Well I’m sure she felt that ripping his head clear off his shoulders seemed like a disproportionate response. Plus it might throw off her entire routine.
You know how you feel when you go into a fast-food place, or a store, restaurant, coffee shop etc, and there’s 10 people in line in front of you? Or when you’re stuck in traffic? You get annoyed.
Same deal with waiting for equipment like this at the gym. Some of us really are there to work out, believe it or not.
Did you miss that part where I said she was rude? You must have, because it’s right there in print. It’s his nasty attitude before he even said something to her that’s ignorant and irritating.
Feel free to continue acting like a bitch to other posters? Is this not the Pit? I responded to **That Guy ** and his sweetie **Gukumatz ** chose to respond to me with his har har about me being supposedly fat. HE directed it at ME in a nasty way, so I should just be all sunshine and roses back to him? Boo fucking hoo right back to you if you don’t like that I snapped back at him. The question is, why are you so selective about who gets your little lecture on Pit etiquette? I know exactly what I’m getting into Dad, but thanks for the advice.
I don’t understand this mindset. The internet, and especially the pit, is the perfect place to bitch about annoying, inconsiderate things that people have done. There is no argument I can think of to justify someone occupying and not using a piece of exercise equipment for 15 minutes straight; and in my times at the gym I certainly agree that this is an annoying practice. What exactly is your point? One can always point to more lamentable woes that others are going through, so it’s not exactly a convincing argument to bring up such topics. In fact, I might as well ask why you bothered to complain about the OP posting this thread when you could be lamenting the woes of quadriplegic children suffering from painful cancers? Despite your holier-than-thou attempt at shaming the OP, the fact remains that people are being annoying and the OP is fully justified in pointing this out.
Yeah, I think a big part of people thinking to clean off machines relies a lot on the gym making it a breeze to do so. I know one gym that has little disposable wipes located by just about every machine. You finish your exercise, grab a wipe and clean it off, and move on. Another gym has 2 spray bottles sitting on top of a paper towel dispenser in the way back by the free weights. Guess which one has people cleaning the machines off.
Well fuck you right back, sunshine. Boo fucking hoo if you don’t like him making a fat crack.
Of course you called her rude, but for some reason you chose to call him (who wasn’t rude to her face at all) an entitled fucktard. And still you’re wondering why I think you’re a fuckwit? Do you need this in point form or something? Tiny little diagrams indicating how you can take your drive-by umbrage and cram into whatever various roll or crevice you possess wherein the sun does not shine?
We can go round and round about this if you like, I have no problem with that. Nor do I have a problem with you thinking I’m a fuckwit. You’re just a font on a page that doesn’t exist when I shut off my computer. It’s adorable that you think so highly of yourself, though.
It isn’t about the fat crack. It’s his attitude that being that fat, she has no business there. Do you need to read slower to get it all in? I also think it’s cute that you and your buddy you were worried about me insulting think that if I say something negative about the fat stuff that makes me fat (rolls and crevices). I am willing to bet that even as a woman, I have less body fat than you do, yet the first insult you guys can think of is “You’re fat!” Silly, silly boys.
My point was that the OP’s ire at the situation is disproportionate to the actual grievance, which was a virtual non-issue. As she pointed out the person got up immediately when she asked to use the machine. She’s whining simply because she had to utter a few words.
Was the person inconsiderate for sitting there when they weren’t using the machine? Sure. But they probably weren’t even thinking about it, and they were more than willing to cede it over to her when she asked. She’s getting all worked up over absolutely nothing.
Of course she has no business being there. Clearly you’re still reading slower than me. She’s too stupid to understand that you don’t bogart a machine for 30 minutes, not to mention the lack of benefit from doing so little over such a long period of time. What’s next, spending 25 minutes on the exercise cycle in 1 minute intervals with 3 minute breaks?
Being that fat, and doing so very little, yes her being there seems extremely pointless. Argue against that till the sun comes back up if you want.
And for the record, I called you a bitch, a fuckwit, and ‘sunshine’ before I even insinuated that you were fat. Reading is hard!
I know there are employees at the gym there. Maybe they could “police” the floor more, especially in January, to urge people off machines if it’s obvious they’re just chatting, or help people understand how to use the machines correctly.
I see your point now; I guess I lost sight of the extent of the OP’s story and thought you were commenting on the topic in general. I still think some of the other anecdotes that have been posted are justification of the thread.
Actually, I would say that the OP’s ire was entirely proportionate, if you accept that on the list of things that annoy people at the gym, that people hogging machines is by far the most annoying. The same level of annoyance as having your car stolen? No, of course not, but it doesnt have to be, as long as it is the most annoying thing within a particular area. And as a long term gym user, it buggs the sweet fuck out of me.
Oh, and you know whats annoying? Dicks like Sleeping with Butterflies who traipse around pit threads looking for things to be outraged about. She should try sleeping with a rhino, that might shut her up.
[QUOTE= Sleeps with Butterflies]
The woman was rude by reading the paper, but his first comment insinuated that she was too fat to be there and that it would take her 150 pounds to see any muscle definition. His ignorance was glaringly obvious throughout his comment, but right there is where it shined the most.
[/quote]
No, see, the actual implication here is that, because the woman’s fat, she doesn’t go to the gym enough, and thus doesn’t know the rules. When you’re fat, the gym is where you’re supposed to be. But, if you’re going to go, don’t be a fucking moron about it.
[QUOTE= Sleeps with Butterflies]
I’m sure she was told by a trainer (not just some guy who is trying to lift weights to get ripped to overcompensate) that she needed to do light weights, many reps to try to build muscle which will assist her in burning fat.
[/QUOTE]
I like this part- where you INVENTED FACTS to make the woman only doing what she was told, but also INVENTED facts to make the people who are in shape look seem like assholes.
[QUOTE= Lynn Bodoni]
I was never told this by any gym employee, even though I had made it clear that my last gym exposure was over 20 years ago. Heck, I had an appointment with a “counselor” who made up a plan of exercises for me, and she never mentioned any such thing. Yeah, it’s common sense…but I had no idea where the sanitizer and paper towels were kept. Nor did I have any idea that the customers were responsible for this, for all I knew the employees were supposed to go around cleaning up.
[/QUOTE]
Which works fine as a theory but falls apart under the harsh light of common sense. While overqualified people are certainly working lower-end jobs in this economy, the Flash has not yet begun working at any gyms.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that sweating all over a machine when there are people waiting to use it isn’t going to get cleaned up by the sweat fairy. Either you or the guy looking to get on immediately after you is going to have to clean that up, and if you can’t figure out which it is, maybe you should hold off on the gym until kindergarten’s done.
Look, I have no problem with the uninitiated. But gym etiquette is pretty damn simple and it’s based off simple, Romper-Room truisms.
RACK YOUR WEIGHTS = put things back where you found them.
DON’T HOG EQUIPMENT/LET OTHERS WORK IN = share.
DON’T FILL UP YOUR GALLON JUG WHEN PEOPLE BEHIND YOU JUST WANT A SIP = again, share.
CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF = clean up after yourself.
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.
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.
Oh, God yes, January at the gym is beyond annoying. Even more so – at the Y I work out at, all members are required to have an orientation before they’re allowed to use the workout areas. So they have been told all those easy rules Happy Scrappy mentioned – but can’t quite manage to actually do any of them.
Most recent fun: This weekend, it was the new swimmers, complaining that people in the FAST lane (clearly labeled “fast”) were… swimming too fast. And, of course, all the elliptical users who either (1) sign up but then don’t use the machines, or (2) don’t sign up but use the machines anyway because they “didn’t know” they were supposed to sign up.
Last night, the no-cluebee on the machine next to me whined for 15 minutes about how her machine was squeaking and she just couldn’t take it. Making much more noise in the process than the machine, of course. And, turned out she hadn’t signed up, anyway, so she got to stand around and complain when she got kicked off by the attendant, too.
However, the pool last night was strangely un-overcrowded. It was so puzzling that one of the lifeguards thought I had a problem, and laughed when I told her. Weird.
You’re wrong. It’s not a non-issue. The specific example is indicative of a larger problem. It’s not my job to teach newbs gym culture. There are a few people who were going to my gym at the end of last year who were obviously newbs. They didn’t get in anybody’s way or cause any problems. Know why? Because they had the foresight to work with a personal trainer for their first few sessions.
There’s really no point in being in the gym if you don’t know what the fuck you’re doing. The example given earlier about the gal doing curls with five pound weights being equivalent to lifting a cheeseburger is a perfect example of that. Five pound weights are useful when doing dynamic (i.e. aerobic) exercise, they’re essentially useless when used for static (i.e. curls) lifts. So, not only is she not getting any benefit, she’s fucking up everybody else’s workout, too.
As an aside, when I see people doing bicep curls that look like they’re riding on a swing, it makes me cringe to the point that I have to turn the other way. They’re getting less benefit than doing the lift statically, and they’re risking injury to boot.
It’s truly ridiculous. More power to people who are trying to get into shape; hell, I’m one of them! But I can guarantee you that Cheeseburger Girl isn’t going to be in the gym on February 1, and not just because it’s a Sunday. In the meantime, her and her friends are taking up space I could be using to overcompensate.
FTR, Sleeps With Butterflies weighs about 8 1/2 lbs. while carrying an encyclopaedia.
Also, what the hell are water aerobics?
Why should that be the gym’s responsibility? Maybe I’m just lucky because my high school coach was a power lifter, and we spent the pre-season in the weight room. However, not once the entire time did I even see a machine, they were all dumbbells and free weights. When I started lifting at my college gym, I gasp figured the machines out. It’s really not rocket science, the machines have pretty little pictures of the starting and ending positions, and the muscles worked are usually colored in so that if you’re not using enough weight to feel your muscle contracting, you still know what body part you’re working.
As far as gym etiquette, every gym I’ve ever been to has at least a dozen signs with at least a dozen rules. If people would just follow them, half the complaints in this thread wouldn’t exist.
Again, maybe I’m just gifted that I go to a cool gym, but 95% of the regulars are on first name basis with each other, and we police ourselves. For example, last night we were doing power cleans. My workout partner, one of the new rugby guys (i.e. he didn’t play in college) was using horrible form, but was banging the weights on the floor at the end of each rep. After every single rep, I told him, progressively louder, “gentle”. He was getting pretty upset, but I told him he had to either use less weight or try harder, because he was both annoying people by clanging the weights, and risking injury by not controlling the weight on the downhill portion. By the end of his last set, he was still touching the plates to the ground, but he wasn’t touching the bar to the plates. If I hadn’t been there, I’m sure somebody else would have told him to STFU. I’m pretty sure behavior like that is the reason dynamic combination lifts aren’t allowed at some gyms.
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.
But you know what the flip side of this is?
Its that because we all respect the effort people put in, it becomes doubly galling when some useless prick comes in and pays lip service to the idea of losing weight. You know the type, those that read the papers when on the step machine, or sit on the bench for ten minutes after thirty seconds workout.
In my gym there is an older gentleman, very overweight, who comes in every week and uses the step machine. He is on it for about twenty minutes and when he is done the sweat is rolling of his back and he is panting like a horny dog.
Often on the running machine next to him is a young girl, also very overweight. She spends about ten minutes setting up the playlist on her Ipod, then walks gently for about ten minutes while reading some generic ladies magazine.
The older guy gets all the respect in the world from us, while the younger girl is just a waste of a fucking machine.
Look, people may be too self concious to go to a gym, but dont try and justify that by saying people who frequent gyms are just too nasty to the fats. They just aren’t.
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Why should that be the gym’s responsibility?
[/QUOTE]
Not implying that it should be, just that it would help the more clueless among us if they did. I’ve been to my share of gyms and I usually absorb technique and etiquette by observing others, but some people are true idiots. It may not be the gym’s responsibility, but since certain individuals are obviously not cutting it, the gyms would do well to attempt some kind of instruction, if only to preserve their regular client base.