Asked to move at the gym

[CatamaranViper]

Firstly, the way our gym is laid out, you walk in and all the cardio equipment is either side of you, facing the walls. The equipment is all in pairs so it goes two treadmills, two rowing machines, two cross trainers, two bikes, two treadmills etc on each side.
When I came in, all CTs were free so I hopped on one. I usually do a 40 min program which is customised on my profile. All the cardio equipment has a big screen and you can watch netflix etc if you want. I usually do watch something.

So I was on the CT with my headphones in, facing the wall and about 10 mins into my workout. A lady taps me on the shoulder which made me jump and asks me to move machine. I gestured to the one next to me (I was a bit out of breath) and told her that it was free. She then told me that her and her friend like to do it side by side so I'd need to move for them. I was only 10 mins into my workout and I was quite settled where I was and she was rude. I said no, I'll be 30 mins or so, you can use it then.

One of the other pairs of CTs had a bloke on one so there weren't any two free together, but plenty other equipment was available and in pairs.

She demanded I move again and I just put my headphones back in. A few mins later a staff member comes over and asks how long I'll be. The screens shows I have about 25 mins left now, he sees this and off he goes. Next thing I hear a bang and one of the ladies has stormed out the gym. The other one is glaring at me and saying something I can't hear.

I mean, I could have moved to another CT but i always find it difficult if I stop and start again on those machines and there were other free CTs, just not two together. I don't think I did anything wrong but thought I'd ask on here. So WIBU to stay on my machine?

Yanbu
Some people are entitled. They also need reminding that they do not own the place and will have to wait.

@ThursdayTomorrow , I don't think OP should have moved. She is nót a doormat, being walked over by other customers of the gym. She was in her rhytm and had every right to finnish her exercise. The other ladies hadn't started so were perfectly able to wait or go to another machine.

Oh my goodness! How rude they were. You had every right to stay where you were.

This sort of thing infuriates me. YANBU. The swimming pool I use is divided into Fast and medium swimming lanes and there's a section for less serious swimming. There are two swimmers, I use the term loosely, who swim up and down chatting in the lane sections and are most put out when asked to move to the area for less serious swimming. They have been told on several occasions by the life guards and repeatedly offend.

She sounds bonkers. I can't believe the staff member actually entertained her nonsense by coming up and asking you how long you were going to be!

We have the opposite problem at our pool, there are very serious swimmers gunning it up and down the open section of the pool which is usually full of the less strong swimmers and huffing if anyone gets in their way when the lanes are empty. I think they just like being miserable clearly because they get so worked up and annoyed and I just don’t get why they don’t go to the lanes which they would usually have all to themselves.

Glad you didn't move!

Oh this pisses me off no end! I actually had to stop going swimming at my local because every week I was going off on these kind of idiots and was doing nothing for my high BP.

As for the original post, I would have loved for that person to try that with me. I’m very serious/focussed with my workout and to bother me for such nonsense mid cardio session ( I don’t mind it so much on the weights) would not have ended well for her!

No reason why she should not ask you, but no reason why she should not accept a No. Personally I would have moved, my regime is not sacrosanct, but if you are so fixed on yours that is your right

Everyone knows that you just do another excercise if the machine you want isn’t available

They should have started with something else . Totally unnecessary

Omg, good for you! Such childish behaviour, were they 12 year olds?

You know it was a typo for back peddling and your post was pointless and unsubstantiated. End of. 😉

Im bored of you now, so I won’t be replying to your silly drivel.

What nonsense - you are definitely not being unreasonable. Does this woman take her friend everywhere she goes and expect everyone else to move out of their way so they can barge through.
This lady (and her mate) need a good word with themselves - unless they are 8 years old this is totally stupid behaviour.

If asked nicely, I’d probably move.

If told to move, they will take the CT handles from my cold dead hands.

Recently I was in a bus in west London. A young couple were seated in the bus, not priority seats and there were empty seats on the bus too. An elderly woman got on and pointed at the man and said “ I want that seat.” He looked a little confused and she repeated “ I want that seat.” The man stood and said “Please?” and she did begrudgingly say please. Being old does not give you a pass to be rude.

YWNBU. You were there first and already into your session. Sounds like they are used to getting their own way. So, they toddled off to the male staff guy probably thinking a little flirting and eye fluttering would do the trick and get you moved. But it didn't. Besides, he had no reason ask you to move All the equipment is for everyone to use. I feel the woman who stormed out wasn't happy at having been rejected. Ha! Ha! oh well, tough titties. Toss the incident over your head and move on. 😀

YANBU. They were being rude and entitled and, as other people have pointed out, why didn’t they tell (I noticed you said “told” not “asked” ffs!) any of the men to move? If somebody asks me something politely, I will happily help if they have a legitimate reason and it’s not too inconvenient for me. If it’s inconvenient I would politely explain why and expect a reasonable person to accept that. If they are rude it’s an instant “no” regardless of what they want!

I've been in gyms where you can be asked if you've been on for fifteen minutes but only when it's busy and no other machines are available!

Ffs is this for real? So sad how some people are rude enough to interrupt you in mid flow to ask this. I really am beyond words, the entitlement is unbelievable! Yanbu at all, tell them to jog on, punch intended, what utter arseholes! Xx

I think it was really dangerous for her and the staff member to tap you and disrupt you - They could have caused you to have an accident. Making you jump could have caused you to fall.

I would be making a complaint and asking them to review CCTV and ban this woman and her friend. Self entitled cows.

Fgs they're not 5 year olds! Surely they can work out independently.

There are a few at most gyms I imagine; certainly at mine

Well done OP! Silly woman needed taking down a peg or two by the sounds of it.

She stormed out rather than work out not next to a friend on a particular machine. Honestly give her piece of your mind again if she tries it again! Honestly what planet are some people on..

If I'm doing sets and someone wants to jump in between, I'm fine with that - as long as they are polite about it. Although, personally, I don't tend to try and jump in on someone else's sets if I have any other workout I can do. According to my PT dotting in between sets used to be more popular pre-covid and is starting to creep back in again? I wouldn't know - I only started gym a year ago.

But the idea of interrupting someone's cardio routine would never cross my mind! OP. these people are clearly out of their minds.

I would say it's worth mentioning this to the front office staff - e.g. "I was on a cardio machine and two people tried to get me off it because they wanted to work out side-by-side. What's the policy on this - and assuming you think this is as daft as I do, what should I do if they try it again? I don't want people prodding me to move over for their mates when I'm working out."

Ultimately people like this need to get some kind of clear push-back that their behaviour is unacceptable. (Although they tend to have the sensitivity of a rhino, so that's easier said than done.) If they are bothering multiple people like this, it does become a problem for the gym, that may be worth their doing something to counter. And I bet they have annoyed many other people in this fashion already.

For instance, one idea would be to have a notice in reception to the effect of "wanting to exercise in pairs is a nice-to-have only, and doesn't mean you can ask other people to move machines" - one could then roll one's eyes and tell them to use their reading skills the next time they try prodding you.

What an entitled bit##. Disgusting. Why would anyone move machines once they had started their workout.