So you know those things that people do at the gym that just drive you CRAZY? Well, seeing how I work in a gym allll day, I’ve got quite a few, which I plan on sharing with you periodically. Here’s the first one on my looong list:
Toothpastefordinner.com always tells the truth.
The Siderail Treadmill Sprinter: This is most often the person who has never run ever and has decided to start recently, but doesn’t want everyone to know about his beginner status. So he cranks up the treadmill speed to as fast as (usually faster than) he can go, and sprints as hard as he can (clomping noisily as he tries not to slip off the back of the belt) for about 30 seconds. Then he hops off to the sides and hangs out there panting for the next minute and a half while the empty treadmill belt rotates. I usually want to tap these people on the shoulder and ask them if they know that the distance and calories the display reads don’t actually count if they only run a quarter of the time they’re hanging out on the machine. Lucky for everyone, thus far I’ve refrained.
I do want to say something about this as a trainer, though. It’s great to push yourself -- it really is. My job wouldn’t exist if people didn’t want to challenge their bodies. However, you simply cannot force something that isn’t there if you want to get the results you’re looking for. You have to know what you are capable of right now and work with that. If you’re lifting, start with what you can do for 10-15 reps, not 3 (unless you're looking to be a power lifter perhaps?). If you’re doing cardio, do it intensely, but not so intensely that 10 minutes is all you can handle. You won't reap the benefits of exercise if you do it this way. And you’ll just push so hard that you’ll burn out in… oh, 30 seconds.
Have you seen these sprint-stomp-stop exercisers at your gym? Are you one of them? (Be honest!) And what are some of YOUR gym pet peeves?
-Girls who don't put their hair up in a ponytail. They clearly don't have the intention of actually working out.
ReplyDelete-People who don't wipe the machines after they sweat all over it.
-Dudes who try to pick up girls in the gym. No girl wants to be hit on when they're sweating profusely.
I can probably think of more ....
People who jog on treadmills at a speed you can walk, anything below a 4mph pace. It's like the over achiever of under achievement.
ReplyDeleteWhen anyone (and it's usually dudes) grunt really loud lifting weights.
The really ridiculously tiny lockers.
People squeezing their pilates mat right next to yours because they showed up to class 5 minutes late and then you have absolutely no space to do the exercises that you're instructed to do! Total buzz kill. No one wants to be claustrophobic while working out...for realz.
ReplyDeletePeople who throw weights down after a set.
ReplyDeletePeople who work out in jeans / polos / wear hats.
People who don't let you "work in" to their set when they are taking 3-4 minute "rests" between 45 seconds of work. They just don't know wtf they're doing.
People who go a million miles an hour on the elliptical and have it on resistance 1. Do they know it has resistance settings??? #2. When people bounce up and down on the new ellipticals (the ones with vertical and horizontal as independent motions) and they're ecstatic they've "burned" 500 calories without sweating...
ReplyDelete-People who talk on the phone on the treadmill right next to you
ReplyDelete-People who talk loudly to others on the treadmill right next to you
-People who wear bad cologne on the treadmill right next to you
-People who don't wear deoderant on the treadmill next to you, sweat profusely, and flick it all over you when they wipe their brow because they don't bring a towel
-Sick people who should not be at the gym, use the treadmill next to you and sneeze to the side, showering you in germs and nastiness to share their misery :)
Bicep curlers in the squat rack
ReplyDeleteGrrrrrr
-When the weight machines are lined up such that you have to make eye contact with the person across (and as a follow up to that, I second J's 3rd point)
ReplyDelete-Girls who wear normal bras or even push up bras to the gym, really?
-People who bounce while stretching, sure you can touch your toes that way but it shortens the muscles
And most of what everyone else said