Stupid Things You See In The Gym

[Motion-of-the-Ocean]

What are some of the stupid things you witness people doing in the gym? It could be anything from improperly performing an exercise, not using equipment right or just being a general douchbag.

Something I see far more often than what should be an isolated thing is how guys use the Triceps extension machine. The one in my gym looks pretty much like this:

Rather than sit on it and extend their arms, for some reason these guys will stand in front of the machine and with the handles horizontal towards them push down like they are inflating a tire with a bike pump.
Maybe there is a purpose to doing it this way I'm not aware of, but I think it's more than likely they are just making themselves look like gym noobs. It makes me think there is either a lot of misinformation on YouTube or these guys see others do it and think that's accomplishing something to give them gains. Like I said, it's not just one person I've seen.

So what are some stupid things you've seen?

 

[nailz]

Just about anything Crossfit related
I'll give them credit for finally helping popularize "strong is sexy" for women, and helping dispel the silly common myth that weightlifting will instantly make us manly and unattractive.. but just about anything done in a Crossfit box is utterly stupid and dangerous

Kipping pullups are a personal pet peeve and I used to see people doing them all the time:

If you're lifting weights you should be doing proven safe lifts and close attention to proper form to avoid injury, with planned progressive overload. If you're totally inexperienced then under the close supervision of someone who is experienced and can spot you.
It shouldn't be in a hangar with 40 people and one "trainer" all screaming at the top of their lungs to DOOOO IIIIIIT while you try to clumsily jerk the maximum possible weight you can move in some stupid trending exercise that a member of an Instagram cult made up on a whim

There are people doing Crossfit with very impressive physiques, but it's simply an inevitable byproduct of shifting heavy weights around and not something magical that's happening in a Crossfit box. They're getting fit despite all the stupid stuff in Crossfit, for the short while they miraculously manage to avoid injury. They could get the exact same physiques safely with traditional weightlifting. But then they wouldn't have pics like this to put up on IG to impress their friends

 

[osid]

I usually go in the early mornings, when it's only the regulars and we all kinda know each other and know the common gym courtesies. However, I made the mistake of going on Christmas eve around midday, and it was packed with guys who were so incredibly discourteous and too self-involved to even notice how rude they were being. For example:

(1) There were four adjustable benches available for use, and three were in constant use. The fourth was taken up by the towel of this middle-aged guy who was clearly trying to do a circuit that was taking him all over the gym... and far away from the bench that he was using maybe once every ten minutes.
(2) There was another middle-aged guy who plopped his crap down in front of one of the two adjustable cable machines and used it once every 8 minutes or so. The rest of his time was spent hanging out on the only dip bars in the entire gym, browsing on his phone.
(3) There was one guy who was taking up two of the three squat racks. One of the racks he was using for deadlifts, which obviously do not require a squat rack at all. He was doing all this while also doing a circuit with other equipment.

Moral of the story: if they gym's crowded, I don't give a fuck what kind of circuit you want to do. Let others use the equipment and don't be a fucking hog. I just about lost it on all of them.

 

[VonMitte]

Mobile addiction.

 

[b3ar]

Everyone does their own thing in the gym and I'm sure it's annoying to one person or another. The good thing is that they are there and making an effort as opposed to sitting in front of the telly with a fresh pack of Oreos and some sodas. I applaud that no matter how loud they grunt, how much time they spend worshipping themselves in the mirror or how bad their form is.

But the two things I can't condone or even fathom is the inability to wipe sweat off of a machine after a person has used it and the inability to rerack/return weights after a set.

I see it more times than I care to count. Most recently, a bloke used a bicep curl machine and just walked away from it leaving his weights and 2 freshly dripping armpit sweat marks on it. He was also nice enough to leave the smell of rotten purple onions on it which lingered even after I wiped it down with the equipment solution. OR the guy who adds 6 45lb plates to the calf raise machine, does two "reps" and walks away like he just cured cancer.

 

[Motion-of-the-Ocean]

That poster is not the OP of this thread, who are they to reprimand you for repetitively posting pictures of yourself in your tights. Then to demean you by saying your comprehension skills are underwhelming. No more, thank you.

Ok, well I am the OP of this thread and I second @Scarletbegonia 's opinion that it is not about showing off. I created the thread for discussion and as a way of ranting or letting others know some of the crazy things they have witnessed in the gym.

One of the reasons for the Health & Fitness section in general is so others can have serious discussions related to exercise, nutrition and maybe any bodily concerns that do not involve genitalia. IMO this should not include threads relating to things like locker room voyeurism and exhibitionism, jerking off in the showers or anything else sexual that will not help anyone achieve the goal of physical fitness and who may come to the section looking for advice and direction. Any personal pictures in the section should be related to those goals (like to post one's progress or get others' opinions on that progress) and not for eye candy. As was stated, there is a whole goddamn rest of the forum for posting such things and now that the politics section has been deep sixed, can't we have at least one part of the forum that is only for actual discussion?

I'm not trying to take anything away from the achievements of those who posted photos in this thread as I admire anyone's dedication to fitness, especially to legs which so few guys do, but I agree it's not germane to the topic of the thread. I also did not create this thread so others can bicker and complain about other members unless said members are the ones in the gym seen doing stupid things. So as the OP I will ask both the pics and back and forth posts be removed if it continues. Now, can we get back to the thread subject?

 

[MisterVIP]

People who check out a towel from the front desk and use that same towel to wipe sweat off themselves AND to wipe down the gym equipment when they're finished.

 

[Scarletbegonia]

Thought this was the audience for this.

 

[VonMitte]

 

[3HandsfulofDick]

Most stupid thing are guys waking around the locker rooms showing off their dicks... Can’t tell you how we laugh at people who do that ....This isn’t directed at people who walk out the shower without a towel... it’s directed towards people who walk around looking for comments...

 

[Scarletbegonia]

I know I’ve used this:
How do you know if someone is vegan, keto, or in CrossFit?
Don’t worry, they will tell you. And tell you.

Those into Crossfit always reminded me of egotistical Yuppies with a glutton for punishment. Having someone yell at you to push yourself reminds me too much of a Drill Sergeant and likely why I also find the fad of imitation "Boot Camp" training too overbearing as well.

I'm too damn old for such tests of personal endurance and prefer to work out at my own pace and within my limits.

 

[deleted471226]

Seeing men walk around barefoot on the locker room floor. I've even seen a dude sitting on the toilet barefoot..WTF?!

I can never look at a dude the same way after seeing him do that in public no matter how buff or attractive he is. PLEASE wear some flip flops!!

 

[Lookinginconshy]

Interesting posts. Agree with most.
Here is some stories and stupid things I saw:
1.
Guy in jeans, hi-top work boots, knit hat and pull over hoodie in the sauna. Bet he smelled good.
2.
Older in shape guy with full ear headphones dancing,singing and farting loudly in the sauna. Got the hell out of there...fart smell in that hot sauna ..Too much!
3.
Young guys that take all the 45lb plates to load up and then hardly can lift it.
4.
I row inside in winter, my gym has 30.minute limit on the rower. My row is about 20. There is a nasty old bitch that would tap my shoulder and say she wants to row, I’d tel her I had xx time left so she gets on the bike closest to the rower, doesn’t pedal just sits and will wave at me pointing to the clock trying to get me off the rower every 5 minutes. Every week this shit happened and one Sunday I got up off the rower and called the gym manager over. They said she does that with every machine she wants. Finally enough members complained and they cancelled her membership. Btw her rowing was only using her arms and tension set at 2.
5.
Locker room...I posted this once before with more detail in another forum. A young good looking muscular towel dancer guy was next to me in the locker room and was evidently having a difficult time getting his underwear on without removing his towel. The area between the bench and lockers is not much. Trying to get his undies on, he lost his balance. He fell on me, knocking naked me over, landed with his face straight in my crotch and his towel wide open giving everybody a good view of what he was intent on not showing. Jokingly, I told him if he wanted to get close to my dick he could have just asked, he didn’t have to fall for me. He got pissed and called me a fucking queer. He still couldn’t get up as he got stuck under the bench and his underpants were hobbling him just below his knees. I had to give him a hand and help him get up. No thank you no nothing, not a word. His macho was seriously hurt. Asshole. The rest of guys in the locker room had a good laugh and asked if I was ok. I had hit my head on the bench going down but was ok.
6.
Day pass guys trying to get out of the pool pulling themselves up over the side, not doing too good at doing it and in the process their soggy baggy bathing suit comes down over their ass from wet weight. Seen this many times. Gives a smile all the time. They always look around to see if anyone saw.
7.
Worked at Bally’s gym and on Sunday they had an obese men’s club to help obese men lose weight. Nicest guys, they always talked to me as I worked the front desk Sunday. Always I’d ask if they had a good session, yes they all said and proceed to discuss which buffet they all were going to for lunch. One time 5 got into a older Cadillac and the car sat down on the tires and they couldn’t move. 2 had to get out and go separately. I never saw such a thing. Made me sad for them. They had be well over 450 lbs each. The car just sat on the tires.

 

[MrMizuno]

At a popular gym I used to visit there was a girl who run on the treadmill like a penguin. Knees straight, arms stiff by the side, waddling at pace side-to-side. It was so bizarre and she was clearly uncomfortable. But every day for twenty minutes she'd turn up and make for the Antarctic.

 

[nailz]

Since almost everyone in the second vid is doing it, I forgot to add that a Clean & Jerk is an advanced Olympic lift with several potential points of injury. Professionals train years to perfect their technique. But somehow Crossfit promotes that newbies should be jumping right into it with the heaviest weight they can budge without any training or a spotter, all while being yelled at by morons

There is no reason the average person looking to build muscle or get fit needs to ever do a Clean & Jerk. It can be broken down into separate exercises that can be done in a totally safe, controlled way.

 

[Motion-of-the-Ocean]

Most stupid thing are guys waking around the locker rooms showing off their dicks... Can’t tell you how we laugh at people who do that ....This isn’t directed at people who walk out the shower without a towel... it’s directed towards people who walk around looking for comments...

I wonder what website gave them the idea to do that .

 

[dirk_pitt_9in]

Unless you are lifting Olympic level weight, over reliance on aids like lifting belts and straps is actually detrimental to strength and technique

^^All of this...say it again for the people in the back. If you NEED an aid (wrap, strap, glove, belt, etc.) to lift a weight you couldn't lift otherwise...then don't lift it.

Guys screaming at the top of their lungs but not lifting major weight

I hear Planet Fitness may be more your cup of tea then Seriously though...unless your lifting at your 90% or higher, just exhale. It's OK, we all see you lifting, no reason to scream about it.

 

[WilliamG]

Man buns.

 

[IntactMale]

I don't use the gym at all now, but before covid I was only using the gym to swim laps and did the rest of my exercising at home. These are the annoying things that I see people do in the pool:

Some people slap their arms and legs on the surface of the water constantly while they swim. I think this is the equivalent of people yelling and grunting loudly while lifting weights. All the splashing is wasted energy and doesn't make you move any faster, and you don't get the benefit of the resistance of the water when your limbs are outside of it. The worst part is when you swim past these people and catch their splashes or wake while trying to take a breath. But it also distracts from the state of mind you need to achieve in order to swim laps for an extended period of time.

People who don't know how to lane share. If you're serious about swimming then it really sucks to share a lane, but especially if its with someone who doesn't swim close to the same pace as you, faster or slower. Usually the faster swimmers are experienced so they can spot who is a comparable swimmer, but the slower swimmers either can't tell or don't care. Those people usually spend most of their time resting at the end of the lane, but when they do swim they don't respect that both people have to share the lane and drift across the mid point. Whenever I get interrupted part way through trying to improve my half mile time I know its going to be by an old man with an enormous gut, a discolored bath suit he bought on vacation 30 years ago, with full face goggles and a snorkel who wants to swim the length of the pool once over the course of 15 minutes and he's got to use my lane to do it.

People who tread water or do water aerobics in the lap lanes. Most pools have an area designated for that kind of activity, but for some reason people use the lanes anyways. This is especially bad when it forces people swimming laps to share lanes. The same goes for people who just finished working out and want to cool off in the pool. It's annoying, but those people pay for the gym and get to do that so it doesn't annoy me too much as long as they aren't too loud. But the big problem with those people is that I know what they didn't do, which is the next thing.

People who don't shower before getting in the pool. Its disgusting. It's always people who aren't serious about swimming, or who are just jumping in for a minute, and it ruins the pool for the people who want to use it regularly. It's bad enough when its someone who just came into the gym and hasn't showered since the morning, but people who are sweaty from working out and jump in the pool without showering are real assholes and shouldn't be allowed to use the pool if they do that.

Swim classes. For some reason every gym has swim lessons for kids that shuts down half of the pool and they tend to do this during the busiest hours of the day. People say "their membership is paid for too," but our memberships don't cost the same, and those people would throw a fit if half of the free weights, circuit machines, or whatever other equipment were reserved for a class every day during peak hours. I feel that way about all classes taught in a lap pool that are not specific to swimming laps. Swim team meets make sense (still really annoying), but the kayaking classes that used to happen each night at my gym were ludicrous.

People who sit by the pool and use their cell phones. I know nobody is doing it to get footage of me, but it still makes me self conscious. It's tough enough to work out in front of other people without being made to feel like someone might be recording you whether its because they like how you look or don't like how you look.

 

[LargeUnit]

The guys that use this thread to show off - are the same small minds that do all the things in the gym that this thread is discussing.
This pic explains it quite well…..