Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Annoying people in exercise classes

109 replies

Surewhynot · 04/09/2021 15:38

I did Pilates this morning and the teacher is fab. I love her classes. But there was a new person in the class today and ALL she did was question the teacher.

‘I’ve been doing Pilates 30 years and we were never taught this way.’

‘Are you sure? I was always taught to have my arms this way.’

‘How long have you been teaching? My previous teacher said it should be done like this.’

AAARGH! SHUTUP SHUTUP SHUTUP!

Then we got to the stretches and she was literally moaning as though she was having an orgasm. It was really odd and rude.

And don’t get me started on the men who breathe competitively in Pilates. Grin

OP posts:
Mamette · 04/09/2021 15:40

Hopefully she won’t come back next week seeing as she found it so crap?

wizzywig · 04/09/2021 15:42

Was she in the front of the class too?

Original poster
Surewhynot · 04/09/2021 15:44

Yes, right in front of the instructor.

It’s so weird. I was in a yoga class a couple of years ago when someone just started doing her own set of moves and not following the teacher, I mean completely different.

Then when we did savasana at the end, she proceeded to stand up and swing her legs about to stretch them.

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General education
TheProvincialLady · 04/09/2021 15:45

I gave up Pilates because a woman joined who insisted on doing everything slooooowly and miiiiiiindfully and with her eyes closed. The class carried on so it didn’t affect me in any way but I just couldn’t bear the sight of her

WheelieBinPrincess · 04/09/2021 15:46

I love the idea of classes but can’t be arsed with the stupid politics of the one I used to like to go to. I stood in a certain place and the woman next to me said ‘Im saving that spot for my friend’ and gave me a horrible look as if i should have just known. I didn’t move though….the other woman came and stood on my other side and they glared and giggled at me the whole class long. And there’s another woman who wants to be the best and in the front all the time so we end up watching her more than the instructor, she loves it, she’s like a cheerleader. I found it really cringeworthy. So I don’t generally go anymore.

WhatMattersMost · 04/09/2021 15:47

It comes from a deep insecurity - the need to be seen to be in control, particularly of those in some kind of perceived position of authority.

BreakfastOfWaffles · 04/09/2021 15:49

I used to go to Body Pump classes a few years ago. There was a woman in the class who waited until everyone had set their weights for the next track, and then added one more than the person who had the highest weights. And then grunted her way through the track because it was too heavy 😂

Cocolapew · 04/09/2021 15:50

Not classes but I've joined a gym with a pool. I'm sick and tired of people just coming in and swimming where I am and then expecting me to move when we meet. Fuck. Off.
If it's busy I wait until I'm well behind someone and always move to the side when we meet.
And don't get me started on the 3 or 4 women who walk up and down in a circle gossiping and taking up half the pool.

Harlequin1088 · 04/09/2021 15:51

Do you have an unapologetic farter in your class too? I've done yoga and Pilates for years and I find every single class I've ever been a part of, there's ALWAYS a participant who just farts loudly periodically throughout the class and NOBODY ever says anything!

DarlingFell · 04/09/2021 15:54

This is why I don’t go to classes anymore. After practicing yoga at home during lockdown, I just found other people too irritating when I returned to class. My teacher has continued giving classes online as I’m not the only person who feels this way 🤷🏻‍♀️

Considering the principles of yoga go against competitiveness, showing off, and general dickish behaviour, it doesn’t half attract a lot of absolute knobs 😂 a couple of years back, one girl on my yoga class was doing headstands and carrying on in the middle of a class (where we were all meant to be doing something totally different) and she banged her toe against the wall and had to leave with a suspect fracture. I can’t deny that I thought to myself ‘that’ll learn you’, which admittedly wasn’t v yogi of me 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ughmaybenot · 04/09/2021 15:56

There’s always at least one in a Pilates class 🤦🏼‍♀️ let’s hope she doesn’t bother going back seeing as she was so unimpressed!

MayContainNits · 04/09/2021 15:57

I've just joined a Body Pump class; of 20 in the class, 4 are men. Two of them just get on with it, one grunts loudly all the time, and the other stands at the front and uses massive handweights when the (female) instructor tells us to use the bar, uses rubber bands when no one is using rubber bands, deliberately lifts on the 'off' beat, ignores her instructions and then starts packing up when she begins the cooldown. He also does press-ups - with claps - on his step while everyone else is setting up at the start.

Well done, Steve. Have a biscuit. (and I say that as someone who nearly always stands in the same place in the cardio class.)

TheDogsMother · 04/09/2021 15:57

I joined a local yoga class and it was just so cliquey. Everyone knew everyone and there was a married couple there who were a deeply unfunny double act that everyone was obliged to laugh along with. Then there was a Pilates class that was mixed with the men being stupidly competitive. Thank God for online classes.

chocolatesaltyballs22 · 04/09/2021 15:59

@Cocolapew

Not classes but I've joined a gym with a pool. I'm sick and tired of people just coming in and swimming where I am and then expecting me to move when we meet. Fuck. Off. If it's busy I wait until I'm well behind someone and always move to the side when we meet. And don't get me started on the 3 or 4 women who walk up and down in a circle gossiping and taking up half the pool.
God yes, agree with this. Fuck off and find your own space - I was here first! So rude.
FizzyPink · 04/09/2021 16:00

The worst for me are always the regulars who think they’re best friends with the instructors. I started going to a different gym for body pump a few years ago and in the first class obviously took the place of a regular. I’ve never felt so looked down on by a group of grown women

CovidCorvid · 04/09/2021 16:01

Blokes in body pump who load up heavy for warm up, then can’t increase their weight for squat track but think they’re the man. Generally can’t squat very well and have terrible form for clean and press and start grunting.

People in BodyPump who set up far too close to you.

Tiramiwho · 04/09/2021 16:02

Oh God - the Saturday morning Aerobics Clique at my own gym 🙄
All middle aged women ( like me ) at the front, been going donkey's years, know all the routines and don't they like to show it! Wo' betide if you ever use a space that has been 'reserved' since God was a lad.

I gelled more with the younger women ( teens and twenties ) at the back with me ( women in their 40's/50's can be very competitive with each other )

I actually stopped going because of the bloody awful Dubstep the Instructer insisted on playing ( know your audience please! 😶 )

Oh and the twenty minute delayed start, as they would witter among themselves about their week/Kiddies/boyfriends/latest festival/Strictly/tonight's Takeaway plans...Confused

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 04/09/2021 16:05

Any recommendations for free yoga and Pilates online. I used to pay monthly for exercise classes and enjoyed them, but I need to save the money now.

suckingonchillidogs · 04/09/2021 16:07

Can't stand people who stand RIGHT next to you in Body Combat when there's no need. Unless it's your first time you know there will be kicking to the side so don't look surprised when my foot glances past your face - moooove a bit further away! I might become a virulent gym farter, that might give me more room. Maybe that's why they do it!

TheRebelle · 04/09/2021 16:12

What about the ones who when the instructor asks if anyone’s got any injuries they need to be aware of start reeling of their medical histories 🙄 the instructor just wants to know if you’re not going to be able to do any of the moves, not that you broke your leg in 1994 and it still gives you a bit of pain when it rains.

legoriakelne · 04/09/2021 16:19

I was in a yoga class a couple of years ago when someone just started doing her own set of moves and not following the teacher, I mean completely different.

Why does this matter to you?

MazyontheDipper · 04/09/2021 16:33

@WheelieBinPrincess

I love the idea of classes but can’t be arsed with the stupid politics of the one I used to like to go to. I stood in a certain place and the woman next to me said ‘Im saving that spot for my friend’ and gave me a horrible look as if i should have just known. I didn’t move though….the other woman came and stood on my other side and they glared and giggled at me the whole class long. And there’s another woman who wants to be the best and in the front all the time so we end up watching her more than the instructor, she loves it, she’s like a cheerleader. I found it really cringeworthy. So I don’t generally go anymore.
This is why I never go to exercise classes....I have meant all the types you mention, but the 'I'm saving this spot/seat/whatever' brigade fuck me right off. Had enough of that shit when I was the geeky uncool girl with glasses who no-one wanted to be friends with.

However, many years ago, for a very short time, I attended a yoga class which was quite good fun, especially as the elderly lady next to me would fart out loud, the volume increasing with the intensity of the movement.

DarlingFell · 04/09/2021 16:36

@legoriakelne

I was in a yoga class a couple of years ago when someone just started doing her own set of moves and not following the teacher, I mean completely different.

Why does this matter to you?

Not my comment to reply to…but it’s v off putting when someone is carrying on in a yoga class
chocolatesaltyballs22 · 04/09/2021 16:42

Why does this matter to you?
Not my comment to reply to…but it’s v off putting when someone is carrying on in a yoga class

Also, because they're taking a space up when someone who actually wants to follow the class correctly could take it

MissMarplesGoddaughter · 04/09/2021 16:44

I really dislike latecomers to yoga / Pilates classes. The warm up has started, but people have to shift their mats to make a space, the latecomers have to go to the cupboard to get blocks and belts, causing further disruption. And they always have a health condition to be explained in great detail.

And breathe......

Luckily, there is one male yoga instructor at my gym who always starts his class on time and tells latecomers they are too late and not to enter the studio. :)

Swipe left for the next trending thread