People walking on treadmills in the gym

[crinklechips]

OK to start with I know I'm being a bit U but I need to have a mini-rant.

I use currently use the gym mainly for running intervals and speedier sessions which are easier to manage indoors.

Every time I go in all the treadmills are taken, and mostly by people walking.

Now I can totally understand that people have different fitness levels, might be using the treadmill to warm up or for recovery and that's absolutely fine.

But there seems to a growing number of people (actually, exclusively younger women in my observation) just using the treadmills for a gentle stroll while messing around on their phones.

I ended up next to a young woman last night who spent the entire half hour I was on the neighbouring treadmill walking at 3kph, no incline, while scrolling instagram. I can barely call that exercise, it's below a normal walking pace. If that's how you want to kill time then I guess it's up to you but it just seems selfish when there's a queue of people waiting for a treadmill.

I am completely and genuinely Fascinated by this. What do you mean you work while running? What do you do? Type or dictate or what? I neeeeeeed to know. I hope you’re not a brain surgeon! 😁

Our gym had new machines installed in December. The treadmills now all have phone chargers...So do the bicycles.

Some people have had some fairly insightful things to say about the various reasons why young women specifically might be choosing to walk on treadmills.

Yes, for half an hour. If someone would take a half-hour stroll outdoors, which I think most people would say is pretty normal, it makes perfect sense that they'd walk for that amount of time on a treadmill too. I'd imagine it's equivalent to a walk of about a mile and a half, maybe.

@crinklechipsof course there’s a gender divide… gender dictates what the majority of men and women want to get out of exercise. Especially young ones - men usually want to bulk up and get muscular and women usually want to lose weight and slim down. That’s a majorly obvious gendered determinant of exercise choice and is why women often do cardio while blokes are at the squat rack. It’s also why men are more likely to eat red meat and women more likely to eat salad!

Basic (Western) gendered sociological constructs.

I meant, you warm up or cool down for half an hour?

As did I.

But the clear subtext of your post was 'These are silly vain girls who just want to gawp at their phones and don't do 'real' exercise'.

I know some gyms have time limits on the treadmills at busy times - so 20 minutes max. This helps all users get a fair turn.

YABU OP but it is frustrating waiting for exercise equipment when the person using it appears to be faffing around - but treadmills are certainly not the only place where this happens - pretty much every piece of equipment can be blocked up with people waiting between sets, or resting.

It's just part of sharing a gym - if you can't manage waiting you might be better off getting equipment for your own home.

😂😂😂

Calm down.

She’s a paying gym member
so equally entitled to use the equipment as she likes

Absolutely not a brain surgeon 😂😂 mostly just emails, or annotating documents. I only do light stuff obviously. But sometimes my lunch break might be my only chance to actually get moving on a particular day, but then something will crop up or people are after me for decisions etc. It's not ideal but it's perfectly doable!

The OP and folk like her are the reason I will never join a gym. If I have to spend time with judgemental arseholes, I’ll go to work and get paid for it. I’m not going to pay a monthly fee to spend my spare time being judged by sweaty people in unpleasant clothing.

What happens when you get an injury and have to rehabilitate by going easy?
Why can’t people walk in a treadmill?
Why are they lesser mortals for not having an incline?
Why do you go in the gym if people annoy you so much?
Why don’t you run outside if you’re a runner?
Nothing worse than a sweaty, panting runner thudding on a treadmill!

I thought this at the weekend - an 8am swim, so it was a busy session mostly lane swimmers, and a group of women just bathing in chlorinated water chatting - why not just bring a flask of coffee and sit in the cafe and chat?! There was no real swimming happening

And if those people were running instead there’d still not be any treadmills for you.

Running is a high impact activity, so not everyone wants to do it, despite what the exercise police think.

YABVVU. How would you feel if someone judged you using the weight equipment because you’re not benching 200? What are you even getting out of it if you’re not lifting the MOST weight someone else could lift?

They’re getting a work out, Susan. The thing they pay their gym membership for. Careful and controlled.

I walk on a treadmill as part of physio. If I was walking outside I couldn’t suddenly stop and drive home. Walking on the treadmill is for safety and control. Perfectly reasonable.

You would still have to wait for the treadmill if the person ahead of you were running. Time to get your head out of your own butt.

I was talking about people I actually know. I agree you can't and shouldn't make a judgement of that kind just by looking at someone. Just like you can't tell whether somebody needs to use the disabled loo or blue badge parking based on appearance.

This.

It was a dick head response to a dick head comment you made.

Dont know what a dinlo is.

You could say that about prctuaclly, people tend to take pictures wherever they go these days.

You’re quite correct - haven’t used the gym in years - prefer to jog alone (not sure what that’s got to with anything like)

Getting into the pool and moving around a small amount is still better than not getting into the pool and moving around a no amount. Hope this helps.

Oh no. I'm thinking of joining up to a gym for the first time (building up my confidence). And hope to start on a weight loss journey.
Tbh, this disheartens me that people would judge people like this and one of the reasons which has put me off. As I can imagine I'll be walking before gaining fitness to run properly etc. I do like walking generally, but with the bad weather, I'm sure people just take that inside.

I personally don't, but for someone who wanted to add a little bit more value to their workout by burning just a few more calories in addition to a tougher workout, they might want to do that - as I said in my post.

I don't use a gym. I work out at home, or I go for a run. But back when I used to go to a trainer I often used to go for a walk straight from the studio, which was opposite a huge expanse of parkland, for 20-40 minutes or so. It was a nice way to add a bit more activity while at the same time cooling down from 30 minutes of HIIT.

Goals. That’s all I’m saying!

It's frustrating when you're looking at people moving at a gentle stroll thinking 'what are you actually getting out of this?'

If you're looking at me I'm rehabilitating an injured knee. To get used to walking again before I can, you know, run.

Why does exercise have to be meaningful to you? Who defines its meaning and desired outcome? Why does your exercise have more meaning than theirs because you say so?

You’re applying ideas of ‘worthiness’ and ‘unworthiness’ to an action that is still improving their lifestyle compared to not moving and is possibly precisely what they want to do with the membership they are paying for.

Maybe look into why you see young women enjoying slow movement as undeserving? Why are you angry at these young women exercising in a way that they choose?