To think the gym staff should sort it?

[80skid]

I've been going to my gym for years. It's not the cheapest, but there are plenty more expensive.

There's a good mix of age groups and it's generally a friendly and relaxed place to go. I've noticed recently that there's a big trend for dropping weights after the end of a set. It's always young men who do this, often when training together but sometimes alone. It's deliberate and exhibitionist. On one occasion, the vibrations from the weight dropping was so great that the weights on my machine were rattling. On another, the crash was so loud and sudden that I genuinely believed there to be a medical emergency. The noise is deafening, repetitive and needless.

This morning, I came to the conclusion that the noise level was such that in an industrial setting, ear defenders would be mandatory. There's usually staff about but they're often personal training or doing inductions, so not approachable.

AIBU to think the gym should make a greater effort to manage this? I know an autistic gym member who finds it really distressing and I can't say I'm that keen either. Don't start me on the people who think training barefoot on mats and then putting their sweaty feet on the wall while doing sit-ups is ok. It's basic manners isn't it?

Dropping the bar on every rep wouldn’t even count as one rep anyway. Say someone does 3 sets and 10 reps, it’s going to seem like they’re dropping the bar frequently but that’s just how it is imo.

I find there’s less lifting in commercial gyms so maybe you can switch gyms if it really bothers you OP. Unless you’re already in a commercial gym then I have no other suggestions

Nobody would care if now and again someone dropped a weight to avoid injury. But clearly some blokes do it after every set of bicep curls, often followed by a little swagger and neck jiggle to see who's looking at them. They're the same ones who then sut on their phones for 5 minutes between sets. It's very performative. I had one swaggering circles round the bench I was working on. I can only assume he was seeing if he could intimidate me.

Dropping weights is one of my pet hates. I tend to say "if you can't put your weights down properly after your set then it's probably too heavy for you". Usually dents the ego a little bit.

I think we need a picture....

How do you propose I lower this slowly?

Dropping it means you aren't getting the proper benefit of the actual exercise. IIRC the eccentric movement should make you stronger.

If you’re lifting on proper Olympic lifting platforms, which is the only place you should be dropping weights. It doesn’t make a massive crashing noise.
In my experience the only people who crash weights around are either teenagers or ego lifters. The actual bro’s only drop on the last rep and even then aren’t particularly noisy.
It’s the sex noises I can’t stand tho 🤢

Haha thank you! My max for hip thrusts is close to 200kg. Even when I try and landly quietly, it still makes such a loud noise because the plates are so close to the floor. Not sure how people are meant to be quiet in those situations.

Are you doing 140kg lifts? If so, that’s bloody impressive🫡

In powerlifting you have to be able to put the bar back down with control after a deadlift else it's a no lift. It's unavoidably noisy though so it depends if you mean literally dropping or the noise it makes as you put it on the ground. After benching dumbbells I also struggle to get them to the ground without noise as they're too heavy to lower from the bench to the ground with just an arm, I've been using more muscle than that to press them so it's a what muscles I can use for that motion issue, rather than a strength issue.
So it really depends if you mean gratuitous dropping or the inevitable noise that comes from moving heavy weights around which can never be silent.

In powerlifting you have to be able to put the bar back down with control after a deadlift else it's a no lift.

Wrong. You have to keep your hands on the bar but it doesn't need to be a controlled descent so to speak.

@Vegetus perhaps it depends on your federation? From the IPF rulebook a cause for disqualification of a deadlift is 'allowing the bar to return to the platform without maintaining control with both hands.'

That's a serious thrust! 😂 Yes, max DL has been 140 for last year. I was hoping to add on a few kg but had to deal with niggling patellar tendonitis which I've thankfully sorted now (touch wood).

It's impossible not to be loud. Nobody cared at my powerlifting gym but it closed down permanently over lockdown meaning I'm probably the most hated member at Anytime Fitness now lol.

They’re heavy 😂

I didn’t realise the OP was referring to machines, and I do agree they should not be getting dropped.

Free weights are a bit different, for example if you’re chest pressing with dumbbells then it’s almost impossible to put them down slowly, and if you can put them down slowly or even sit up on the bench with them then you are definitely not lifting heavy enough.

Yeah, no excuse to be crashing around on the lat pulldown machine but it is hard with free weights. I hold onto the dumbells but they do go down with a thump. It's a rubber mat though so not too loud.

This.

Those suggesting it's impossible or bad form not to doesn't reconcile with all the gyms who expressly forbid it.

My gym has signs saying not to drop weights. Its a big no-no in every gym I've been in.
Those saying it's safer to drop that to lower down - bullshit. If you can lift but can't lower you're vanity lifting (and it's not impressing anyone). Stick to the weights you can manage if you don't want to hurt yourself. Controlled lowering requires strength which you clearly don't have if you have to drop your weight

Have you ever done a heavy deadlift? Like say twice your bodyweight?

Some movements cannot be reversed slowly, especially explosive movements. Imagine trying to slowly reverse the action of throwing a cricket ball or slowly reversing a long jump.

There’s a lot of exercises where it’s better to do it with no shoes on such as squats. There is method to the madness, it’s not just people wanting to be gross (gyms are sweaty and unhygienic anyway).

dropping weights although discouraged at a lot of gyms, if really normal especially if people are doing a 1 rep max or crazy set, it’s not a big deal

I think we all know what the OP means. Not the loud noise that someone makes lowering very heavy weight slightly faster on the last rep making a bumping sound. The OP means those (always men) that drop the weight from about halfway down, making a crash so loud that you jump (even with headphones on), and the floor shakes. It happens a bit at my gym. It's really really annoying.

Then again, as a regular treadmill runner I find the grunters (also always men) equally annoying.

It's all abut performance.

I find the shouty fitness/spin classes with amplified instructor annoying tbh. Even in the side studio they're incredibly loud.

Sorry but you're being unreasonable both about the noise of weights being dropped and bare feet.

I lift heavy (for me) and if I'm going for a deadlift pr then it is going to make a noise when the bar goes down. Same if I'm doing a lifting complex for time. If I've just done a set of deadlifts, hang cleans and push presses l, believe me I am going to drop the bar at the end of the set. Its what deadlifting platforms are for.

As for the bare feet, I stretch barefoot, I use a mat, I wipe the mat afterwards, what's the problem with that.

Nope. My form is good, the weight isn't too heavy, lighter weights I will put down on the floor, but if I'm close to my max then I will drop it. Its a deadlift not a dead put down and if its close to my max then all my energy has gone in to lifting it off the ground and locking out.

Luckily my gym actually realises this, we have deadlifting platforms where we can deadlift and do Olympic lifts and so drop the bars.

Throwing weights, now that's another matter, no need to throw them. But dropping yes, including when you've tried to push one more rep and need to bail

It does seem that most of the people saying dropping a weight is a big no no have neither lifted heavy or done an explosive Olympic style lift.
I actually can't imagine how much I'd injure my shoulders if I did a nice slow release from a heavy snatch instead of dropping it.

Some people need to watch some actual olympians doing snatches, they always drop the weights

Maybe some of you should ask the gym to either install a deadlifting platform or if they already have point people in that direction. There'll still be some noise. But it does deaden it a bit

I usually keep my socks on when I squat, mostly because of the gross people that don't take their shoes off (which tbh isn't very many) and could have stepped in anything before they got on the rack.

Squatting without shoes is really very much the norm. It's better for stability and better for mechanics.

@firef1y I don't doubt what you're saying, but this isn't something you're doing at the local leisure centre or sports direct gym, I guess?

OP, I think it depends on the gym. If you turn up to a powerlifting/Crossfit specialist gym, you are being completely unreasonable, as above posters have said, dropping weights and having a good shout and grunting is par for the course. They probably don't like beginners and causals getting in their way.

If you're talking general fitness centres where the vibe is inclusive wellness, good ones are concerned for the comfort of all and in my experience, take a dim view for dropping heavy weights, excessive grunting etc. Some expressly ban it and enforce it. Not that there is anything wrong with proper powerlifters, but they need to go elsewhere if that's what they want to do.

It might be worth having a chat with the staff about your concerns to help you establish whether this is the gym for you.