Gym etiquette

Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

It’s that time of year where many of you are going to buy a gym membership. I have former patients who decide that they need to join a gym after therapy is over. This isn’t always necessary, yet usually a good idea to continue to feel better.

Many people have not been in gyms, and don’t know proper gym etiquette. Frankly, I don’t either because so much has changed. I long for the good old days of gym behavior.

Sharing

When I was growing up in gyms, you didn’t own that piece of equipment, or “camp out” on it. In fact it was common to offer to trade sets with someone who wanted to “work in.”

Photo by Samuel Girven on Unsplash

Let’s say you push a heavy weight 10 times, and then need a rest. Of course, just get up, and while you are resting, the other person does their set. You didn’t selfishly just sit there for 10 minutes completing your 3 sets.

Nowadays it is common for seniors/boomers to not know how to share. It’s like that life lesson book about kindergarten.

Cleaning

Part of the problem is now all the cleaning, as if we are gonna die from touching surfaces. We never used to clean seats between sets or people. Now we’ve gone so far in the other direction that someone else’s sweat does gross me out. But dangerous?

Anectdotaly, the least healthy people are the ones worried about cleaning every surface.

You know what has more germs? The door handle to the gym you just touched.

Filming

Many young people now film themselves or others with their cell phones. Sometimes this is good for checking posture and technique. Sometimes it’s nefarious, to mock others, and try to be a social media star.

Ask the front desk their policy.

Noise

One of the oldest sayings from gym culture is “don’t slam the weights.” This is still a good idea, although some weightlifting is going to involve loud dropping, and it’s not just to be obnoxious. Some legitimate powerlifting allows for dropping weights. That requires in person training from a professional.

Gender

There are now many national fitness chains that allow men into the women’s locker rooms. I don’t feel like getting into this debate, as if there is one. There are so many social media avenues to pursue this, I’ll just leave it at that. Ask the front desk their policy before signing.

The Truth

If you need the New Year’s resolution to prompt you to work out, it’s unlikely to last or make a difference.

The people who makes changes or gains are the ones who want to go.

While I find some type of resistance training to be very important for health, a healthier diet is going to be more important.

You can’t “out exercise” a poor diet.