Seventeen Gym Etiquette Guidelines
Do:
1) Wipe down your equipment after use.
2) Re-rack your weights at the appropriate places. This goes for dumbbells and plate weights. So many times people “nest” plate/barbell weights between other sizes. It makes it hard to get to the ones you need without taking all of them off the peg.
3) Use clamps on the end of barbells. I’ve seen 2 plates fall off the bar of someone who lost control during a squat onto someone in the aisle nearby. You may think you don’t need them, but use the clamps for the safety of other people. As an added perk, it keeps the weight balanced equidistantly.
4) Use the safety bars on the squat racks. They should be set just below the lowest point of your squat in case you keep going down and can’t come back up. Using the safety bars is better than injuring yourself, and you don’t require a spotter to squat now! Safety bars are there for a reason: safety 🙂 Most people should set them about hip or butt height.
5) Practice squats and dead lifts safely before going to the squat rack and adding weight. If you can’t do a squat or dead lift without weight with good form, think how dangerous it gets when you do add weight!
Do not:
1) Walk off with free weights/dumbbells and not return them. I can’t tell you how many times I have tried looking for weights during client sessions because they walk off and are never where they should be.
2) Monopolize multiple pieces of equipment without letting others work in. If you are circuit training you should yield to those who aren’t.
3) Make conversation with people who don’t give you welcoming body language, such as being plugged into music or being in the middle of a set. If they smile/stare at you or take an ear bud out, then they are open to chatting.
4) Grunt so everyone thinks you are having a man-baby or in the middle of coitus. It makes other people uncomfortable, unless your goal is to make other people uncomfortable. If that’s the case, then do whatever you want 🙂
5) Use spray on deodorant in the locker room. Now EVERYONE has to breathe it. This is egregiously obnoxious and makes my blood pressure spike.
6) Blow dry your family jewels at the sink. Perhaps this is a generational thing.
7) Be too naked in the locker room. You know who you are, person who was naked before and after I finish working out and is still naked in the locker room by the sauna when everyone else has the decency to at least use a towel. There is even a sign you are ignoring that says “please use a towel.” Also, perhaps a generational thing.
8) Eat food on the gym floor in the weight area. Exception if you are a personal trainer and away from the weight areas. I get you. You’re there all day, and it is a physical job.
9) Work out in front of other people’s mirror space during their sets.
10) Work out too close to other people. It can break their concentration. They also don’t want to drop their weights on your toes.
11) Leave benches and equipment in walking aisles. It makes the gym cluttered and increases trip hazard risk.
12) Offer advice to people who didn’t ask for it. Exceptions for people who may end up with an acute injury and a medical bill if they keep doing what they are doing. In these cases, make sure you know what you’re talking about.
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