work out pet peeves
 

My top one would have to be those guys who are putting entirely too much weight on their bench (or any other exercise) and doing terrible quality sets - for example, they'll 2-plate it on each side of the bench bar (so 225lbs) and do 5 reps of about 2 inches each - never even coming close to the chest.

What are some of your pet peeves whilst in the gym?

people who do standing up bicep/preacher curls while simultaneously humping the air

bad form always gets me. especially when its people who brag about how much they lift...
grrrrr...

biggest pet peeve are the ppl who don't wipe down their machines after they use it.. grrrr

I'm going to have to start bring a towel with me from now on. I keep forgetting to.

I agree with you. I've had bad form before, but you can tell the guys who have bad form because they're lifting entirely too much for a good workout.

Yeah, I mean some guys are just a joke - they obviously can't be doing the weight they are attempting and I cringe when I see them try and their buddies congratulating them.

My two biggest peeves have been covered already, not wiping your machine down, and bad form.
I saw this yutz today trying to do lateral raises with 50lb dumbells, he was practically lifing his entire body off the ground with each raise, and he was barely getting the weights halfway up to his shoulders. To top it off, he was doing this inches away from the mirror, despite signs everywhere asking people to keep a few feet away so that others can get at the weights, which are kept on racks against the wall.

I hate it when I'm on a treadmill and some guy (or girl) gets on the treadmill next to me and just smells bad. It's either their BO is terrible, or just can't afford deodorant. That's probably my biggest pet peeve.

this has to be the second biggest pet peeve i have. I'd be doing my regular workout routine and a guy will sit down at the machine beside me and have this incredibly nasty BO. How is a man suppose to breath properly during their reps with out inhaling all the nastiness??

I couldn't care less about other people's form - it doesn't affect me.

My two biggest pet peeves are the already-mentioned people without towels (and the gym personnel who do absolutely nothing about it) and groups of 3 or 4 "workout buddies" who tie up machines for 20 minutes at a time.

I make it a point to mention to everyone I run across without a towel, "See this towel? I brought it to wipe up <i>my</i> sweat, not <i>yours</i>."

A bunch of people who know each other hogging one peice of apparatus I need so I can't get my reps in.

Frustration.

This has actually been a rare occasion, but when it does happen... PHEW! God I can barely stand it, seriously.

Another peeve of mine that I forgot to mention was when the gym is so packed that someone will take your dumbells or machine so I can't complete my set for a while. It really is frustrating, I agree with the above poster.

Yeah that is the absolute worst

mmm people who leave 100's of kgs of weight on barbels or plate loaded machines obviously assuming that the next person will obviously warm-up on their peak weight

It doesnt really bother me too much when a bunch of people are using a machine or something I need, I just ask them to let me work in. If the rotation takes a long time because there are a bunch of them then I will just superset with something else.

Nobody owns anything in the gym, so I never have a problem asking to work in, or use someones dumbells when they are resting between sets.

BO really does suck though...

The only thing I really hate is when people are trying to show off. Everyone at my gym, and most I am sure, are at different levels in their workout. There is no need to try and impress anyone.

My biggest pet peeve is when the stupid headest things (not sure what to call them) that you plug your headset into to listen to the TV's are not working. For some reason my gym plays really bad music, and when I am running I need some up tempo music. Maybe I am strange. I usually get a commercial at the very end of my run and HATE IT!

Bad form on the part of the do-er doesn't really bother me as much as it used to. I think that if people want to waste their time that's their business so as long as they are considerate enough to do their sets in bad form and clear a machine, etc then it's all good. One thing no one likes is a know it all so as tempting as it is to point out a few flaws for me it's just best to try and ignore that and focus on my own work.

The pet peeve that gets me is the person who comes over and hovers over me in the middle of a set just to let me know that they want to work in. I'm totally fine sharing just don't get up in my grill when I'm trying to maintain focus on good form!! :D I'll see you and certainly let you in but sheeeeesh ... back off a bit!

True, that one is really annoying

I would have to say my biggest workout pet peeve is frat boys.

The frat boys come in packs between 4-12, they usually tie up about 3 benches/machines, and the entire time they talk about the parties they had that week, how much beer was left over, their upcoming poly sci test and how they are going all sit in a row and wear baseball caps. And of course they discuss this in the loudest possible voices so the whole room can hear. I usually try to hit the gym when the frat boys aren't there because they are just so damn annoying.

Bingo. Especially the ones that weigh about 130lbs, have kanjii tattoos on their arms, shorts that are half hanging off their ass, etc, and think that they should be competing in strong man competitions :rolleyes:. And they usually show up about once a month, do about 5 bad reps on a machine, then stand in the mirror and flex. :lol:

Oh yea, then there are the assholes who you see in there who haven't broke a sweat their entire life, but they try to give advice to other people or their friends that is completely WRONG. Better yet, watching them try to do exercises that they're completely incapable of doing. For example, I usually do iron crosses with 5 to 12 lb barbells and hold it for about a minute to strengthen my shoulders after the torn rotator cuff. One guy decided to be tough and try it with a pair of 25 lb bells :lol:. He could only get them up about half way, and held it for maybe 4 seconds.

Folks who do their dumbell curls, or lat raises right in front of the weight rack, getting in the way of folks who either need to put their weights back, or take some. On a related note, I remember a guy getting huffy at me because he was doing dumbell curls in quick downward succession (50's, 45's, 40's, etc) and was pissed because I grabbed the 35's off the top rack and interrupted his "flow" or whatever. I mean, if you're going to tie up one set of dumbells, no big deal, but 7-8? What an ass...

Well, I'm probably alone in this one...but the women that wear barely-there workout clothes. You can show off your body without showing us all of your skin :p

CinnamonGirl: I think you definitely called yourself on that one :lol:

Actually, that one pisses me off too. The gym is not supposed to be a "meet and greet" or a singles bar.

And to be honest, it does distract me :p

People who do barbell curls in the squat rack or power cage.

Kaos is right though, I'm there on a mission usually and I end up losing track of time inbetween sets :P

One minor pet peeve of mine is guys that do bicep curls over the incline bench, there's only so many incline benches and they are always full, and theres tons of seats around for you to sit down and do concentration curls, why tie up the bench when i could be pressing.. So now I have to wait around until they free up...

I never bring a towel, actually, I did for a while but it was meaningless to wipe things because they never got dirty?

I got annoyed by one guy that would put on way too much weight on the bar to do squats. But before he would do them he would phsyce himself up by walking around the gym two to three times and breathe very heavily. But each time he would exhale, he would whistle. Then when it came time to actually lift he would bounce the bar off the safety bars and grunt like a mad man so that the entire gym could hear him. Another time this same guy was on a nautilus machine and was doing his reps with so much force that he was actually moving the machine during his work out. My main thought was for that guy to lay off the juice.

People who leave a towel draped over part of a machine, or a water bottle or something, so the machine looks "claimed." I usually wait the requisite minute or so in case they're on their way back from the water fountain. Only usually they're not; usually they've moved on to another station, or across the room to talk to somebody, and they've forgotten to take their stuff with them.

Like I say, I give them just one minute. But still, I resent it.

I'll usually look around - but only if there are weights and a towel on it. If I don't see anyone I'll just assume that it's not taken.

I'm pretty grossed out by the sweaty thong line some of the ladies have, but other then that I have a pretty mundane gym experience. Nothing really rocks my boat.

Everything I can think of has already been mentioned, except for one. After my workout I like to sit in the sauna and I hate it when a dude comes in there buck naked and sits there and sweats up a storm for 5 or 10 minutes then walks out leaving a sweat puddle where he was sittting. WTF? They give out free towels at the front desk. Grab a couple and sit on them!!

People who talk to you during cardio. I'm usually on my bike kicking my ass when someone comes up and says "HEY DAVE~!~!~!~!~12!! WHAT'S UP? START CLASSES YET!? HOWS YOUR JOB!?"

And they're just out of face punching range.

There are 3 possible responses to this:

1. You are lucky enough to be the only person on the planet to not sweat when you work out.
2. You have no idea what constitutes a workout.
3. I am severely sarcasm-challenged today.

I'm really hoping it's #3.

I don't bring a towel.
But, our gym provides a water/vinegar(or something) mixture with a towel next to just about every machine that you use to wipe off the machine when you're done.

yea i think it's 3 hah

People that go to the gym more to socialize than to work-out. Hey, enjoy yourself and the gym camaraderie but don't sit on the machine/bench and have five minute converstions between sets. Do the work and move on, some of us are serious about keeping up our intensity. Worse yet are those that aren't even using the equipment they are hogging, it just becomes their personal lounging apparatus. Sure, I can kindly ask them to move on but I shouldn't have to.

People who don't re-rack their weights really annoy me. Its rude and it mean additional set-up time for me between exercises. I also hate it when people just leave dumbells laying around the gym wherever they last used them. Like I want to spend my workout time looking in every corner of the gym for a particular set of dumbells. Put them back where they belong.

There are these four idiotic 18~20 year olds that come to the gym and when they are doing their 1~2 Plate max deadlifts they smash the bar on the ground every rep. Everyone in the gym is left looking in their direction, wtf?

Ya good form kids, get the fuck outta here now!

Maybe I am just an angry angry man. :P

Grrr.

My gym is right next door to a karate school. I hate it when the idiots from that school come in to work out and then start sparring in the gym. The attendants think it's cool and that these guys are badass so they don't do anything about it.

The worst part is that these guys think they know how to fight, but whatever training they're getting seems like it's more about teaching them how to dance with weapons. I've been very tempted to invite them to my dojo for a friendly sparring match ;)

I dislike the way the personal trainers will always ask to use machines for the people they are taking around but then won't reciprocate if you want to work into a rotation. Their lifting schedules are sacrosant, but yours are not.

I really like seeing the young things in tight clothes. It helps to keep me motivated.

I also dislike comments about me being the only guy in a step-aerobics class. This isn't coming from the class (who doesn't mind me being there), but from guys just kind of joking with me about it. I would like to see some of their fat asses make it through an hour of pretty intense cardio that this particular instructor puts on.

i dislike the fact that my gym has a separate womens gym - altho some of the more fit girls come out to do their workout in the guys gym. I guess they are scoping for guys.. hehe


I wear at least two layers of clothes or sometimes a sweatshirt so my sweat doesn't soak through. You should make that number 4 on your list.

I visit the gym when there aren't that many people there and most of the people there have excellent gym etiquette. It's one of the main reasons I don't visit the gym at peak hours.

No me too, just as many sorority girls come in all dressed up to work out and just sit there and talk and hog all the equipment. Quit showing off or go someone else for christssakes!

The people who show up, do about 50 sets of bicep curls and leave. The place gets way too crowded with people who aren't even working out, just trying to look cut. They use up all the open benches sitting on them and doing the curls when I want to use them for benching dumbells and the like.