Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Gym bastards

320 replies

Nettletheelf · 05/12/2017 23:22

Am I being unreasonable in being annoyed with tw@ts at the gym? Am I?

  1. Bodypump.

Selfish equipment-hogging woman. Class usually full. This woman arrives half an hour early and sets up a bench for herself with two - TWO! - bars, several of every type of weight disc, a pair of every type of dumb bell and TWO mats.

Means that other class members are short of weights, because she has provided herself with every permutation she might possibly need, although she doesn’t use half of them. When they aren’t enough bars to go around, she stays quiet and waits to be asked to relinquish one of hers, at which point she pulls a face and reluctantly yields the minimum amount of equipment.

She seems unembarrassed by this. Apparently she ‘needs’ two bars so that she can swap over during one of the tracks in case she gets a bit tired. So everybody else can feck off.

  1. Spinning.

Bike hogging bastards saving bikes for themselves and their friends, even when they aren’t sure that the friends will be turning up.

People arriving just before the start of the class have to run the gauntlet - you sign up for the class in advance, so there are theoretically enough bikes - trying to get on a bike with a jacket draped over it whilst somebody snaps, “my friend is on there!”.

Naturally, the friend never turns up and you end up either missing the start of the class or putting up with being scowled at for taking your booked place.

  1. Body attack

Home of the show offs who try to put in extra big jumps and other athletic moves into the routine. No matter how many times the poor instructor says, “don’t put a big jump in here, the routine is designed like this for a reason. No big jumps!”, they still insist on doing them. Just so everybody knows they are really fit and the routine is too easy for them, being virtually professional athletes and all.

Is it just me? Share your stories of gym idiocy. Also your advice on dealing with the equipment hoggers.

OP posts:
KatharinaRosalie · 07/12/2017 08:53

That's a very common opinion that all trainers and instructors are some kind of halfwit bimbos/meatheads who are only doing this job because they couldn't handle a proper one.

Youngmystery · 07/12/2017 08:56

This stuff is why I got my own equipment at home. None of it is fancy like the gyms stuff, hell the treadmill is a manual one. But got a bike, rowing machine, treadmill and cross trainer. Don't need anything else.

Would run outside, but I live in the middle of nowhere with no street lights. No way am I running outside in darkness.

VivaLeBeaver · 07/12/2017 08:58

My instructor has a masters degree in a very academic subject. He just likes being a pt.

weetabix07 · 07/12/2017 09:03

Regular gym goer here;

1- people who want access to the locker that's above or below where yours is and instead of saying excuse me just stand and glare.

2-booming and I mean booming music in the changing rooms as well as people screaming at each other as if they were on separate continents as opposed to being in close proximity to each other.

3-people who stare

4-people who smell really strongly of anything eg garlic perfume bo etc. When they are on machine next to you.

5-unsolicited advice givers

(I like to be left alone)

BusterTheBulldog · 07/12/2017 09:20

Also changing rooms / studios being too hot! Drives me insane. A lady at our gym requests the heating to be turned on in the studio before classes as it’s cold when you start. YOULL BE WARM IN LITERALLY FIVE MINS THOUGH!

Original poster
Nettletheelf · 07/12/2017 09:26

I feel that I must spring to the defence of the clever and well qualified PT that I see!

(But some of the others at the same gym, not so much, I admit).

OP posts:
ohfortuna · 07/12/2017 11:49

I'm not saying that people who use personal trainers are lacking in nouse, my point is more that the need for a personal trainer stems from a lack of internal motivation.
We all have areas where we find it hard to be self-motivated and clearly for many people exercise is one such area, that being the case using a personal trainer is a great solution.

No doubt there are highly qualified personal trainers but academic qualifications are not a necessary condition for the job, I'd imagine that people skills are the most important thing .....being able to get others motivated
being able to flirt with your female clients a bit probably helps?
I also doubt that it pays very well unless you happen to be a 'trainer to the stars'!

ohfortuna · 07/12/2017 11:52

Also I totally get that at elite levels /competition levels makes sense to have a coach for some of your training

lemonsandlimes123 · 07/12/2017 12:00

ohfortuna - have to disagree, I have a PT twice a week and then do other gym sessions or classes 5-6 times a week. I don't require my PT for motivation, I see them because they are hugely knowledgable about training, can help improve my form by spotting things I can't see without videoing myself from all angles and they are able to make tweaks and suggest exercises that it would take me ages to figure out myself. I would rather get the best use out of my time in the gym without having to look up things on the internet for hours! There are plenty of crap PTs out there but a good one is worth their weight in gold IMO!

FriteFuaite · 07/12/2017 12:06

I go to a strength and conditioning gym, and it’s great! No classes, as such, we do squatting etc on the first day, weightlifting on the second day and alternate then, on the other days. I’ve lost lots of inches and toned up a lot! It’s a very supportive environment and we have a great laugh. I much prefer this to a ‘real’ gym

ohfortuna · 07/12/2017 12:11

LemonsandLimes I totally get your point there.
However my feeling is that if you need a personal trainer to get you to train or to enable you to train effectively then your chances of sticking at it over the long term week in week out Over the Decades are lower.
If you are really into something, really enthusiastic about it then yes you may need some coaching at the start but after that you would want to .....you would enjoy researching online listening to podcasts watching videos etc.

FindoGask · 07/12/2017 12:16

ohfortuna, loads of people competing in strength disciplines have coaches. In fact people competing in loads of different sports all tend to have a coach - which is what a personal trainer is, basically.

I don't have a PT but I would if I could afford a decent one. I do well enough on my own but it'd be great to have someone do my programming for me or tweak my form on a set of squats as they're happening, without my needing to video myself and watch it back.

BitOutOfPractice · 07/12/2017 13:04

I'm laughing at the idea that top athletes / really fit people do not have a PT. It's called a coach or trainer. I expect Mo Farrah and Andy Murray etc would laugh too

ohfortuna · 07/12/2017 13:13

Bitoutof and Findo, I refer you to my post at 11:52 today in which I said:
'I totally get that at elite levels /competition levels makes sense to have a coach for some of your training'

PlausibleSuit · 07/12/2017 13:23

being able to flirt with your female clients a bit probably helps?

I'm sure you're being ironic here but if I did that I'd have no clients! It's an unethical way to operate. (Besides, I'm gayer than Christmas so I'd look preposterous if I tried flirting. Grin) And any client that tries flirting with me gets moved on to another trainer, sharpish.

I also doubt that it pays very well

You ain't wrong. I don't care though, I love my job. Love it.

I think you're right in that high-performance lifters like yourself tend to educate and train themselves, with no need for a PT. Most of my clients aren't that; they're not interested in PBs or beast mode. They just want a bit of help getting better at something, or trying a new thing, or losing a bit of weight, or training around an injury. I'm as much counsellor as coach, sometimes - for some it's as much about the company and the motivation as it is about performance.

ohfortuna · 07/12/2017 13:30

I'm sure you're being ironic here but if I did that I'd have no clients! It's an unethical way to operate
Of course I'm not saying that all personal trainers overtly flirt with their clients, but c'mon it does happen it is sometimes a factor in the dynamic

ohfortuna · 07/12/2017 13:34

Perhaps flirting is the wrong word, the fact that you enjoy the company of your personal trainer that he or she makes you feel good about yourself....a kind of non sexual flirting, an enjoyable flattery, a bit of Self Indulgence, something which turns exercise into an enjoyable experience for those who don't find it intrinsically enjoyable.
I don't mean to be disparaging about personal trainers it's an important role!🏅

goingonabearhunt1 · 07/12/2017 14:51

This thread is making me laugh.

The gym I go to is a council one and I've not had many issues tbh except with ppl turning up to certain classes without booking (I know which ones to avoid now as they're so crowded).

I agree with pp that not wiping equipment is the worst 'gym sin', it's just gross.

I also don't understand ppl being rude about ppl who use a gym, when you work FT it's the easiest way to get exercise in and you can't do as many different things just out 'in the air'. My DPs are always disparaging the gym and it just annoys me tbh especially since they've never been and therefore don't know what they're on about for the most part.

Oh and I like the LM classes, sorry if that's not 'proper' exercise according to some Grin Each to their own.

BeALert · 07/12/2017 15:04

I went to the gym this morning at 5.30am, and the other woman there engaged in conversation with me.

At 5.30am!

BeALert · 07/12/2017 15:04

I went to the gym this morning at 5.30am, and the other woman there engaged in conversation with me.

At 5.30am!

BitOutOfPractice · 07/12/2017 15:09

@OhFortuna yes I've just seen that you back tracked a bit into admitting that some people may have a trainer some of the time after confidently asserting about 4 times that people who use trainers merely lack motivation Grin

BTW I don't use a PT one-to-one but I do some into contact with them in some of the cardio and HIIT classes I do (which you would undboutedly sneer at) and they have all been great

FindoGask · 07/12/2017 15:10

Argh! Awful. That's what time I go to the gym. I have headphones on and am on nodding/smiling terms with other regulars but that's it, and hopefully the way it will stay.

BitOutOfPractice · 07/12/2017 15:11

Re the sweat wiping thing, the signs at my gym say

"THE PERSON USING THIS EQUIPMENT AFTER YOU WOULD APPRECIATE YOU WIPING THEM DOWN"

No I don't want them to wipe me down thanks, just the treadmill will be fine Grin

Insomnibrat · 07/12/2017 15:16

People who drop weights when they've finished with them.
If you can't put it down, don't pick it up.

weetabix07 · 07/12/2017 16:26

I hear at some budget gyms personal training work is hard - you have to rent space and then compete with lots of other trainers for customers. I had a PT friend at pure gym who told me this. I guess it's like other forms of self employment - precarious.