Joining a gym is a big decision. You're essentially entering into a long-term relationship and, like a marriage, you need to be committed, able to pay regularly and be prepared to see each other at your worst. Your gym will see you in mismatched clothes, with bedhead and morning breath. It will see you after a long day at work, ragged and irritable and wishing you were anywhere else. Your gym will see you sweat and groan, lift and pull, succeed and fail. And, in turn, you will sometimes see your gym at its worst - broken machines, overcrowded kickboxing classes, missing equipment and fluctuating room temperatures.
Finding the perfect gym, like finding the perfect spouse, is impossible (except for you, of course, dear husband) because there's no gym that will fulfill every need you have. You want a gym that's convenient, easy on the wallet, clean and filled with the equipment, classes and workout options that meet your personal goals. Sometimes you feel lucky to get convenient and clean.
What about your gym experience? What's your biggest pet peeve at your gym? Is the music too loud? Or is the air conditioner freezing you out? Or maybe the woman at the front desk always mentions how long it's been since you've worked out. Vote in this week's poll and tell us about your biggest gym pet peeve.
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Love my gym! And it’s a YMCA…great equpment, great staff, the occassional inconsiderate person but…that’s just the law of averages! Saratoga Springs, NY
My biggest beef with the gym (and I’ve been a member of a few), is the inconsiderate gym person. E.g. the grunter, the yeller, the one who doesn’t wipe down the machine that they have left sweat puddles on, the person who doesn’t re-rack the weights and leaves them on the machine, the person who hovers waiting for you to get off the machine, the person who loads on the max weight and cheats so bad I can barely contain the laughter – don’t act like you’re the only one in the gym, and you’re also not the biggest person there – stop acting like such a JA.
They took away all the workout/shower towels and we have to bring our own!
What gets under my skin are people who exceeds the time limits on machines. If you are only suppose to use the machines for 30 mins. then do your 30 and get off so others can use the machine.
Girls that wear WAY too much perfume. Hello, its 5:00 in the morning. We all know you are not there to sweat or even work so do us all a favor and just stay away.
It’s the people that wear too much cologne or stink of cig smoke or BO when they get on equipement beside me. I am breathing heavy and that last thing I want to smell is that stuff.
1. Members who don’t pick up after themselves
2. Machines are too often in disrepair
3. Parents who don’t control their kids in the common areas and locker rooms
4. Members who stink from perfume or BO
5. Members drinking coffee while on the machines
Trainers who are rude and think they own the place. At my gym they are only nice if you train with them.
My pet peeve is members who allow their young children to use the equipment in spite of notices not to. I’ve seen children on treadmills pushing the speed up to where they could hardly keep up. This is extremely dangerous.
We have a grunter/yeller who will glare at you as if you are invading his personal gym, even though there is plenty of room and equipment.
#1 pet peeve – people who tie up machines between sets by ‘resting’ on them, talking on the phone etc. Even worse are the ones that think they can ‘hold’ a machine while they go get a drink, or to the bathroom or whatever by leaving their stinky towel or drink on/by the machine!
(1) People who don’t re-rack their weights
(2) People with bad breath or body odor
(3) Young men who wear their shorts so low, I am forced to see their butts – eeeeeeeeeeeew!!!
(4) People who really camp out on equipment – I don’t mind if they rest for minute or two between sets, but hey, don’t start trancing out on the TV or yapping/texting on the cell phone without getting up! Dude!
Similar to what other people have said, there’s a few “clappers” at the gym. Every minute, mile, whatever, they clap really loudly and cheer themselves on. It’s so distracting to me to find out where the noise is coming from and what it’s about. The music can also be annoying, but they do give us the option of voting on what genre of music we would like to hear and the days/times we normally come into the gym. People who talk on their cell phones while they’re working out. And people who refuse to buy their own lock to use a locker, so they bring all their stuff up with them and take up space during crowded times that could be used by people who want to work out.
1 – perfume
2 – cell phone usage while on machines
3 – leaving weights on machines (especially really heavy weights out of my reach)
Other people sweat all over the equipment and just walk away. They know to wipe off the equipment but do not bother.
The cost. errr I had to let our membership expire. to costly.
i hate, HATE, HATE when people walk right in front of you when u are on the smith machine doing squats. When you are pushing a lot of weight and focusing on your form it is really distracting when someone walks right in front of you. especially when they go to the effort of moving the bench i have put in the walk way to prevent them from doing…..if u are that lazy you shouldn’t be at the gym in the first place. GO HOME!!!!
I’ve been with the Downtown re-devolpement Long Branch Y.M.C.A in Ca.It’s well organized,people are like family.Classes are fun.Not crowded.
My pet peeve is some people don’t wipe the equipment down when they are done.I always wipe a machine down before and after I’m done with it.
People who take extended rest breaks while on the equipment that others are waiting to use.
People that don’t rerack their weights! Especially the tall guys that leave 45 pound plates on a bar that is at my shoulder level and I’m 5′3″. Those are the pits to have to get off without hurting myself.
The other pet peeve of mine is when they DO rerack their weights they mix the plates together. I end up sorting them out. It’s usually the guys in their late teens and early 20’s that do this and I have been known to glare at them when they start to put their weights back on the nearest bar of the stand. LOL I guess the glare is pretty good because they blush and will immediately put them in the right spots.
People rest in between sets on the machine.
Funny how so many of the response seem to focus on the PEOPLE at the gym, when the question is about the gym itself….
As for me, it would have to be either lockers that you can’t trust with your belongings, or the fact that the pool areas always seem to be on display, like a giant entertainment center. Who likes that, unless you happen to go to a gym full of beautiful people and you like to watch. And why do some gyms assume that men don’t deserve privacy in the shower area? A shower door or curtain wouldn’t hurt.
The Dirtballs that stands right in front of you , between you and the mirror who have no respect for the committed. Try to look at your form in the mirror when it’s just you and some other dude in the area and he comes in AFTER you and curls the DB’s off the rack RIGHT IN FRONT of you!..( blocking your visual of your performance ) Tht worst part of it is he’s so unconscious that he doesn’t realize he is being a jerk.
I love my gym, but the one thing that gets me are the gym goers that talk on the phone to their girlfriends about nothing while walking one mile per hour. They are the usually the ones that come to the gym with too much makeup, perfume, and gym clothes that just came from a designer store. If you are not at the gym to work, stay home.
Constantly soliciting personal trainers, talking/interupting of members while they are in the middle of a workout with ipod on
Like many others who have left comments, I do not like it when people stay on a machine while they rest between sets. When one finishes a set, the proper protocal is to get off the machine so that others can use it while you are waiting to do your next set. I have even asked people who are perched on a machine daydreaming if they are all done, and have had them tell me that they still have 1 or 2 more sets to do. How unaware can someone be?
Gym rats! Too many guys hanging out around the weights just talking and taking up space. They talk more than they work out. Sometimes they come in and don’t even work out. They just talk to other people. It is annoying.
I physically can’t use the regular stationary bikes, ellipticals or the treadmills, so I use Nustep, which works your arms and legs. The newest bikes ellipticals and treadmills are now equipped w/ TVs, and the one that aren’t have one very nearby. The only pieces that don’t have TVs nearby are the Nusteps! We all know how much faster the time goes by when you have something to distract you. I guess I need to rely on my IPod!
Julie
I hate it when big, heavy weightlifters pass wind, but they never say, “I’m sorry.”
Nothing is more irritating than being on a treadmill and having some bimbo get on one of the adjoining machines and talking on her cellphone the entire workout.
What is it with women and cellphones anyway?
There is too much space for ineffective limited range of motion machines, and too little space for free weights.
Personal Trainers care more about their hair than helping clients.
I love my gym except they have new owners who are now are jacking up the prices for all the services including the trainers.
However, my biggest pet peeve is people who drape their big bag and all their personal items on the adjacent machines or on the floor and then proceed to yak loudly on their cell.
One of my gyms has a beautiful glitzy locker room with big benches. The result is it looks nice but guys spread their stuff over the entire bench-one guy taking up most of a 42″x 96″ bench what with his big gym bag, cell phone, shoes, Ipod, towel and etc.
The other pet peeve is folks who sit and talk forever on the equipment in the guise of “resting between sets”.
I don’t mind the BO, farts, and sweat. I’m guilty of it all myself sometimes.
Curt
People who do not re-rack their weights and those now talking on their cell phones while using the machines or sitting on a machine not using it!
People on their cell phones – especially on the cardio equipment – They might as well stay home!
I picked “not enough equipments” since my current gym is small.
But most “if not all” are about PEOPLE who make you hate the place and not come back to it again…. things like: poor hygiene (in body & using machines), stalling at the machines/treadmills, loud and socializing people who waste your time, messy who leave weights behind and leave…. it’s alla bout people…
I love my gym, they limit how many can join so we don’t have the problem of “overcrowding”…
My only peeve is that there are no dressing rooms, just 2 showers and 3 very large bathroom stalls.
No loud talking…their goal is lifelong fitness!!
I can stay on the treadmill or eliptical as long as I want!
People who don’t wipe down machines after using them!
There are two things I don’t like about going to any gym and they both carry about the same weight, no pun intended…I don’t like the feeling of being watched, either by the aloof trainers standing by or the people on the machines. I feel like I’m either not doing something correctly or being sized up. Either way, I feel conspicuous and uncomfortable. I’ve discovered that I really like working out at home and getting outside more for walks and runs.
I love my health club. Updated equipment, friendly staff, and helpful personal trainers, quite the enjoyable experience. I don’t mind so much the sweat, smells, grunting or farting. Why? I’m in the ZONE-dude.
Dislikes: The first of the year newbies. It’s way to crowded; don’t know the rules of health club. If you run the track they don’t look behind or know what right or left is.
Chuckles: People who read on the cardiovascular equipment. People who admire their reflection in the mirror- you look marvelous. The young guys that walk around with the chest out – I’m strong like bull.
When you go to the health club three to four times a week – 365. The focus is not on the health club but the entertainment it provides. We all have to look for something to get us through our vigorous workouts.
Not enough cardio equipment – Treadmills always breaking down and are not repaired quickly enough. Gym workers that do not clean up during thier shift but sit at the counter and talk or read during thier shift.