Gym etiquette question.

[postage stamp]

OK, nothing could be worse gym etiquette than being in the locker room tying your shoe when a familiar voice starts to talk to you and it's your mother-in-law's best friend, stark naked, trying to give you unasked for marital advice. Yes. NAKED MARRIAGE COUNSELING. Now available at your local YMCA.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

OK, nothing could be worse gym etiquette than being in the locker room tying your shoe when a familiar voice starts to talk to you and it's your mother-in-law's best friend, stark naked, trying to give you unasked for marital advice. Yes. NAKED MARRIAGE COUNSELING. Now available at your local YMCA.

 

[disneyquestions]

The reason I asked is because my DH was about to use a bench once, and a guy yelled at him that he was already using it. He was off doing another machine at the time, and my DH had no idea that he had "claimed it".

 

[crashbb]

The reason I asked is because my DH was about to use a bench once, and a guy yelled at him that he was already using it. He was off doing another machine at the time, and my DH had no idea that he had "claimed it".

So why turn it into woman? Especially, why specify that it was a woman's part of a larger gym??

 

[sparklynails23]

Woman or man "A" was using poor gym etiquette. You can't hog or super set two machines, benches, racks, dumbbells, or barbells when someone is waiting to use them. And please rack your stinkin' weights when you're finished.

 

[RunningGirl]

Woman A is the one with bad gym etiquette.

Absolutely. You can't claim more than one machine at a time.

 

[momrek06]

Woman A must be NEW to either working out or NEW to working out in a gym.

Everyone alternates machines during their workout. I have belonged to many gyms in my lifetime and people usually know when there are other people using the equipment doing their routines and alternating equipment and they will all ask each other "are you all set with this machine" before jumping on it. And that is when Woman A should have had NO problem with Woman B jumping on the equipment.

I have walked into my gym and seen a water bottle on the treadmill, the only treadmill open … I will look around … give it a few minutes and if it appears that no one is using the machine and that someone happened to leave their water bottle behind, then I just toss it and jump on. Usually others using the treadmills around will say "no one is using that"!

 

[goofy!]

No one was doing 3 sets of anything in a row - they were doing one set on one machine, one set on another machine, and then one set of freeweights. Then over again.

While person A is doing their sets on the other machines and free weights, the open machines should be available to be utilized by another gym patron.

Person A was wrong in trying to save 2 machines and a set of free weights for their personal use, especially trying to claim the bench by putting their stuff on it.

As we tell our kindergartners - if you get out of line, you lose your place in line. Person A stopped using the machine to work on another machine. Person A lost their place in line and now goes to the end of the line to get back on the machine.

In a perfect world, Person A and Person B should have worked out a rotating schedule. However, since life is not perfect - if you are not using a machine, it should be available to other paying customers to use it. You can't save multiple machines for you own use and leave one unused but unavailable.

Person A was in the wrong.

 

[lizabu]

I agree with the majority. Woman A was trying to be a machine hog. You get one at a time.

 

[rigs32]

Didn't the OP say that person B entered *in the middle* of A's workout? I would have done what A did as well - work my three station rotation as long as no one else wanted in. IMO, B should have started on another station. If that wasn't possible for whatever reason, then she should have said something like "Hey, I see you're using this machine. I'm going to hop in while you're using the other machine"

I can do a lot more work in a lot less time when I do a 3 or 4 exercise rotation 3 times through than doing one at a time. I guess based on most posters here everyone in my gym, including the owner and personal trainer, are guilty of bad etiquette.

 

[crashbb]

Didn't the OP say that person B entered *in the middle* of A's workout? I would have done what A did as well - work my three station rotation as long as no one else wanted in. IMO, B should have started on another station. If that wasn't possible for whatever reason, then she should have said something like "Hey, I see you're using this machine. I'm going to hop in while you're using the other machine"

I can do a lot more work in a lot less time when I do a 3 or 4 exercise rotation 3 times through than doing one at a time. I guess based on most posters here everyone in my gym, including the owner and personal trainer, are guilty of bad etiquette.

???

Most of us do the same as you - 3 or 4 exercise rotations. All we are saying is that is acceptable (and the norm) for someone else to use the machine we are using for exercise 1, while we are doing exercises 2 through 4.

 

[fall08CP]

Heres the situation:

Woman A is in the womans part of the gym (a small section of a big gym) and is doing 3 sets of 3 different exercises, using 2 different machines (one exersice was just free weights). Woman B comes in and watches what Woman A is doing. Woman B knows that Woman A is using one of the machines (though she is doing another part of her routine at that moment) and gets on and starts using it. Is Woman B wrong?


Edited to add - Woman A actually had her belongings on the machine (it was actually a bench) that Woman B started to use.

/hijack

There are segregated gyms?? I've heard of women's only gyms, but not portions of a larger gym that are designated male/female I'm usually the only woman in the free weights room surrounded by burly men but it certainly doesn't stop me!

//hijack

If someone's stuff was on a machine, even if they weren't using it, I would wait until they cleared their stuff. If I needed it that badly I would ask the other woman how much longer she needed the machine, or I would go to the "men's part of the gym" if they had comparable equipment.
On the other hand, I would never leave my stuff on a machine if I wasn't using it. I guess I'm a people pleaser?

 

[Scurvy]

Didn't the OP say that person B entered *in the middle* of A's workout? I would have done what A did as well - work my three station rotation as long as no one else wanted in. IMO, B should have started on another station. If that wasn't possible for whatever reason, then she should have said something like "Hey, I see you're using this machine. I'm going to hop in while you're using the other machine"

I can do a lot more work in a lot less time when I do a 3 or 4 exercise rotation 3 times through than doing one at a time. I guess based on most posters here everyone in my gym, including the owner and personal trainer, are guilty of bad etiquette.

In a typical crowded gym, it's likely that any time you start using the machines it's going to be the middle of someone's workout. It doesn't seem reasonable to expect everyone to start their rotation in shifts, so everyone on the machines starts and finished at the same time. I know there are a few gyms which are specifically set up to work that way, but most are not.

I don't see anything wrong with hopping around between how ever many machines you want to as often as you want to, as long as no one else is also trying to use those machines. But once someone else is also interested in your machines, then in my opinion you only have a claim on one of them. Of course if the newcomer is also hopping back and forth then it would be nice if the two of you could alternate in a way that would work best for both of you, but it's likely that neither of you is going to be able to use everything in the gym exactly the way you'd choose to if there was no one else also trying to use it. You're both likely to have to compromise a bit. I think it's entirely unreasonable for someone to expect to monopolize a machine the way the person in the OP apparently expected to.

 

[Safetyal]

The reason I asked is because my DH was about to use a bench once, and a guy yelled at him that he was already using it. He was off doing another machine at the time, and my DH had no idea that he had "claimed it".

You're husband had every right to use the bench. The guy has no right to a bench if he is off using a machine. One machine at a time, one bench at a time.

The only exception is if two people agreed to work in together.

 

[FireDancer]

Woman A is the one with bad gym etiquette.

Yep. There is nothing wrong with doing supersets but you can't reserve multiple machines/benches/etc. If I want to do a superset of benching and rows I can but if someone jumps on the cable rows while I am benching it is theirs. What I would do in that case is as soon as that person is done with their set of rows I'd ask if I can work in and do a quick set. I also would never leave anything on the rowing machine while I was benching or vice-versa to try and claim both machines.

The only time really you should be using multiple pieces of equipment is when you are doing drop sets. If you are going to do a 50-30-20 drop set of dumbbell curls for example you can grab all three and do the drop set. Just put them back when you are done. You really should also be aware of how crowded the gym is. If you want to use multiple pieces of equipment go on Sunday afternoon or at 9 or 10pm, not 5:00pm on Monday.

 

[honugirl]

OK, nothing could be worse gym etiquette than being in the locker room tying your shoe when a familiar voice starts to talk to you and it's your mother-in-law's best friend, stark naked, trying to give you unasked for marital advice. Yes. NAKED MARRIAGE COUNSELING. Now available at your local YMCA.

I can at the very least rival this. I was at a gym once when my NAKED 2nd grade teacher, who was a billion years old when I had her as a teacher, decided to pick right then to ask me how life was going. Um... yeah...

 

[Jex]

So why turn it into woman? Especially, why specify that it was a woman's part of a larger gym??

Am I the only other person curious as to how the op is going to cover..I mean explain this part of her post?

 

[dreamin_disney]

Woman A is wrong no different then a chair hog.

 

[disykat]

Your husband shouldn't be working out in an area that is designated for women only.

 

[Disney Doll]

It's quite simple. At a gym, you are on one piece of equipment at a time and that is the only piece of equipment you have claim to. Any other piece of equipment that is available (ie-no one is actively using it) is available for anyone to use.