Have you ever wanted to choke the life out of someone at the gym?

[RedKryptonite]

I don't normally consider myself a territorial type in the gym, but I found myself having a fight or flight response while waiting for the squat rack (I am deployed overseas, the gym is small, and there is only one squat rack) the other day.

I go into the gym and see two guys on the rack. As I know the gym will be busy, I say "Hey, man. How many more sets do you guys have?" One guy responds and says he's just getting started and has five sets to go. No worries. I ask if I can jump on when he's done. He says sure thing.

I still have a warm up to do and don't mind workng on my squat form before actually lifting. I do my 15 min jump rope warm up, grab a bar, and start working on my squat form. 30 min later I notice a line is forming around the rack as there are tons of other people waiting and asking how many more sets the original guy has left. Not only does this guy do 5 sets, he repeatedly gets buried on the same lift and actually does about 12 sets. When other people ask if they can use the rack, he says "Yeah, I only have a couple more sets to go."

What is the right gym ettiquette here? Should the guy on the rack say "I'm almost done here but someone else is waiting to use the rack?" Should he continue to attempt (and fail) the same lift over and over again knowing there is a line forming behind him? Am I just being a whiney biatch?

I ended up working in with two other dudes when this guy finally gets off the rack... but I was pretty ticked. That's nearly as bad as someone doing straight bar curls on the squat rack IMO.

 

[Skarsgard]

Yeah. I'd be pissed.

 

[Endo]

Can't say that I have. Very rarely does someone use the squat rack with such ignorance that I have to say something. Although, every now and then I do find a curl monkey in there, but respectfully asking them if you can use the squat rack for its intended purposes normally does the trick. If not, I can become a little belligerent. :icon_chee

 

[guilineseguy]

That sucks ass when that happens. But if he was there first. Maybe next time just do a set while he is resting. In my gym if the the few of us who do squat, happen to bee there at the same time, and squatting. Thats what we will do. Just add/subtract the weight back to the way they had it, and there should be no problem.

 

[DrBdan]

It's common courtesy to share the rack and if multiple people are waiting you should let them know that other people also want the rack. Not that it's a hard and fast rule but it doesn't take much effort to say "I've got 3 more sets but the guy over there in the red shirt is waiting too". I see it in the same light as putting back your weights, it's just the polite thing to do and makes the gym better.

I don't see anything wrong with retrying the same weight after failing multiple times (in terms of squat rack usage, programming wise you could argue that it's silly) but if the gym is busy and there is a line for the rack he really should let people work in with him.

 

[JauntyAngle]

I'm trying to be more tolerant and more forgiving of other people in the gym. Not for their benefit, just for mine, as I don't like feeling negative.

That being said, I was really annoyed a little while ago by a guy in my gym (who just uses the Nautilus or curls very light dumbells) criticizing me for using the power rack for bench pressing. At the time no one was using the rack, and I wanted to experiment with heavier doubles and triples. As I was going heavier than I had done before, I wanted to use the power rack and put the safety bars in. When he criticized me, I explained to the guy that the power rack is specifically designed so that people can lift heavier more safely. He told me that if I couldn't do 10 reps of a weight easily, I was lifting too heavy.

I am still a little surprised by how much it annoyed me.

 

[pliftkl]

I think it would have been courteous for the guy in the rack to tell people who ask that someone is waiting, but I don't think he was socially obliged to do so. It's hard to say that you are "waiting" for the squat rack if you go away to do other things. When I'm waiting for the squat rack, I'm usually within 10 feet of it. As for trying and failing, that's a lot better than what most people do in a squat rack.

 

[DrBdan]

I think it would have been courteous for the guy in the rack to tell people who ask that someone is waiting, but I don't think he was socially obliged to do so. It's hard to say that you are "waiting" for the squat rack if you go away to do other things. When I'm waiting for the squat rack, I'm usually within 10 feet of it. As for trying and failing, that's a lot better than what most people do in a squat rack.

That's a good point. If you seem to disappear then you can't really complain if someone else grabs the rack. I usually stay in the general area and do an extended warm-up.

 

[immovablestone]

I continuously have visions of wanton rape and slaughter every time I'm in a normal gym. There is no resolution to your issue, because it involves many people, none of whom have the same understanding of politeness, respect,or proper gym etiquette as any other of the bunch.

You could have been me last night, doing walking lunges holding 70lb dumbells in each hand and having a middle aged guy with a puffed out chest drag over an inclined bench and drop it right in your path mid-stride without even batting an eyelash...

 

[KnuckleSangwich]

That's a good point. If you seem to disappear then you can't really complain if someone else grabs the rack. I usually stay in the general area and do an extended warm-up.

Don't forget to pause your extended warm up and stare at them every time they finish a set to try and mentally convince them that they're done.

 

[dinpappa]

I hate the guts out of people who just stroll around the gym without meaning and purpose, and all they do is move shit and make a mess! So i have to go plate hunting, or re-arrange everytime i put my plates back in place! Generally just picking up after other people, or always finding the bars loaded with little ugly plastic plates in all the colors of the rainbow! Its like the lighter the plates, the more hassle it seems to be to put them back in place! You never find the bench loaded with 300+ lbs, but always with like 40lbs!

Damn annoying! I leave all my stations spotless and even rearrange plates so they are easier to access and are in pairs. But i never seem to find it that way !

 

[DrBdan]

I hate the guts out of people who just stroll around the gym without meaning and purpose, and all they do is move shit and make a mess! So i have to go plate hunting, or re-arrange everytime i put my plates back in place! Generally just picking up after other people, or always finding the bars loaded with little ugly plastic plates in all the colors of the rainbow! Its like the lighter the plates, the more hassle it seems to be to put them back in place! You never find the bench loaded with 300+ lbs, but always with like 40lbs!

Damn annoying! I leave all my stations spotless and even rearrange plates so they are easier to access and are in pairs. But i never seem to find it that way !

I do the same thing occasionally, I always wonder if people watch me and think I'm OCD.

 

[guilineseguy]

I'm trying to be more tolerant and more forgiving of other people in the gym. Not for their benefit, just for mine, as I don't like feeling negative.

That being said, I was really annoyed a little while ago by a guy in my gym (who just uses the Nautilus or curls very light dumbells) criticizing me for using the power rack for bench pressing. At the time no one was using the rack, and I wanted to experiment with heavier doubles and triples. As I was going heavier than I had done before, I wanted to use the power rack and put the safety bars in. When he criticized me, I explained to the guy that the power rack is specifically designed so that people can lift heavier more safely. He told me that if I couldn't do 10 reps of a weight easily, I was lifting too heavy.

I am still a little surprised by how much it annoyed me.

I always have quite a laugh at those guys. I used to go to my gym in the evenings. But now I have time earlier in the afternoon, when there is no one there. But I went there tonight. Because I have been sick as shit for a few days and had to get out of the house. And alot of the guys that go in the evening are the same way. You'll see it all with these guys. Three man bench press, getting all wrapped,suited up for curls. But they are all pretty cool guys. So we get along pretty well. I haven't seen these guys in like 6 months. And they are still skinny as can be, and not even that toned or buffed out. I know these guys are not going for strength like I am. They want to get big, and look huge. But all I ever see these guys do are literally benches (all three),curls(and some weird ass variations, oh and the curl king...I literally sat there with my old BB/powerlifting buddy and we watched this dude do a 45 minute arm workout that I woke up sore from watching) some seated ohp, and cable shit for their backs. It annoys the shit out of me when I here them complain about it. I just want to yell at them.....I keep fucking telling you add some fucking weight to that damn bar........SQUAT BITCH! But they are decent guys like I said, who never listen to advice.

 

[Endo]

He told me that if I couldn't do 10 reps of a weight easily, I was lifting too heavy.

I'm glad no one has ever said that to me. Well, for their sake. :icon_lol: Natural response would have been:

"Too heavy for who? A pussy like you?"

 

[flak]

TS, if this happens again you might want to ask if you can work in, even if it means you have to strip a bunch of plates off the bar to do your warm-up sets, then put 'em back so the other guys can do their working sets.

The one time I really wanted to choke someone, I was working out at the YMCA on a peaceful Saturday or Sunday afternoon, and headed for the big power rack to do squats. As I started adjusting the safety bars and the hooks, some idiot walked across the room and said I needed to stay out of the power rack because he was doing circuits and would soon need it, as soon as he finished the exercises he was doing on some other equipment.

I walked away and did leg presses.

 

[KnuckleSangwich]

TS, if this happens again you might want to ask if you can work in, even if it means you have to strip a bunch of plates off the bar to do your warm-up sets, then put 'em back so the other guys can do their working sets.

The one time I really wanted to choke someone, I was working out at the YMCA on a peaceful Saturday or Sunday afternoon, and headed for the big power rack to do squats. As I started adjusting the safety bars and the hooks, some idiot walked across the room and said I needed to stay out of the power rack because he was doing circuits and would soon need it, as soon as he finished the exercises he was doing on some other equipment.

I walked away and did leg presses.

I don't know if I would have walked away...tbh

 

[flak]

I don't know if I would have walked away...tbh

Eh, that's the kind of pleasant gym-goer that I am.

 

[pliftkl]

As I started adjusting the safety bars and the hooks, some idiot walked across the room and said I needed to stay out of the power rack because he was doing circuits and would soon need it, as soon as he finished the exercises he was doing on some other equipment.

The circuit trainers who try to keep you off of any equipment in their circuit definitely annoy me. You can use any piece of equipment in the gym you want - even if you want to damn yourself to hell by curling in the only squat rack. But you definitely don't have a right to "reserve" equipment for your future use.

If I'd been in your shoes I'd probably have proceeded to do the slowest squat workout of my life and invited the other guy to work in between sets.

 

[KnuckleSangwich]

Eh, that's the kind of pleasant gym-goer that I am.

I mean I wouldn't have thrown down with the guy but I'm not just going to walk way when you're doing a circuit which involves 10 minutes elsewhere and 30 seconds in the power rack...

 

[guilineseguy]

Yeah that sucks about the plates. There is no real rack for them in our gym. We just have to stack them next to the stations they are usually used in. Dumbells go in front of the mirror, But yeah it's always a mess when I walk in. You should see what they do to restaurants here.