbbell pressing alone and don’t want to risk a back injury by sitting up after the last rep with the extra weight. Is it then acceptable to drop the weights (from a height of 10”)?

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37. Jane on
    

    I am SOOOO with you, Josiah!!! I cannot stand it when some beefy guy has to use the squat rack for shrugs or bicep curls. They were using like 75 pounds — way less than my deadlift. But it HAD to be done in the squat rack.

    One time I saw a guy use it for upright rows. That’s right — he set the bar low on the squat rack, put a bunch of plates on it, then lifted upwards. It couldn’t have been more than 12″ off the floor at the starting point.

    Of course, it’s possible these people MIGHT have had some kind of knee injury or other problem where they needed the weight to start higher up than the floor. But as a general rule, if you cannot load the plates on the floor and then deadlift it from the floor, you should probably be working on your deadlifts and not your upper body!!!

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38. Amy on
    

    Great post! Forwarding this great piece of information! Question: What about gals whose nipples show through their work out bra and t-shirt??

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39. Weekend Link Love on
    [...] The Grunter, the no-wiper, the bluetooth person. These are just a few of the eccentrics who frequent most gyms. Life Spotlight covers the rudest, most ridiculous, most outlandish, and yet most common gym habits. So read up, and don’t be one of these guys/gals. [...]
40. Alfie Moor on
    

    Upright rows, curls and surgs with weights lighter than the fixed weight bars elsewhere in the gym are common abuses in the squat rack. Really, this should be number one on this list. It displaces people who want to use equipment correctly and promotes this behavior in neophytes.
    I like guys who wear belts for machine use. Good stuff. At least they are only messing with themselves.

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41. Ased on
    

    What about the “Build your own gym”-guy? Becaus it is always a guy. Who always seems to build their own equipment from whatever is at hand. They never use the machine that does the particular motion they need – because machines are for beginners.

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42. sanjeev bhadresa on
    

    An excellent reminder of why I don’t workout in a public gym!

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43. Grunter, Sweater, weight dropper on
    

    There’s one more personality that you will find at the gym. The Whiner. After having his/her latte in the morning, they arrive at the gym and proceed to do their workout, however with only medium effort. They disapprove of lifters who are a bit too loud or sweaty, as it is obvious they are putting in effort. If they see someone who is only working out mildly or untraditionally, they will criticize him snidely to others, without realizing that just being in the gym that person is improving his health. Then, to top it off, they go and write comments on the internet to advertise just how whiny they can be. The Whiner.

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44. MellyMel on
    

    LOL love this article – my gym has an avid body builder or two who will walk to the wall mirror and admire themselves UP CLOSE between sets…occassionally glancing over at others in the gym to see if they notice whatever it is these lads are checking out. Sometimes when I’m on the treadmill I’m very tempted to say something demeaning like, “Nice pecs but uh, the legs need more work don’t you think?!” just so they’d get back to working out instead of admiring themselves in the mirror!

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45. ChiChi on
    

    ha ha – I so enjoyed this article. The guys at my gym are actually pretty good, but yesterday I saw a man put his leg way up on a machine to stretch. Pretty impressive, wait, no, it was icky…go to ballet class…plus, he was wearing shorts….ewwww.

    One thing that annoys me, tho, is when people are doing something like flies or curls right next to a bench (when there is plenty of open space to choose from). You sit down on the bench to do a bench thing, and they look at you like you’re in *their* way.

    All our dumbbells are right up next to the mirror. Lots of guys will stand right in front of the dumbbell racks and mirror to do something so you can’t get a weight out.

    Oh, wait, one more….

    How ’bout the people who take a plate from where you’re working – say the squat cage or I’ve even had this happen when I was benchpressing – say, buddy, thanks for distracting me while I’m in mid-squat! And…I might have needed that plate! Always ask! And *after* the person’s lift!

    But I actually love the gym – if it weren’t for these goofballs, how would I people watch?

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46. Sarah on
    

    I hate mobile phone people!
    Flexing in front of the mirror is not attractive. I like it when a guy looks like he’s into his workout, not just posing.
    Hot gymwear: toplessness

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47. rb on
    

    The Talker
    I hate to talk in the gym. Shut the F up and leave me alone.

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