Gym Etiquette....

It depends how hard they're being knocked together. If it's a gentle touch, some think that's just how you make sure the movement is taken to completion. If they're really smashing them together, I'd say it's deliberate attempts to grab attention and would be frowned upon.

Absolutely! That's one of my pet peeves at the gym.

Indeed, I think it's another one of those "look at me and how much of a man I am" scenarios whereby the force of the weights colliding with the ground is supposed to add further masculinity to the efforts the gym attendee was putting into his workout. Completely unnecessary. The only time a weight should be dropped to the floor is if you've failed to lift it or really been overambitious and need to drop it to avoid injury.

I agree. I just don't associate with rap music at all. A comedian (Russell Howard?) once observed that the genre was merely bragging to a beat... "look at my big-ass wad of cash, my big-ass house, my big-ass SUV, and my big-ass woman".

The gym my parents go to has little headphone outlets on all the cardio machines, so you can select one of about 10 different 'stations' playing different sorts of music. The weights area is nice and quiet though.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

VVV: I think the clear undercurrent on this thread is about respect. I agree, everyone pays the same money, and as long as your workouts don't significantly impinge upon the rights or access of others. Another point made multiple times is that, considering the rampant rates of obesity, hypertension, etc. in this country, many on this thread are happy to see people working out. Also, this is a place to express your own personal quirks, and to call others out. Grunting when lifting can be your habit, something you do only when trying max lifts, or something you do as a "look at me" thing. Same thing with dropping weights. The "look at me" people, in my opinion, are often d-----bags.

Scott

 

Here's one. The "over wiper downer". I actually don't care whether equipment is wiped down, unless the person before really slimed it. But I watched this woman yesterday come up to an incline side bend stand. In our gym, we have paper towels (touchless dispensers) and pump bottles with disinfectant. The piece of equipment is right next to one of these stations.

She walks up, grabs the bottle, and sprays down the pads (the stuff is copiously dripping on the floor). She then grabs 6 paper towels (I was loading my gym bag so was able to watch closely), soaks them with disinfectant, and proceeds to wipe down the pads and handgrips. Throws that away, and REPEATS!.

Should could be immunosuppressed, she could be carrying some odd infection--I get those possibilities. But then she proceeds to grab the adjustment knob and handle (neither of which she wiped down). So if this whole thing was to protector her from staph, H1N1, GI bugs, etc. she totally screwed up by mostly wiping stuff down that is touched by clothing (low risk of fomite transmission) and not wiping stuff touched by hands, where the risk is much higher. Crazy.

I see variants of this all the time. I tend to be practical as a doc, and see quite illogical behavior with regard to infection mitigation.

 

Try telling that to the powerlifters who are deadlifting 550+

 

Well put.

 

Of course, but this isn't the common situation. When I do shrugs, I don't move far from the dumbbell rack (doing 85 per side)--primarily, because I'm not that strong, and not that stable carrying this amount of weight. I do move back a bit, and I do watch to see if anyone has been grabbing weights close to what I am using, etc., etc. The point being a understand with heavy weights, why people don't move from far from racks, why they drop them, etc. And heavy is what heavy is to the person lifting.

There were two kids (late high school/early college) lifting yesterday. Doing dumbbell presses, 25 pounds per side. They weren't just dropping them, they were kind of throwing them off to the side. One hit a lady's ankle. They were not lifting to failure. They were being jerks. This is what most people on this thread (I hope) mean.

Scott

 

I agree. I do shrugs over the rack. I might be blocking people's access to the weight, but it's either that, or a combined 200lbs crashing on the gym floor. I do, however, drop the bar when I'm doing deadlifts or cleans, but I do all my olympic lifts in a room specifically designed for these lifts (rubber mats, etc). I also drop the weight when I'm doing DB presses (usually 100lb dbs). Lowering that kind of weight to the floor is a recipe for a torn rotator cuff.

 

Of course, there are exceptions. However, I've seen hundreds of dropped/thrown weights and the number of times I've seen it done by a powerlifter could probably be counted on one hand.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

probably the most action he gets all day....

and yes, that's pretty gross.

 

Heard of it, haven't seen it.

However, my most recent incounter was a guy shaving completely naked, no towl or anything. I'm assuming his junk was all over the counter or closer than it ever should be. Meanwhile, a guy walks to the dryers (these are up high) directly behind shaving nake guy and begins to dry his arms/pits. Mind you he's naked as well.

On a very crowded day in the locker room I ended up next to a guy that dropped his towel, then proceeded to make his protein shake, then gets a phone call and stands there like he's in his house. I'm literally 2.5 feet from this guy. And there's the occasional guy that likes to drop his towel and then do the "pose" in the mirror. Or the guy that just watches tv.

I've been going to the same gym for 3 years and I've never seen as much man ass as I've seen in the past few months.

If you want to walk around naked, fine, but do it in your own home.

 

I usually just lift up my legs and set the weights on them as I sit up. Actually seems easier to me than dropping them.

 

It's pretty common. How much effort is it to walk back with a couple of 25 pounders in hand?

I've seen pools of sweat on the benches from guys' hair. It's disgusting. I always carry a sweat towel, but who the hell wants to soak up some other guy's sweat...

I hate I that end up lifting to Miley Cyrus or the same techno-Jamaican-hip hop crap that repeats endlessly. You figure everyone on cardio equipment is using iPods anyway, so that leaves the weightlifters to enjoy Miley.

We also have a treadmill enthusiasts who run like they weigh 350 lbs or something. They may actually weigh half that much, but they're determined to stomp as hard as they can, as if that's a better workout than a smooth stride. I keep waiting for the treadmill to collapse.

 

^lol, I must have been in a really really bad mood that day. I don't hate those people, but it bothers me.

I had to wait on this girl to move so I could re-rack my weights this week.

It's not hard to take weights a few feet away. Hell I'll grab two 55lb db's and walk 50ft away.

 

What about those guys who drops their weights heavily on the floor that it makes a lot of noise.

 

i drop the weights. if it hurts someones ears, their in the wrong side of the gym.
ed

 

If it's too heavy, maybe you shouldn't be lifting it.

RMX

 

How about we all drop weights then? And maybe we should all yell also...

I understand you can drop the weights one or twice because you are getting tired but every time is very very inconsiderate of others. Same BS as people on their cell phone in the gm area..

 

if you aren't dropping or grunting you ain't lifting enough to make gains. call you dr for "enhancing creams". suck it up. putting on muscle naturally is hard, period.

 

I hope you said this "tongue in cheek", as it is untrue.

 

So how do you deadlift without the weights making noise when they hit the floor?

 

Lol, if your making that much noise doing deadlifts you need to post vids.

 

The major theme of this thread has been people being inconsiderate. The group gets that dead lifters drop weight, the group gets that someone benching with two 125 pound dumbbells may need to drop them, the group gets that someone with a specific shoulder problem may not be able to lower weights to the floor.

Being a member in any gym does not (to me) give one the license to do whatever you want to do. It is a shared space, and decency and common courtesy suggest a certain decorum.

The bottom line is there are times when you need to drop 'em or can't help but drop 'em, and there are times when you don't need to.

 

scotty,
spot on the mark. thanks.
ed