| We struck a nerve, apparently, with an innocent-enough question posed here a few weeks back: "If you could write some guidelines for behavior for members and staff at your fitness club, what would you include?"
The beefs seem to fall into a few universal themes. (Maybe that's why they're called universal.)
Time
"Finally, a forum for my favorite gripe at the gym," says Daryl Storey of Redmond: "Please do not rest on the equipment between sets. Why is it such a hard concept to grasp?"
Dottie Billington of Snohomish agrees but adds: "Don't stand, obviously watching and waiting while a person is working on one machine. If they are not monopolizing it, let them take their turn without pressure."
Kent Morris of Bellevue puts some of the onus on staff: "I have worked out in some gyms that cater to the lunchtime workout crowd that strictly enforce the amount of time you can stay on a machine. This ensures that everyone can complete their workout during lunch."
Michael Peskura of Seattle sums up this rule nicely: "No picnics!"
Space
David Hardy of Snohomish County asks fellow free-weights users to pick up after themselves, taking plates off machines when finished and returning them to their rightful storage place: "Do not mix weights on the stands. Don't bury 5-pound weights under 45-pounds or, God forbid, 100-pound weights."
Lisa Skow of Kirkland takes issue with "Space Hogs," who monopolize limited lockerroom benches and sink space with clothing, cosmetics and other personal items, for 20 to 25 minutes at a time. (One simultaneously was a Shower Hog, with clothes spread out while she prewarmed the shower, showered, and dressed.)
In other words, as Peskura says, "No camping!"
Sound
"Lifting weights is not necessarily a macho, pumped-up activity that requires a lot of noise, loud music, swaggering and bravado," writes Amy Wicklund of Seattle. "Some of us like a quiet contemplative sort of environment (exercise as a meditation, not as a brawl)." She would ban playing music over a PA system, preferring individuals use headphones instead. She also would ask staff members to not "shout at each other across the room to prove how manly and virile they are. No one cares."
Don Allison of Bellevue singles out his treadmill neighbors: "Most of the time there are three women on adjacent treadmills and a couple standing in front of them, all talking with very loud voices and laughing as if this time is a social hour. It is very annoying to the other treadmill users who are trying to concentrate while reading a book or print material."
Regina Spoor's rule is inspired by a man she tries to avoid at her Bainbridge Island club: "No humming."
Air
Even more helpful, says Spoor, would be "to forbid the wearing of scented substances such as perfume and aftershave. It is difficult to ignore scents when one is breathing hard. I find that scents also get absorbed by the plastic covering on the machines and continue to annoy, even when the person is gone."
Mary Tillotson of Poulsbo agrees: "That is so inconsiderate, and dangerous - someone might be highly allergic to that type of thing." So, her rule:
"No perfume!"
Water
It's common courtesy to wipe off a sweaty bench, but Gary Blevins of Oak Harbor witnessed an unacceptable method: "A member of a fitness club I attended carried a handkerchief from machine to machine, alternatingly blowing his nose and wiping down the machines!"
Swimmer Jeanne Ensign of Seattle said although showering doesn't solve the problem of sweating while swimming, it helps water quality - and could help more. "Taking a shower means more than splashing a little water on one's suit so that it's wet and looks like one did so. Stand in the shower. Soap-up if you have lotions on your skin. Let the water pour over you. Enjoy it!"
Linda Rinker of Seattle addresses only one gender here, but I suspect both are guilty: "Guideline No. 1: Wash your hands after using the restroom, everyone, always."
Peskura also weighs in about freshly showered folks who drip all over lockerroom carpeting: "No wet spot!"
Attire
These, I suppose, could also fall under the "space" heading.
"In regard to men's swim trunks, the diameter of the swimsuit waist should be equivalent to the girth of the waist of the wearer," says a Seattle woman, who asked to remain anonymous. "Adherence to this rule will spare fellow users of pools and hot tubs from being assaulted by the view of a pot belly draped over the waistband of a too-small pair of trunks, and from being placed in mortal fear of what they will be forced to see next if the law of gravity remains in effect."
Skin-tight Lycra also came under fire, though not as literally as some might like: "Acceptable on the female body," wrote Blevins, "but it still would be more lady-like and feminine if Lycra'd women were covered by gym shorts. But Lycra on male members is simply gross! (Ask any woman.)"
No kidding? |
