Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Original poster

Personal trainer using the playground as a gym

171 replies

ArtichokeAardvark · 13/05/2019 13:02

I don't think I was bring unreasonable here, but happy to be told otherwise...

Took DS to the playground this morning. As I arrived, I spotted a personal trainer and his client working out in the soft sand area. I looked around and couldn't see a buggy nearby, so it wasn't a new mum trying to get back in shape. He had left a kettle bell lying around right by the entrance to the park where it could easily be tripped over.

I watched crossly for a while, until they got one of those plastic sports skipping ropes out - those things whip through the air and could have really hurt a child if it caught them. I figured enough's enough, so went over and asked them to leave. The trainer got very defensive, said he uses the playground a few times a week and no-one else has ever complained. He likes the soft rubber flooring and using some of the kids play equipment for his sessions. He then said he wasn't endangering any children (he shut up when I pointed out the kettle bell lying around) and that the other mums there at the time didn't mind. Eventually, they left.

Was I right, or being precious? The playground is in the middle of a big common, which even has another area with free outdoor gym equipment. Surely it's inappropriate to have heavy weights lying around where toddlers are running riot? However he's right that the other mums had just been ignoring him.

OP posts:

ladybee28 · 13/05/2019 14:24

You say you 'asked him to leave', OP, and I can't help but wonder how you went about that?

Did you go in with an outraged face and a 'you're a CF, get out' attitude and embarrass him in front of his client (which is pretty much always going to guarantee you a defensive response), or did you respectfully express your concerns at an appropriate moment?

Given the phrasing of your OP, my guess is the former, but I'd be interested to hear from you if you think you gave him some room to actually give you what you were asking for.

Whether or not you're 'right' or unreasonable isn't the point. If you go in and make him feel like he's under attack, I'm not sure what you expect to happen....

timeisnotaline · 13/05/2019 14:25

Totally fair enough. The council / park management specify the playground is for children. (Bizarre some people here think playgrounds are only used in holidays, as a mum of two younger than school age children I spend my life in packed playgrounds in term time) . He might need the soft ground is ridiculous, grass is soft ground. There would be acres of it. But in any case the council have specifically created an area for exercise, he’s just choosing not to use it.

lottiegarbanzo · 13/05/2019 14:27

there is a sign up outside saying no adults unless accompanied by a child.

There you go. You were completely right.

Somehow people may be misunderstanding the word 'playground' vs 'park' here.

Wynturphelle · 13/05/2019 14:27

He shouldn't have been there. 14 years and under to play on the playground around here. I would have asked him to plan to use somewhere else in future.

However, round here it gets a bit crazy with PT doing bootcamps in the middle of the shared cycle/pedestrian path. They often take up the whole width of the pavement and expect you to walk around them on the grass. I don't. Also, they are really loud and shouty. I really wouldn't be happy with that going on outside my house in in the evening if I had small children wanting to sleep! There's a chap who has a group in the park too. He is ridiculously loud and annoying with yelling stuff at everyone his class! I came across the group carrying a massive trunk thing in unison down the hill. It really could have been a bad accident for another park user if they'd dropped it. YANBU.

TrixieFranklin · 13/05/2019 14:29

We had this once, except he was alone not doing a PT session, was also blaring out really inappropriate music and when we asked him to get down so the kids could use the equipment told us to fuck off

Personal trainer using the playground as a gym

AlexaAmbidextra · 13/05/2019 14:29

Perhaps the communal green space outside his house has been commandeered by parents putting up football goalposts for their children.

RussianSpamBot · 13/05/2019 14:30

Until this thread I was under the impression that taking a toddler to a play area was an unremarkable normal thing to do...

CynthiaRothrock · 13/05/2019 14:31

@ArtichokeAardvark its a public space. Get over yourself. Like i said he didnt stop you using any equiptment, if he was totally blocking your access to ALL of the equiptment (really how.much if it can a 1yr old use?! Before 3 mine never went on much more than the swing and small slide) then you may have had a point. He was doing no harm to you or anyone else. Apart from the kettle bell being left out he did no wrong. Like i said before its one guy trying to earn a living in a very shit climate give him a bloody break. Had he of had a full class of 30 doing zumba around the swings i may have agreed with you. But one bloke and his client? Live and let live.

shitholiday2018 · 13/05/2019 14:32

I sometimes go on the swings - is this wrong too?

LaraLily90 · 13/05/2019 14:34

Everybody pays for the playground so everyone should be able to use it with priority given to children

Seriously would you have told children who use the gym area for play to go to the playground?

also suspect the adults not accompanied by children is a child safety thing not wanting child molesters at the playground.

As long as he wasn't hogging the area or preventing play I don't see a problem. I also don't think the dumbbell was an issue, most kids won't be able to pick it up and the ones that could attempt know better. Trip hazards are abundant

I agree with this entirely.

Yinderling · 13/05/2019 14:35

Jesus that is a petty thing to get annoyed at.

Whoops75 · 13/05/2019 14:38

Very petty op

Your child was in no danger so it wasn’t your fight.
If I used that playground regularly I would give you a wide berth.

qazxc · 13/05/2019 14:40

YANBU
Playgrounds is for kids to play,
there is a sign saying "no adults without a child",
there is a dedicated place for adults to exercise nearby,...

Mummyoflittledragon · 13/05/2019 14:42

Alexa just maybe.

No op ywnbu. That would annoy me too. You want your child to be safe and let them explore as they grow. Not have to be looking out for adults doing things, which could be dangerous.

IAmTheChosenOne · 13/05/2019 14:44

just like going to the park and showing my son the swings for an hour. Of course I was using the playground. He's 1, not 1 month.

You're 1 year old will be barely standing, not todding off at full pelt into 'whip like skipping ropes' give me strength and you seem to present as hands on.

Jaxhog · 13/05/2019 14:45

To all those who think this is 'petty', wait until your child gets injured by broken equipment or a stray peice of adult equipment e.g. kettle bell. THEN, you'll be bleating on about how thoughtless it was. Especially when you find out that that PT doesn't have insurance.

Also keep in mind, that as a ratepayer, YOU are paying for the upkeep of that playground. And any insurnace payouts from injuries.

OP, I would also let your local council know. They take a very dim view of people who do this, and who don't get permission and a licence to conduct a commercial activity on their (your) amenity land.

Mitzimaybe · 13/05/2019 14:46

YANBU, OP. If there's a sign saying no adults without children then that's the rule.

shitholiday2018 · 13/05/2019 14:47

Errr, the PTs I know do have insurance?

Isitmybathtimeyet · 13/05/2019 14:47

Eh? A 1 year old could easily be a full blown toddler. They could be 23 months.

NoSauce · 13/05/2019 14:48

A bit precious. You could have asked him to move the kettle bell surely?

Isitmybathtimeyet · 13/05/2019 14:49

PTs only have insurance for places they are allowed to be. My PT can’t train me in my local, big, London park because she doesn’t have a licence for it.

marvellousnightforamooncup · 13/05/2019 14:49

Can we include twat dads in this please who do pull ups on the monkey bars while their kids are playing? Not for any reason other than cringe. I don't care how fit you are you bellend!

ladybee28 · 13/05/2019 14:52

@Jaxhog kids get injured by their own knees, FFS.

Tripped over a stray kettlebell, poked themselves in the eye with a bit of cucumber... welcome to parenthood.

It's an unmoving kettlebell, not a whizzing ball of daggers.

PlatypusPie · 13/05/2019 14:55

Bushy Park, perchance ? He’d have to have a licence for training clients in the park but it wouldn’t include the playground ( nice sandpit) in a million years.

IceIceCoffee · 13/05/2019 14:55

I don't think he should be in there with a park full of toddlers.
However I wouldn't report to the council.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Swipe left for the next trending thread