Every New Year brings a plethora of people into the gym eager to start their fitness journey. So as we close out the first month of the New Year, it is a perfect time to talk about gym etiquette. For the people who have been regular gym participants, it is even more important that they follow common courtesy practices to act as role-models on how to act in the gym.
There are a multitude of things that should be implemented in any gym, but there are two that really stand out at the top of the list and both have to do with cleanliness.
First, wipe down your equipment after you use it. It is completely disgusting to walk up to a machine and see it covered in sweat. I worked in the trades for almost 10 years, so I definitely don’t mind getting dirty, but I draw line somewhere. And other people’s body fluids are definitely on the other side of the line. I also understand we’re at a gym where people are working hard and sharing equipment is part of the buy in. So yeah, it’s not a big deal if you’re in a hoodie and hop on a machine to do a warm up set or two and haven’t even started sweating yet so you don’t wipe down the machine. Or if you are on something that is only a seat, such as a lat pull down machine and don’t sweat on it so you skip wiping it down. I do try to still wipe stuff down in this instance as part of a good habit and courtesy to others, but this is more tolerable. But if you get any sweat on the equipment or are laying all over a bench/machine, please wipe it down. This sounds like it should be common courtesy and common sense, but I see this problem continuously.
The owner of the gym I go to, recently completed a full remodel of one of his 2 facilities. He filled it with all brand new specialty equipment and made the gym a pretty awesome place. Since it’s twice as far as the current place I train at, I have only ventured there a few times in the couple of weeks it has been re-opened. What surprised me, was that in 4 times of going to the new facility, I had only seen ONE other person other than me wipe down their equipment after they used it. This individual isn’t someone I talk to, but do regularly see them at my normal facility. I was astounded. The owner invested a ton of time and money into making renovation awesome and people can’t even take the time to help keep it clean.
The other huge problem is people not putting stuff away or re-racking weights. I don’t care how big you are or how special you think you are because you have a lot of Instagram followers, but you’re not too good to put your shit away. There are a few people at the gym I train at, that are pretty well known on social media, super strong, and make their living in the fitness industry and I see them put their stuff away all the time. So there is no reason anyone else shouldn’t be either. Even if you don’t think it’s heavy or hard to move, it may be for someone else. This hit me when I was training with my girlfriend one day. I used to leave 1 plate (45lbs) on a lot of plate loaded machines because just the one plate is usually a warm-up weight FOR ME. But then as my girlfriend and I were training chest and changing around the weights on a plate loaded hammer strength machine, I could see HER STRUGGLING to get the 45 plate on and off since she had to lift it above chest height. That’s when it hit me, how many times did I make it difficult on someone else because I thought it was fine to leave the one plate. From that day on, I have always taken all the plates off of any machine.
From experience, I can see where machines may have been a grey zone of leaving some weights on them. But there really isn’t a good excuse for leaving weights on barbells, not re-racking dumbbells, or leaving other types of equipment all around. And if you see something out of place, take the initiative to put it back even if it wasn’t you that made the mess. You may be keeping someone else from struggling or hurting themselves. I’m not perfect and do admit I don’t do it every time, but I do make a conscious effort to help keep the gym clean. If I see weight on a barbell that has been unused the whole time I have been at the gym and clearly left by someone else, I will unrack the weights while walking by, put dumbbells where they go rather than leave them by a bench, and even pick up a few machine handles that are laying around while I am grabbing the one I want. By cleaning up after yourself and taking the initiative to pick up a little slack left by others, if everyone came together, the gym would always be able to stay clean.
If you don’t think either of these apply to apply to you, or if you just don’t care that the gym is messy, think of it this way. If nobody helps keep the gym clean, the owner will need to keep more staff working to clean it which raises cost. If people don’t help take care of the equipment, it will get worn out faster and be more likely to break. As things get worn out and break, the cost of for the owner goes up as well. So an increasing cost that could have been avoided by responsible members is going to create one of a couple scenarios. On the worst case side, the owner is going to see people don’t care to take care of the equipment and therefore will just let things break and not replace them. Then on the flip side, if they do choose keep fixing or replacing things, the owner will eventually have to raise prices to keep up the costs. I know most gym memberships aren’t that much a month, but I’d still rather not see mine go up just because the owner got frustrated and didn’t have much of choice.
Those are the 2 most glaring problems I see about in gym etiquette in my opinion. A few other things I do want to touch on are personal hygiene and using multiple pieces of equipment.
So when it comes to personal hygiene, I realize we’re at the gym to work hard and work up a sweat. So yeah, a lot of us are going to smell a little bit. On some days when it’s muggy in the gym, the whole place will kind of have a bad smell to it. But you can adhere to some level of cleanliness so others aren’t negatively affected. There’s been a handful of times where I had to leave a whole area and go find something else to do because someone smelled that bad. It’s just not right to subject people to that, nor would you probably like it if you’re the one who had to deal with it. So I’m not saying you should take a shower and show up to the gym smelling like roses, but don’t make it smell like a pig pen either. Then on the other end of the spectrum, please don’t use overbearing sprays. There are 3 individuals at my gym that when I see them, I actually try to avoid them. It’s not in a rude way, but if I see them around, I try to make sure I pick an exercise that is not by them because the cologne/perfume they wear is so overwhelming. I get their trying to be proactive, but there is a point where you can go a little too far.
A lot of us are strapped for time or just like to be efficient with our workouts, so we will do super-sets or circuit style training, which usually involves using more than once piece of gym equipment. Make sure the time and place is right for this, or at a minimum be courteous about how you go about it.
If you come train at my gym at 5 o’clock right when a lot of people get off of work, good luck getting on just one piece of equipment. Which leads to, if your gym is busy while you’re training, be perceptive on how much equipment you are taking up. Either use less popular equipment, make sure to not hog the equipment for long periods of time, or if you see someone trying to get on what you are using, have them work in with you so they are able to get their training in as well. Or if your gym is busy, try not to waste time while using equipment. Yeah if your squatting or benching you are probably going to want to take longer rest periods so you can recover between sets, but don’t waste time sitting on your phone or chit chatting with others while hogging up equipment during a busy time. Finish using the piece of equipment, then go play on your phone or chat with friends.
I do see that these are pretty commonly followed practices by a lot of veteran gym goers, so it may seem like common sense or come as second nature to them. But it’s always nice to have a little reminder as well bring to light that it’s imperative that us gym veterans set good examples for others. Why would a new member follow any of these things if they see the norm to be the opposite.