Gym bastards

[Nettletheelf]

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.

Haven't read all posts but I often wondered if I was seen as selfish for the few months I trained at PureGym. My deadlift is now 200kg and I would often have to go around the gym taking all the plates I could find. As a strength trainee I also have around 5 mins rest between sets which is pretty standard when the weight gets heavy. I felt people where thinking I was taking the mick, especially if I dared check my email on my phone or log something on my workout app - bodybuilders only rest for 90 secs between sets so quite different.

Just read the post about texting on the CV machines. Just to add a counter argument, I burn most of my calories outside of the gym when my body is repairing the damage done by heavy lifting - i.e. metabolism raised by circa 25% for 24-48 hours after lifting rather than burning calories in the gym through CV. I only do about 20 mins of cardio towards the end and I do steady state cardio as I don't want anything too catabolic after I've depleted my glycogen levels - don't want body burning muscle tissue. I also use the CV machine to cool down. There's no reason I can't be sending an email (especially when I pop to gym during the day) but I do worry about people giving me hostile looks. Odd when I'm clearly in good shape.

Unrestrained protein farts are what really annoy me!

Your deadlift is 200kg, Stig? That's pretty blimmin' impressive! Elite level for a woman anyway. Do you compete?

I get fucked off with bendy Norma who frequents the yoga and Pilates classes and ensures that she contorts into the most extreme and ridiculous positions possible. Then her face lights up as the instructor showers her with praise and wonder. Fuck off Norma.

I also get mildly irritated with the weights boys gang who all seem to stand around the weights but don't actually seem to actually do anything. Fuck off out of the way if you're not going to use them.

Stig by the sounds of it it would be pretty obvious to even the untrained eye that you are no gym slouch when you're on the cv machines

I've been in a wide variety of gyms from budget to expensive. My priority is convenience - and sadly you tend to find some rude / nosey people in them all.

I'm in the northwest. I may be bodypump woman

I know some of you probably won't think 'Aqua' is proper exercise - for context, I used to be able to deadlift my bodyweight plus, but sometimes life gets in the way, so at the moment its dog walks, aqua and pilates for me.

Anyhoo, mostly at my gym, people are ok, but Aqua is THE most popular class, it books up within minutes of being released, so the people who piss me off are the ones who go, then spend the whole session talking and only move if the instructor looks at them. And then there is the whole leaving early to get a shower, not just a few minutes, but 15 or 20 minutes before the end of a 45 minute class. If you only have half an hour, don't book into a 45 min class that is ALWAYS oversubscribed.

I really don't get the angst if what the other people are doing doesn't inconvenience you.

So what if someone using pt hasn't got a body as nice as your own , mind you're own business and stop looking at them. So the man on the cycling machine is texting his mates - so what is it stopping you doing what you're in to do?

The people leaving the aqua class early is slightly different, but again they've turned up, they've used the class in the way they want to, and provided when they leave they don't get in other folks way, then again I think it's kind of up to them.

Am loving my work gym still further. This morning at 9.30 I was the only person there !

@rookiemere couldn't agree more 👍🏻

Do you do special extra exercises in the class, different to those demonstrated by the instructor, Namechangedandforgotoldname?

Is your deadlift and squat form terrible?

If so, j’accuse!

sweet I enjoy aqua but haven’t been for a while, I’m quite short and I end up being pushed along into the deep end.

Haha no, I'm an instructor myself so hopefully my techniques are spot on 😆

Not in bodypump I should add.
I do it because I enjoy it but I do a lot of free weights aswell

I'm a bloke!

But there is a lady at my gym who lifts 165kg (said she's going for 170kg next week ). She's very impressive and not at all 'chunky' like one might assume.

Ah right ok. Yes, I know powerlifters needn't be chunky - there are women in the under 53kg and under 47kg categories that can deadlift 180+kg and it is a joy to behold.

.

I dl 120kg for reps. Even dl'd 120-130kg in pregnancy only switching to a trap bar in third trimester. ORM 155kg. 9mth postnatal and still working through hangovers of nasty SPD and post partum throiditis but hoping for a 200kg dl at some point.
Won't be competing though as tall so wont ever have a low enough body mass to get into any form of decent weight class (bottom out at 72kg after a cut).
Does help my sprint in the velodrome though (which is why I lift).

Oh God this thread is terrifying me! I just joined a gym, I'm old, uncoordinated and totally unfit. I literally haven't owned a pair of trainers for a decade. It's a massive decision and commitment and I already felt daunted but I was hoping to do some of these classes you're all so knowledgeable about. I'm just going to get on everyone's tits aren't I?