Gym Etiquette - or not.

[neverstraightforward]

Having recently joined a gym after a few years of not going, I'm wondering whether things have changed.

Apparently, at my new gym, people can go into a spin class twenty minutes early to plant towels and bottles to 'bag' their spot.

If you go in just before/ on time, there may be a bike free. Most will be taken.

If you try to sit in the lobby, you'll be told "My friends are coming to sit here." and then told you're rude if you say you're "..just going to sit here for now, thanks." and asked whether "..you'd do that in a restaurant? Go and sit at a table where someone else was sitting?"

FFS

Don’t you have to book places for spin? I will sometimes “bag” a bike ten minutes early just so I can set it up for me before the class starts. And will then pop back out to the gym for ten mins on the treadmill to warm up but will keep my towel on the bike to save it. It’s not about getting a good spot, don’t think any spots are better or worse and I’m not bothered which bike I have. But I know I have a space in the class.

I can’t picture the lobby situation.....I wouldn’t go and sit at a table with other people if there were free tables.

Sharing a table does happen in some cafes yes, clearly not in restaurants. Don't you have to book the class, so everyone has a bike?

I'd also say if you've booked getting there early and setting your bike up seems sensible to me. Even if bizzarely its a class you just turn up for, then it makes even more sense if it's usually busy.

At our gym the lobby is like a cafe and people order food/ coffee so it'd be strange to share tables.

Yes. The places in the classes are booked but it's the type of class where there's a big screen, so it's much nicer to have a bike at the front or on the front of the higher level. But the gym don't take a register - they don't even have a list for us to check out names off. Different to other gyms I've been to.

As for the table - it was a coffee table with four cushioned chairs spaced around it but there was one person there so I sat at the furthest chair. Am I not supposed to sit in the lobby? Just odd. As for restaurants - the only ones I'd obviously not sit at a table where others were already there. And most restaurants seat you. Maybe things have changed.

Well if someone was sat at a table and you sat down to be told that her friends were coming imminently but you insisted on staying then I think you were rude. Sorry. If I’m meeting friends and get there first I will go and sit down to wait for them, I wouldn’t expect a random person to join me at the table.

And the spin thing is daft to be concerned about. IME You can see the Screen from any bike. If you want a better view get there earlier. There’s one pump class I know if I want a full range of weights I’ve got to get there 20 mins early.

Most spin classes I've been to - people do go and 'bagsy' their bike. It's that's the way it works at your gym then that's just what you need to do too.

If someone is sat at a coffee table waiting for friends then you can't join them, no. You can sit at another table/seat or stand if all the seats are taken.

Point taken about bagging bikes. If that's how it works everywhere, generally, then that's fair enough.
But these wee lounge chairs. Not 'a table'. Was just off.

Maybe the lobby thing is fair enough then, kind of depends on the set up I guess.

Lobby could be either way dependent on its layout and size/seating availablity.