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.

That's what I try to tell myself!

If I tried to lift my body weight, I'm not sure whether the knees or spine would go first.

I've been managing standing side raises with 6kg weights. The 'big gym' doesn't have the same increments as the old fogeys' studio, so I'd have had to go down to 5kg on Monday or up to 7.5kg. (I wanted to use the lat pull, but there was a gaggle of teenagers taking turns on it.)

Being an eejit, I tried to go up to the 7.5 kg weights... On the third attempt, I thought I'd destroyed my pelvic floor.

I was back this morning, but was able to get on the lat pull. The most I'm managing on that is 22.5kg. I've a long way to go before I can meet your PT's principle!

I'm seeing some women at the gym manage to lift two 25 kg weights. It's taken me two years to get to where I am now.

I often do that with threads.
OP has mentioned “fancy gym gear” once I think. Is that the joke?

I'm seeing some women at the gym manage to lift two 25 kg weights. It's taken me two years to get to where I am now.

Keep going @WearyAuldWumman - it took me 6 years to get to a 64kg farmer's carry.

I've always been reasonably active - gym goer in the aerobics/step/pump age of shiny lyrca, always 3 or 4 ballet/contemporary dance classes a week, and I did C25K. But when I started this really serious training with a PT I've reached a whole other level.

I started at 58 and I've been his client for 8 years now - it's very slooooow steady work in late middle age ...

Thank you, @ParmaVioletTea. I have seen improvements in myself - I'm nearly 66 now and had been pretty much sedentary for more than two years (after a bereavement) when I started going back to the gym.

I moan about my slow progress, but training has been a wholly positive experience for me. I started off with an "Active for Health" class referral and have gradually added to that.

To my astonishment, I've been able to make progress within a basic Pilates class - never ever thought that I'd manage any of that at all. However, I'm really keen to lift as much as I can to stave off the family osteoporosis.

YABU. The gym is for everybody and every fitness level.

Its seems odd to pay money to walk on a machine

@BringBackCatsEyes@Mumtobabyhavoc Yes 5.5kph, sorry!

I walk our dog every day but it is wet, windy and freezing cold so I can understand why people may prefer to do it indoors at this time of the year.

OP proclaimed herself "baffled" (that beloved MN term, "odd" being another) by people walking on cross trainers. The concept doesn't confuse most people but maybe you two can go to a gym and be puzzled together. I kind of envy you both this ability for endless wonder.

How so?

Seems a waste of money, given walking is free

Have you been outside? It's freezing!

The gym (depending on space) could mark off a track around the room for those sorts of users. People who can’t run, for whatever reason, but need to ambulate.

Whether they’d use the track’s another matter. I get why you’d be annoyed. What’s the point of using a treadmill, with all the features it provides (inclines, intervals, adjustable speed etc) for a very slow walk?

Not a very ‘green’ option for that sort of use either.

lots of people don’t feel comfortable walking on pavements, in parks etc where the ground can be uneven.

Mobility issues, eyesight issues … the list goes on. There are many reasons that people may feel safer walking on a steady treadmill with a handrail, where they aren’t going to meet any uneven ground or tripping hazards.

I’m not sure why you’d find it odd that people could have these issues.

Or, they might have none, and just prefer walking on a treadmill. We are all different.

'What’s the point of using a treadmill, with all the features it provides (inclines, intervals, adjustable speed etc) for a very slow walk?

Because people have varying levels of mobility and fitness, it is currently blowing a gale and raining so getting the circulation going is surely better than being stagnant on a sofa until spring.

What they are ‘getting out of it’ is enjoyment and exercise at their own pace and with respect of their own fitness levels. And they have just as much right to it as you do.

It is. But as several women have already said, they might not feel safe out walking where they live. It’s also been raining incessantly.
Where I live, in the middle of nowhere, I can either walk through fields with mud up to my knees or take my chances on the lanes, where people regularly exercise their right to drive at national speed limit. So yes, it’s worth paying for, not to mention the fact that I combine it with strength training.

Ah sorry i thought the op was talking about fit young people on their mobile phones

I mean that ‘gentle stroll’ is better than no stroll at all, isn’t it? So, by the sheer fact that they’re moving and not sat on their arses they are in fact, exercising, thus utilising the gym for the exact thing it is designed for.

is the whole gym concept odd, then?
paying money to lift weights?
paying money for an exercise class?
you could do all those things at home.

If you like….

I look like a fit person on my phone to be fair.

But I had two back operations last year. So I walk on the treadmill while listening to stuff on TikTok. You wouldn’t know that to look at me, I don’t walk any differently to anyone else.

My niece is registered blind. She’s 22 and bloody gorgeous, looks like a model and would definitely have her headphones in, but she walks on the treadmill too as she feels safer than walking outside.

Just because someone is looking young and fit and on their phone, you don’t know what’s hidden.

Thats the point eveyone is trying to make about the OP. You just don’t know.

And so bloody what if they are the picture of health? They have paid for their membership. They can do as they please and if that’s slow walking on a treadmill on their phone, what’s the problem?

I've spent a years in a wheelchair due to joint issues and began teaching myself to walk again last summer at 111kg. The reason I do any steps at home is because you can always tell when someone is judging! Just move on so one day me and my now 82kg can maybe feel confident enough to be able to try more and not feel like w circus side show.

Weights and exercise classes are not in everyones homes

Walking up stairs is good exercise and has a hand rail