The gym can be a prime place for rudeness. One may not think there is a need for manners and etiquette in a place where sweating and grunting are perfectly normal. Manners are just as important in the gym as they are at the dinner table. These eight rules supply a great guideline for proper gym etiquette.
1.) Re-rack your weights: No one likes hunting for weights. Put them away in their respective homes when you’re done even if that’s not where you found it.
2.) Sharing: Unless you are the only member in the gym, you need to share weights and machines with other members. Let other members “work in” – alternate sets with you- that way you both get a rest period and knock out an exercise on your training log to get a good work out in. Also, don’t hover while waiting for someone to finish, that’s just rude.
3.) Clean up after yourself: Keep a towel with you to wipe your sweat. All gyms provide sanitizer and towels to wipe down the equipment when you’re done with it. Slippery weights and a pool of someone else’s sweat is just gross.
4.) Drinking fountain: Don’t hog it and don’t spit in it. Carry a water bottle if you drink a lot during a work-out. Use the garbage can for spitting.
5.) Traffic Flow: Don’t congregate or block walkways. People trying to move around you and your group of friends chatting may bump someone in the middle of an exercise and cause them to drop a weight.
6.) Gym bag: Use the lockers provided. End of story.
7.) Cell phone: Leave it in your locker. Nothing is more irritating and distracting than the person next to you gabbing away on a Bluetooth. Also, if you’re able to carry on a full conversation, then you’re probably not exerting much effort and really not getting a good workout.
8.) Locker Room: Don’t treat it like your own bathroom.
- Don’t take a marathon shower when others are waiting. Also, what goes in the shower with you comes out. Ladies, this includes that pile of hair from the drain.
- Don’t hog the mirror or blow dryer. If you shed a lot of hair while brushing and drying, make sure it makes it way to the garbage can.
- Don’t take up the bench with all your clothes. Share the bench and shut your locker when you leave.
- Put your towel in the dirty bin; don’t leave it out for others to clean up after you.
