Unspoken Gym Etiquette

Don't sit fully dressed in the changing room on your phone, or chatting for ages to your other fully dressed friend. Chat out in the communal areas.

Yes, I agree about that, I am sometimes tempted especially if I've had a message ping in, but fortunately the wifi / 4g are nearly non-existent in ours so doom-scrolling is doomed to failure. I do adjust whatever I'm listening to though.

This advice on the phone is excellent. A rest between reps is a rest , as soon as you start doom scrolling you lose any sense of time. If you aren’t able to stop looking at your phone then you need to get off the equipment between sets and then when you’ve finished looking at your phone go back, you run the risk it’s not free but that’s a choice.

I do a lot of calisthenics and heavy lifting so big compound moves that need proper rests and this means:

Phones - I use my phone to record exercises, sets, reps and weights plus form tips or notes for next time. I sometimes video myself to check form.

Rests - I do sometimes do 30 sec sets and 5 mins rest (weighted pull ups, say) - quoted by a pp as unacceptable. I would always offer for someone else to jump in though if possible (hard with plate-loaded machines as you may have to swap weights, or with stuff where bar height needs changing) and often arrange to work with a partner for those exercises anyway so we swap in and out. But sometimes it is necessary and, at my gym which is very strength-focussed, completely normal and accepted.

I'd add to the previous useful posts:
Don't walk close behind people - especially someone going heavy on squats or deadlifts - wait till the set is finished and the bar re-racked in that case.

Another one, don’t interrupt a personal training session unless it’s an emergency & there’s no other staff member available.

I have a small notebook and multi-colour pen to record what I do, weights and reps. It's good for reminding me what I need to load on each machine and seeing when I'm ripe to progress.

Not a rule as such but my own personal advice is not to touch your phone unless you are changing the music. Every time I train I observe people lost in a little world faffing about on their phone. You are there to train and everything else can wait.

I have six different workout plans on a spreadsheet & copy whichever one I’m going to use that day to my phone, including details of which weights I’m using. I count the sets off on there as I do them, which is especially helpful in cases of peri brain fog, & update if I switch to higher weights.

I agree about ignoring the internet though!

OP there really is no need to spray clean a bench. I am surprised how many people have suggested this. If you have sweated on a bench wipe it off with a towel or tissue but to suggest that it needs disinfecting is pretty anal, ditto don't waste your time wiping off your bench if it's dry.

I'd agree, and I do the same.

Presumably the few people with a need for everything they touch, even through gym clothes, to be sterile would not trust anyone else's cleaning anyway, so I'd say it makes more sense if they sterilise equipment themselves before they use it rather than after.

OP there really is no need to spray clean a bench. I am surprised how many people have suggested this. If you have sweated on a bench wipe it off with a towel or tissue but to suggest that it needs disinfecting is pretty anal, ditto don't waste your time wiping off your bench if it's dry.

Rights of way in the gym. If you are walking around the gym or racking your weights away you always stop or walk around anybody doing an exercise.

Not a rule as such but my own personal advice is not to touch your phone unless you are changing the music. Every time I train I observe people lost in a little world faffing about on their phone. You are there to train and everything else can wait.

I would go further and say don't set up your phone to film yourself in the gym at all as it's just annoying for other gymgoers who may not want to star in your TikTok or Instagram reel!

I occasionally film myself, but it’s not for social media. I do it to check form.

But yes, weights, put them back. That includes the little weight you can add to cable machines.

Interesting debate on gym bunny- id find it odd if someone called me that to my face but I don't find it offensive (username tongue in cheek ish)

Agree with a lot of above

Don't turn up to classes 5 mins late (you'll be turned away), don't try and make conversation with someone who is working out, wipe your sweat off the floor as well as machine (if necessary- especially spin classes), don't wear muddy trainers on gym floor.

But mainly have fun and if you get it wrong we've all been there!

Plenty of people film themselves in the gym to check their form etc. not just for social media.

(but if others are in shot, ask them first)

If you are using a rowing machine, clean the slider bar as well as the bits you handle and the seat. Otherwise, you get a build-up of dirt and the slider doesn’t work smoothly.

And if you plan to row more than about 10mins at a time, treat yourself to a seat cushion and use loads of sudocrem on the skin where your coccyx is so you don’t get a horribly sore blister at the top of your bum crack. I speak from very painful experience of that one.

Lots of baby powder on your boobs helps stop them sticking together when you get sweaty. Take spare knickers and a bra to change into after exercise.

This is the main one. Hogging a machine between reps is my main issue.

Don’t stare at people. As expected there are more than a few new starters in my gym at the moment. And they are staring at people. Caught a few staring at me while doing my weights the other day. Makes me feel uncomfortable and no one likes it.

Lots of good advice here.
Also, please don’t wear perfume. It just doesn’t mix well with other odours in the gym especially classes when you’re quite close to people eg. spin classes.
Don’t worry about asking for help with equipment. Most gym goers are happy to help out.
Smile and enjoy 😊

If you go to failure, you fail a rep.

You can't always control that down, machine or otherwise and failure is where the gains are made.

So respectfully, this is incorrect and the machines cope with it fine.. unless yo

Put your weights away - In.The.Correct.Place

Keep out of the way of people moving/exercising. The person pushing 100 kilos on the sled track always has right of way.

Learn to work in (share) equipment.

I'm a sweater 🥵 and always carry a towel around the gym but I'm the only one! I wouldn't mind but there isn't even any spray or paper towels...

where has anyone said not to rest between sets? Surely the very fact they've been referred to as sets means there must, by definition, be a rest period between them, otherwise it would just be constant exercise? I would say to try and limit your rest period - there are soo many people in my gym who do 1 minute weights, 5 mins faffing on phone, repeat for 3 sets = tying up a machine for nearly 20 minutes. If you are going to do this alternate with someone else, or arms/legs on different machines, or go at quiet times.

For OP - if there are multiples of the same machine empty, do not go on the one right next to someone else, leave a gap. aka the urinal rule. i.e. if someone is on treadmill 3, choose treadmill 1 or 5, not 2 or 4. Some people might complain about this 'I like the positioning of/view from this one' etc but it's weird, particularly in a gym where the machines are very crowded together, and, if you're a run-farter, very unpleasant for the person/people next to you. Obviously if it's busier it's fine.

Use the changing room to GET CHANGED and then LEAVE. People in mine spend ages just sitting there on their phones, which is disconcerting (never sure if they could be filming etc), I've stepped over people using it to stretch before, etc.

To be honest most gym etiquette is to just act like a normal person. Most people at the gym just want to do their own thing and ignore everyone else.

I don't overly mind 'gym bunny', although my preferred term is 'gym freak', but it is a touch patronising.

For sure. I train heavy. If anything, I aspire to be a gym bison.

To clarify, it's the weight machines rather than free weights. There's no need to clang machine weights.

Or move the rowing machine to the other side of the gym to set up a circuit of three things meaning you are hogging those three things.

if you are going from running machine to something else and then back again don’t leave the running machine going as you know it’s running but some other person will step on it assuming it’s stopped.