..to avoid being near a male when at the gym

[bitofcheese]

i go 2/3 times a week and whenever i go on something that is by a male (never by choice) more often than not they stink. I don't like breathing in the smell of a stranger/male and doing a workout is torture enough without having to endure their stench. It is for this reason that i always try and go on something that is as far away as possible from another training male. Sometimes you can tell the ones who are going to smell before they have come close and often i am right. I think that some men think this turns 'the ladies' on especially the ones who work out in the 'mens room' (weights) as i call it. I always have a bath before i go. Most people there don't smell but some men, always the same ones, stink, i don't think they have deodorant on, it has that raw smell about it.....

YABU. Stay away from stinky people by all means, but I have stood outside beein into gyms and not all men stink, sometimes women smell

Maybe you stink?

YANBU. Hate being near stinky anyone not necessarily men when at the gym.

It has to be said, some of the ladies are worse in the opposite way - far too much perfume etc, just as awful.

Just have a wash and wear clean gym gear!

Fair enough, if it bothers you, don't stand next to them. But it's a gym; people are working out, so they're going to sweat. Personally the smell of fresh sweat doesn't bother me; it's that stale, days-old, unwashed body/clothes smell that gives me the boak.

If it's really putting you off, some gyms have women-only areas.

I have never experienced this but how about trying some predominantly female classes? I go to spin, bodypump and yoga, all of which only have a couple of token males in and therefore easy to avoid!!

YABU to think that it is only men who can smell

YANBU to try to choose machines far away from people who smell

Join an all ladies gym then. I hate the smell of sweaty men, and I'm a member of an all ladies gym. No guys flexing their muscles competing either.

IME women rarely smell at the gym because they don't make enough effort to work up a sweat.

i don't mind being in a gym with men i just don't like the smell. and yes, i know women smell too, i stink sometimes....but when i am in a public place doing stuff that i know is going to make me sweat i make sure i have had a good wash first. the smell to which i refer is the really strong bo smell, i don't mind the smell of sweat. i don't like classes, not my kind of thing

I can't help but laught at the irony of OP thinking she doesn't smell with that nickname

YABU - if you dont like the smell of sweaty men then either dont go or go to an all ladies one...chances are you'll find some women can smell too when they sweat.

At least they are making an effort....afte all exercise is supposed to make you sweat!

Squirt them with bleach

YABU and sexist to stereotype men as smelly.
YABU to expect everyone to have a bath before they use the gym ? especially if they go straight before/after work or during a lunch break.
YANBU to want to exercise without olfactory offence.

a wash will do, i said a wash & just mentioned i had a bath. I have a friend who works in the gym, there are a few male regulars who go there daily and literally stink the place out, nightmare for her, real strong pungent body odor smell. i never said i didn't smell, i am capable of working up a strong stench myself sometimes but i don't inflict it on other poor bastards trying to improve their health at the local'

I knew what you meant OP! I know you aren't trying to say all men stink, and that the smell you refer to in stale musty sweat as opposed to fresh sweat! It's unfortunate but it does tend to be men who offend IME

Maybe it is just that men wash themselves where I live but I have never noticed overly smelly males in the gym...

Oh, I ALWAYS end up next to the smelly man at the gym

I must attract them!

You know it's probably the lack of gym kit washing rather than them

I go to the gym purely for the mansmells, can't stand working out, just hang out below armpit level.

I have to say I have noticed the same. I think it's because they don't wear clean gym gear, it's stale sweat. Fresh sweat doesn't smell. Or one bloke in the free weights area somehow taking up the whole area. Or at university gym, one guy who used to stare at your crotch on certain equipment. For that reason I preferred to go to a gym which had a women only free weights area.

I go to the gym purely for the mansmells, can't stand working out, just hang out below armpit level.

I go to a step class that follows on after a class ( mainly men ) Called "work and sweat" They tend to stay over their finish time, drip pools of sweat on the floor and over the steps that they don't clean up and sometimes the smell is so bad I feel like heaving when I go in to the studio despite the air conditioning. AND they leave mud on the floor. Yuk!!

I used to belong to a gym that's owned by the HAC. All the super-buff soldier boys did their workouts in there. I never managed to do much exercise, just enjoyed the smell view

there's one bloke who is very fit (i don't mean a looker, he appears to be very healthy) and really goes at it on the spinner for ages too & very fast. Well, the pools of water (sweat) that collects up on the floor under the bike and is literally dripping from the handlebars makes me feel really sick. The thing that is the icing on the cake, he knows he sweats but never seems to come to the gym with a towel or anything to wipe up. he uses a tiny piece of the tear off blue paper towel and half heartedly mops up hardly any of it leaving it to my friend to do. i can't help but people watch when i am there, takes me off the boredom of working out and beats watching the porn in the form of the music videos on the tv. i heard someone fart on the bike the other day :) i felt really sorry for them as it was an old lady and am guessing it just popped out

Stay away from whoever you want but you are being vvvv u to call the weights the men's room - get in there and get lifting, it'll be the best thing you have ever done.

Btw exercise does sadly equal sweat, if done properly, I don't mind it in there but I hate tesco in hot weather!

you sound a bit strange

rhonda - i am japing around. i LOVE 'the mens' room, i call it that because of the vibe and the way alot of the men are in there. it can be a bit intimidating but it never stops me going in there, i have been doing weights in there for years and have built up some nice muscle just to annoy dh who calls me 'sarah connor' :)