# It's a weight machine, not a park bench! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 7, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160 "2009-01-07T00:14:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/41 "2009-01-07T15:27:37Z")
I love gym rants, probably because I’m a huge curmudgeon when I go to the gym. It bothers me when I go to the gym and see people using improper form. I realize this does not affect me, but it still bothers me. You know, the people dangling off stairmasters by their arms or holding on to a treadmill for dear life because they’ve set it to too high a setting? If you need to hold on in order not to fall off, you’re going to damn fast! Then, they don’t bother to wipe off the machine, even though they’ve just sweated all over it because they were holding on for dear life. There’s a spray bottle full of stuff _on the machine_, with paper towels hanging on the wall for a reason. Oh, yeah, and screaming “Woo hoo! Work it, baby!” at intervals throughout your cardio workout is really annoying. If you must scream to encourage yourself, can you please, please please run outside? ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/42 "2009-01-07T15:29:33Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Reasons Why I Hate the Gym, Exhibits #1 - #33. > > On the cluelessness scale I am somewhere in the middle. Moronic enough to annoy experienced gym-goers, competent enough to be perpetually annoyed by the more ignorant. I think it would improve the situation greatly if every gym took the time to demonstrate the main equipment pieces and went through a rundown of gym etiquette. > > I’ll stick to my chin-up bar and iron dumbbells. May be lo-tech but the gym just doesn’t seem worth the hassle. That was funny! Guess there’s a pecking order everywhere.😃 ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/43 "2009-01-07T15:47:58Z")
I thought of another one: the competitive people who look at how fast or how hard you’re working on a cardio machine and set theirs on a higher setting than yours, then have to hold on to their machine. You can hear their feel slamming down onto the treadmill belt, or they’re gasping as they dangle off their stairmaster or elliptical, but still crane their necks every time you change your setting to see what you’re doing and try to set theirs higher. I’m not fast at all now, but back when I was, there was someone at my gym who I thought of as my gym nemesis. I would walk in and get on a treadmill. Every single time I was there, she’d show up, get on the treadmill right next to me, then set hers .1 above what I was doing. I’d hear her feet slamming on the treadmill belt and she’d be clutching the bars, but if I increased, she would increase. If I decreased, she would decrease. It was really weird. If she wanted to pace me, I would have been happy to do so if she’d asked. It also drives me nuts to have to wait and wait for a parking space from January 1 through sometime in mid-March when the people who’ve made resolutions taper off. That’s one reason I joined the Y and stopped going to commercial gyms like Ballys. You can usually get a better deal there, but the Y in my area doesn’t have as many “resolutionists,” is less of a meat market and is less competitive. Everyone’s just doing their own thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/44 "2009-01-07T15:52:05Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Also, what the hell are water aerobics? So far as I can tell, it’s people “Sweating To The Oldies”, standing in shallow water, trying desparately to keep their hair dry. I’ve been told that it is a “very low-impact workout”. I think that is meant to imply: low impact on the joints. Not: low impact on their weight. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/45 "2009-01-07T15:59:21Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > FTR, **Sleeps With Butterflies** weighs about 8 1/2 lbs. while carrying an encyclopaedia. > > Also, what the hell are water aerobics? Not to sound snarky, but water aerobics are aerobics done in water. 🙂 The exercises are done in a pool to get the added resistance from moving through the water. It is low-impact as you get support from the bouyancy from the water, so it is easier on the joints as **Lightray** mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/46 "2009-01-07T16:06:59Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Also, what the hell are water aerobics? Water aerobics are exercises done in the pool. The water supports the body and adds resistance to the workout. These exercises are perfect for people who are fat, out of shape, have heart or joint conditions, or all of the above. My doctor specifically told me that this would be the best kind of exercise. She also told me NOT to go walking outside, particularly by myself. I’ve had bad knees since I was a kid, and these days I’m likely to have one crumple suddenly. ---
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/47 "2009-01-07T16:18:52Z")
I hate the gym in January. I run outside three days a week, and go to a boot camp class two days that is run by a maniac and frightens most people away so I avoid the worst of the disaster in the weight area and the nastiness that is the aerobics classes - but it’s so bloody crowded in the change room! You! Stop hogging the mirror! You don’t need two blow driers, honest! And you, over there - you don’t need 4 towels, and could you please put them in the bin when you are done? I don’t want to have to touch your nasty towel to get to my locker. And she’s not new, but my favorite gym-space-waster is the girl who puts on makeup BEFORE she works out, and spends all her time talking about how hard she is working out by walking, very slowly on the treadmill, or wandering about the weight area getting in everyone’s way. She’s not fat - just irritating. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/48 "2009-01-07T16:35:34Z")
I was just thinking yesterday that I can’t wait until a month from now when all the New Year’s Resolution people are gone. The worst experiences my husband and I have had at our gym, though, have been with the teenage boys. They rarely wipe down equipment or mats, don’t put the weights away when they’re finished with them, and have all the TVs blaring on ESPN for hours on end. One Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks before Christmas, my husband and I went to the gym together. I prefer the elliptical in the privacy/circuit room to the ones in the main room, so I headed back there only to find the room filled with teenagers. Only one of them was actually doing anything. The rest were sitting (on the equipment, of course) in the dark, watching the Vikings game on TV. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/49 "2009-01-07T16:48:39Z")
Call it the Dog in the Manger syndrome. The person is not using the equipment, but they’re not allowing anybody else to use it either. This can apply outside the gym too…people parked in front of the gas pump while they’re inside, scratching off 30 lottery tickets, for instance. It’s the obliviousness that gets to me, that some people have no clue how their actions (or inactions) are affecting others. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/50 "2009-01-07T17:52:35Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > I got no dog in the whole **That Guy** / **Sleeps with Butterflies** fight, but attitudes like the one implied by **That Guy** ’s focus on how fat and flabby the woman in question was (rather how stupid and selfish she was) are a huge part of why I’m profoundly uncomfortable going to a gym. I could be wrong but I got the impression that **That Guy** was simply saying that, for the amount of pounds he guessed she was overweight, it was going to a lot more _sustained aerobic activity_ to lose any weight or end up with any discernable muscle tone than what she was engaging in. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/51 "2009-01-07T18:00:05Z")
Then, of course, his annoyance at the way she was engaging in non-sustained activity and [del]hogging[/del] not sharing the bench crept in and it seemed like he could have been denigrating her for being there at all. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/52 "2009-01-07T18:11:26Z")
> [@the\_Lady](#): > > IAnd she’s not new, but my favorite gym-space-waster is the girl who puts on makeup BEFORE she works out, and spends all her time talking about how hard she is working out by walking, very slowly on the treadmill, or wandering about the weight area getting in everyone’s way. She’s not fat - just irritating. Let me know if she gets fat, so I can make fun of her. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/53 "2009-01-07T18:16:16Z")
[The rules of the gym](http://www.joethepeacock.com/2005/01/ok-maybe-im-not-guy-to-do-it.php). Honestly, it’s mostly common sense. People taking up machines while others are waiting don’t get the whole ‘there are other people in the universe’ thing. You wanna sit on a weight bench and read the paper? Buy one and do it at home. My belly button has been much too far away from my spinal column for far too long now, and I signed up at a gym (and got a personal trainer) back in December. Come January I noticed the change in the gym immediately. Not only were there more people, but there were a lot more clueless people. You don’t have to be a meathead to avoid annoying people at the gym, you just have to use common sense. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/54 "2009-01-07T18:16:51Z")
Wow. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with this. There’s a gym in my apartment building–it’s small, but at most one or two other people are in there with me at any time. Plus when you only run or use the elliptical, the stress of the weight machine is gone. (Yes, I was one of those people who used to own weights–and yes, they were 4 or 5 pounders. Hey, I’m a little girl, that’s five percent of my weight!) I also haven’t noticed any more people due to the whole New Year’s resolution thing. ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/55 "2009-01-07T18:31:32Z")
I usually go late enough in the evneing that I miss the January stereotypes. But the stories here remind me of one guy that cracks me up. I’ve nicknamed him Snuffy Smith because he’s about 55-60 and bald with a grey fringe and he’s constantly chomping on chewing gum. He’s usually there longer than I am. I get my workout done in about 45-50 minutes and leave. But, I rarely see this guy do any exercise. What I do see him do is scan the gym for the cutest lady. Then he’ll go stand next to her machine and chat with her until she finishes and walks away. Then he’ll find another. If there are no ladies present, he’ll do one set one a machine, walk around for ten minutes, go get a drink, walk around some more … But, he’s a nice guy and he doesn’t hog equipment, so he’s a tolerable amusement. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/56 "2009-01-07T18:45:09Z")
My gym rant: people who use the bathroom stalls for changing their clothes. This drives me crazy. I am trying to pee before aerobics class and I have to wait in line since people are taking up the only 3 stalls to (slowly) change their clothes. Give me a break. We are all grown women and no one is looking at you when you change in the locker area. Get over yourself… ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/57 "2009-01-07T18:46:23Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > > [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > > > When you’re fat (or when you’re not, but feel like you are, as is the case with a lot of women) you tend to feel pretty conspicuous and self-conscious about going to the gym. You feel like everybody’s looking at you and wondering how a whale managed to beach itself this far inland. You feel like everybody’s looking at you and thinking how you’d have to lose a ton of weight before you ever had any muscles showing, and you could hide god knows what under all that flab. And then people like That Guy come along and confirm that you’re right, that’s EXACTLY what people are thinking. > > > > Frankly, I got enough on my emotional plate without setting myself up for that kind of shit. > > Except that it ISNT exactly what people are thinking. > > For any overweight person that walks into a gym, the default reception they will receive is one of respect. Why? Because just by walking in that door they have shown that they have the desire and the initiative to make themselves healthy. To regulars in a gym, it doesnt matter if you are an eight stone weakling, a thirteen stone slob, or an eighteen stone professional, the simple fact is that you are doing your best, and most regulars I have ever met will respect you for it. QFT. If you’re there to work out, cool - so am I. Need a spot? Sure thing, just ask. Not sure what you should do? Same. Wanna work in on a machine? Go for it - changing the plates back takes half a second, tops. I’m not saying that you don’t need to use your common sense - if I am benching 225 and you want to work in and your 1RM is 135, you might want to wait until after the pump set and I will be glad to help you set up. But what **bucketybuck** says is true, especially about serious lifters. I for one am not looking down my nose at anyone. When I started working out, I used an empty Olympic bar for benches and I could do exactly two chins. And nobody ragged on my ass, and I am not going to rag on yours. Tip, if you want it -If you want to find a gym with the right attitude, find one that allows and uses chalk. Yuppies are afraid to get chalk dust on their snappy workout duds from Target, so they keep their IPods and their judgmental attitudes far away from the chalk bin. Trust me here - put a block nearby, and you and the other gym rats can have the power rack to themselves for as long as they want it. Serious lifting takes concentration. The more you concentrate on what you are doing, the less you worry about what someone else looks like. Except for that blonde hottie. And a gentleman has the decency to wait until her back is turned before staring a hole in her Spandex. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/58 "2009-01-07T18:46:49Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > I got no dog in the whole **That Guy** / **Sleeps with Butterflies** fight, but attitudes like the one implied by **That Guy** ’s focus on how fat and flabby the woman in question was (rather how stupid and selfish she was) are a huge part of why I’m profoundly uncomfortable going to a gym. > > When you’re fat (or when you’re not, but feel like you are, as is the case with a lot of women) you tend to feel pretty conspicuous and self-conscious about going to the gym. You feel like everybody’s looking at you and wondering how a whale managed to beach itself this far inland. You feel like everybody’s looking at you and thinking how you’d have to lose a ton of weight before you ever had any muscles showing, and you could hide god knows what under all that flab. And then people like **That Guy** come along and confirm that you’re right, that’s EXACTLY what people are thinking. > > Frankly, I got enough on my emotional plate without setting myself up for that kind of shit. Actually, we’re not. Unless you’re in our way, we’re probably barely going to notice you at all. We focus on the next exercise or on whatever we’re doing because, frankly, it’s exhausting work. If us guys are watching anything, we’re watching the ladies lining up for the aerobics classes. 😃 You might be fat, but you are exercising. When I see a fat person at the gym, I don’t make snide internal comments. For all I know they’ve lost 80 lbs already and spend more time doing cardio than I do. ---
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/59 "2009-01-07T19:05:52Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Let me know if she gets fat, so I can make fun of her. I’d rather you made fun of her right now. It was just a poorly phrased effort on my part to show that I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about people’s size in the gym. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160/60 "2009-01-07T19:27:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > FTR, **Sleeps With Butterflies** weighs about 8 1/2 lbs. while carrying an encyclopaedia. > > Also, what the hell are water aerobics? I was reading all this and thinking **Sleeps With Butterflies** fat? In what world? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-weight-machine-not-a-park-bench/480160.md?page=4)