A blog about my life, fitness and fun! (...and maybe a few cat pictures...)

A blog about my life, fitness and fun! (...and maybe a few cat pictures...)

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Annoying people at the gym!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
I just love this meme and always thought it was hilarious!


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
I'm feeling RANTYYYYYYYYYY again!

Come on, don't you love a good rant?

I wrote about annoying people at the gym before, but that was like a year ago. 
It's time to revisit the issue!



1. "I Was Using That Bench" Guy

I am pretty aware of my surroundings at the gym. If I'm going to use a bench, I scout it out beforehand and make sure no one else is using it. Is there a towel on it? A water bottle or weights next to it? Someone standing right beside it? If the answer to all of those questions is NO, the bench is free game. The other day, I grabbed some dumbbells and sat down on a bench that was completely empty to do a set of shoulder presses. As I was getting ready, a guy came up to me. I pulled my ear bud out of my ear and looked at him. "I was using that bench," he said. I looked around at the two benches on either side of me that were completely empty and then looked back at him. "My mistake, excuse me," I said politely, and moved to an empty bench two feet away. TWO FEET AWAY! Ridiculous.


2. Girl Hogging the Assisted Pull Up Machine While She Flirts with a Rando Guy

I hate when people hog machines. I don't think you should sit at a machine when you are resting between sets. Someone else could do a set while you are resting. The one exception would be if it's a machine where it is time consuming to switch the weights- like the Smith machine. But anything that requires simply moving a pin? Get off the machine and let someone else work in! This girl took it to a whole new level. After her set on the assisted pull up machine, a guy came up to flirt with her and so they went at it for several minutes... The whole time, she stayed on the machine. I know I could have said, "Can I work in?" but I didn't want to be a bitch.

3. The New Gym Employee

Planet Fitness is weird. We used to swipe a card to enter the gym. Now we tell an employee our member number. They type it into a computer and that's that... unless it is a new employee. Because I joined at a different Planet Fitness, there are a couple more computer clicks involved with verifying my number. Most gym employees know me and know what to do to verify it, but new people don't. This is what happens:

Me: 1-2-0-9-9-4.
New Gym Employee: Thanks. Oh wait... What gym location did you original join at?
Me: Paxton Street.
New Gym Employee: Okay... hmmm.... (clicking around on the computer)
Me: Sigh.
New Gym Employee: Hmmm.... okay, ummm.... Are you suuuuuure....? (still clicking around)
Me: Sigh.
New Gym Employee: Okay, got it.

**This whole process takes about 20 seconds but it should only take 3 seconds and it annoys the crap out of me!**

(ps. That is not my real gym number, I made it up.)


4. Guy Using His Whole Body To Do A Bicep Curl

This person embarrasses me more than he annoys me. There's this guy at the gym that loads the barbell up with an insane amount of weight to do a bicep curl. When he does the curl, he leans forward, then uses his back to get the weight up and also goes up on his tippy toes. What the heck!? I didn't think a bicep curl was a full body exercises but this guy somehow makes it possible. Wait a minute... what if he knows something we don't? Nah.


5. People Who Don't Re-rack Their Weights


How am I supposed to know you're done? I don't dare approach a machine with weights on it unless I stake it out and notice no one has been on it for like 15 minutes. I learned my lesson about two years ago when I got on the leg press machine when apparently someone else was using it... even though he was nowhere to be seen until I actually got on the machine. "I was using that machine, but that's alright, I'll play fair," he said to me in the douchey-est voice ever. So yeah. Re-rack your weights so we know you're done, people! Plus, why should we have to clean up your mess?



Don't worry, there are a couple people at the gym who I LOVE!



I love... the guy who wears the wolf shirt. He's awesome.

I love... the guy who wears Tweety Bird pajamas on the recumbent bike.

I love... the guy who runs, dives, does a forward roll, and then strikes a couple tai chi poses.
(I once tried to videotape this without him noticing but it didn't work.)

I love... the guy that spends a half hour on the elliptical and then stands outside and smokes a cigarette.
(Yes, I seriously love him. One big life change at a time, people!)
Have any good ranty gym stories for us?
Who do you hate at the gym?
Who do you love at the gym?

28 comments:

  1. I spent years at a gym and can relate to all of the above. Now I have everything I need at home except a pool so here is my rant on fellow swimmers: The person swimming in the lane next to you who smacks the water with each stroke and does flip turns so hard you get a mini tidal wave (that usually ends up in your mouth) with each lap they do. The person who tries to talk to you in the middle of your workout. First of all, can't you see I am busy (I don't stop and take a break the entire time I am swimming) and second of all, I cannot hear you (I have ear plugs in with a super tight swim cap over them). The person who will NOT share a lane with you when you have no choice but to share a lane (totally rude) and the person who is gonna share a lane with you (which is totally fine) but comes in and swims down the center (there is a protocol, people...stay on your side). It's like you go to the gym to let off steam and you leave feeling worse :) LOL. As I like to say "people are idiots"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Omg from your descriptions it seems like so many people do not know lap swimming etiquette! They should make everyone take a class before they are allowed to lap swim. I don't like being talked to during a workout, I can't imagine having in ear plugs and the swim cap and having to adjust all that to see what the hell the person wants.

      Delete
    2. Believe me, I do not do any adjusting...I totally ignore them :)

      Delete
  2. I love you Megan and your rants make my day! You say what everyone else is afraid to and you are not afraid to be yourself. Have another great day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am glad you enjoy them, Chris! :) I enjoy writing them. ;)

      Delete
  3. This post was awesome! Now that I go to the gym, somewhat regularly again, I could totally relate to many of these. My gym is an all female gym though. I do have the option to go to the coed gym but the women's one is closer. I should go to see if I can see as many things as you notice. The one thing I bitch to Matt about is all the girls "who like talk like this like" when I'm in the change room. They always brag about how they didnt' eat anything all day and how healthy they 'like' are...LOL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ooh Heather that is a good one. Loud talkers in the changing room are annoying. Unfortunately, I am a very loud talker, so if I was there with a friend, I would be annoying everyone!

      Delete
  4. Since I just go to the gym at my condo it's pretty small. On Sundays there is this woman who brings her mini DVD player down and sets up a yoga met INSIDE of the smith machine and uses it as her "private" DVD workout area!!!!! And she does like 3 DVDs in a row!! So if you want to use the smith machine while she is there you're gonna be waiting like 2 hours. Oh and she also takes the 5, 10 and 15lbs dumbbells off the weight rack and hogs them up for the entire time. Obviously she isn't using all three at the same time, but she keeps them in her "private" little space inside the smith machine. I just can't even with her...ugh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PS: Even though the gym is small there are plenty of other areas where she could set up her DVD/yoga mat and not be in the way! I'm convinced she just loooooooves the smith machine area because it's right in front of the full length mirror and she just has to stare at herself the entire time.

      Delete
    2. OMG this is hilarious! I mean, not for you- for you it is annoying, but I am laughing so hard at this woman and her stupidity!!!!! Kristina, please, please, please take a picture of this for us!!!!!!

      Delete
  5. I don't go to the gym but I bet #2 would be very annoying!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ugh. I think about writing a post about proper gym behavior just about every single time I go to the gym. Last week, I was working my back. I had my bench, complete with my weights, water bottle, and my HAND ON IT. Some lady comes over and starts using it. I am terrible about confrontation, so I just gave her my best glare. There were THREE other benches available. She looks at me and was like, "Oh, were you using this?" Uh. Duh. I just said, "Yes, I am using it, but go ahead if it's going to be short." She proceeded to use it. I was so dumbfounded I didn't know what else to do!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would have been dumbfounded as well! It is sometimes hard to know how to respond to stupidity.

      Delete
  7. Too funny! I haven't been to my gym all summer since I've just been running, but over the winter months spent some time there. The bicep curl thing made me laugh because I've totally seen that! One of my "likes" was the older guys who just come there in the morning to socialize. And then one of them shows up and none of his friends are there and he looks around like, "oh shoot now I have to work out" :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh that is funny! There is a crew of older guys that go to my gym early in the morning. Most of the time they DO work out but they also like to just chatter. :)

      Delete
  8. YIKES - whole body bicep curls?!
    Please video the guy who runs and dives - that would be awesome to see!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That guy is my hero, basically because he doesn't care what we think of him!

      Delete
  9. I only go to the gym in the winter--
    My rant is about people who don't change their shoes from the snowy parking lot and walk around the rest of the time in the gym with their shoes squeaking loudly on the floors!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lmao that meme is so accurate. Can you ever be done, I wonder?!

    I wouldn't have given up the bench tbh. Maybe I'm a bitch but I don't move over for any man lol. He can be a gentleman and take a different bench! He was probably trying to hit on you...why else wouldn't he just move over??

    I love that you love the smoker :) your reasoning is sweet lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The smoker was at least trying :) I envy you, I wish I wouldn't have moved now!

      Delete
  11. I don't belong to a gym because my campus offers one for free but I never go to it. It is full of sorority girls on ellipticals in full make-up not breaking a sweat and guys walking around acting like their all though trying to impress the girls. I can't take it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I hate when guys walk around all tough. And usually they walk SLOW and I get stuck behind them and then I get angry.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Let's add the scantily-clad, perfectly made-up 20-year-old girl who just drapes herself on the machines and doesn't actually lift anything. :) One that I love... there's a man at my gym who has to be 90 years old. He moves from machine to machine on his walker. I think he's incredible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow that IS incredible. I like my gym because all kinds of people are there. The annoying make up girls and the HEROES.

      Delete
  14. I love the people that you love at the gym. It makes me consider: why don't I own a wolf shirt? I should totally get a wold shirt! All the happiness that it would bring to others!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think everyone should have a wolf shirt. Let's make the wolf shirt mainstream!!

      Delete